Contractors, Brokers Face New Workers’ Comp Laws

The 2022 legislative session was a small year for workers’ compensation, but the industry still faces several new laws. As of January 1st, four classes of contractors are now required to carry workers’ comp insurance even if they have no employees, while brokers face new fraud training requirements to get or maintain their licenses. For … Read More »

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Little Pushback for QME Regulatory Plans

Officials at the Division of Workers’ Compensation say a formal proposal to update the state’s qualified medical evaluator (QME) regulations is in the works and should be released shortly. The proposed regulations follow a public forum comment period that generally produced positive comments from the provider and payer community but saw pushback from some attorneys. … Read More »

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WCAB Accused Of Using Underground Regulation

Five injured workers are asking the Second District Court of Appeal to declare unconstitutional the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board’s “grant and study” procedure that can delay resolution of workers’ comp claims by years in some cases. The plaintiffs maintain there is no authority to hold such cases indefinitely beyond the 60 days the Board has … Read More »

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DWC Gets One-sided Response to SB 863 Rulemaking

The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) opened the rulemaking process to implement the SB 863 workers’ comp reforms to a full house of community participants including a diverse population of claims professionals, employer representatives, providers and attorneys. But there were far more listeners than speakers during this full day of testimony.  When the day was done … Read More »

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Workers’ Comp Reporting Plan

Officials from the California Department of Industrial Relations and the Division of Workers’ Compensation are touting the administration’s efforts to rein in runaway medical costs with a 12-point plan. Destie Overpeck, chief counsel to the division, outlined the  latest initiative — an update to the Workers’ Compensation Information System (WCIS) reporting regulations. She noted that one … Read More »

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Insurance Association Pans New Deductible Regs

SACRAMENTO –The American Insurance Association is none too happy with the latest proposed regulations related to large deductible workers’ compensation policies and has submitted comments to the California Department of Insurance opposing the “threat.” The proposed regulations from the California Department of Insurance were formulated late last year with the intent to regulate the collateral … Read More »

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Utilization Review Take Effect, Penalties Loom

California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation announced yesterday that its utilization review enforcement regulations have been approved by the Office of Administrative Law. The move clears the way for the DWC to start a new line of audits in September with the authority to assess a maximum $50,000 penalty on claims-adjusting locations that fail to file … Read More »

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News Digest 12/21/2006

Controversy Surrounds Proposed UR Enforcement Regs Payors are shaking their heads over DWCs latest proposed utilization review enforcement regulations. Find out what the problems are, what regs the applicants’ attorneys … Read More »