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DWC Preparing Busy Regulatory Schedule

The Division of Workers’ Compensation has a stacked regulatory agenda planned for the coming year – some proposed regulations are the result of recent legislation while others are part of ongoing rulemaking efforts. Newly installed Administrative Director Nicole Richardson says the agency will be rolling out regulations to implement its planned electronic doctor’s first report … Read More »

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Legislators Wrap Up Session Without Major Reforms

California’s legislators completed their work for the session last month by passing many bills, but only a few related to the workers’ comp community. Earlier in the session, there was chatter about a comprehensive workers’ comp reform package, but in the end, any such discussion was put off until the next legislative session. Before legislators … Read More »

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Qualified Medical Evaluator System Findings

A report examining California’s qualified medical evaluator system (QME) found that the recent update to the med-legal fee schedule (MLFS) helped increase the supply of QMEs, but the additional QMEs are not evenly distributed around the state. Researchers at Rand note that the additional supply of QMEs is in the state’s more densely populated areas, … Read More »

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Staffing Registry Bill Held, PEO Bill Amended

Assembly Appropriations held a bill in committee that would have created a registry system for temporary staffing agencies, including a requirement to prove they had valid workers’ comp coverage. Another bill to create a state registry for Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) was watered down to instead only establish a weak statutory definition of PEOs and … Read More »

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Workers’ Comp Fraud Bill Dies

A proposal to help insurance carriers fight workers’ comp fraud will not be moving forward this session. The measure would have given carriers access to employers’ payroll records to crack down on premium fraud, but the Assembly Appropriations Committee did not advance the bill because of cost concerns. The bill would have created a cumbersome … Read More »

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Legislature Enters 9th Inning

California legislators returned to Sacramento this week for the final weeks of the session with a hefty load of bills to work through. The measures of interest to the workers’ comp community include bills to enhance anti-fraud efforts, hold carriers accountable for correcting problems, and enact staffing industry reforms. Already off the table were controversial … Read More »

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UR Reform Impact on Care Delivery

Highly touted reforms to speed up delivery of care to injured workers by exempting many treatments from utilization review during the first 30 days were only minimally effective, say independent researchers from RAND Corp in a new report. The reforms didn’t have a bigger impact because employers were generally providing these treatments without requiring the … Read More »

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Staffing Registration Bill

The author of a bill to create a registration system for temporary staffing agencies took amendments from the Senate Judiciary Committee that eliminate an attorney-fee provision, but opponents say the amendments don’t go far enough to earn their support. Staffing industry lobbyists say they could support a registration bill if the private right of action … Read More »

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