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| | SB 863 Generates Success For The California Workers’ Compensation System To The Tune Of $1.3 Billion In Savings. CWCI President, Alex Swedlow, Speaks Of It In Boston.
By Lonce LaMon - March 5, 2017
Alex Swedlow, president of the California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI), spoke on Thursday, March 2, 2017, at the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute’s (WCRI) Annual Issues & Research Conference in Boston. He stated during his presentation that the California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) estimates that SB 863 has generated $1.3 billion in savings for the California Workers’ Compensation system, thus far.
California Senate Bill 863, which was passed in 2012, was a compromise between the labor sector and employers’ groups, along with special interest groups such as applicants’ attorneys, medical providers, and the various service provider vendors.
Injured workers’ benefits were raised, predominantly permanent disability, while fee schedules were imposed and adjusted downward for home health care, language interpreting, copy services, along with fees initiated for lien filings. Independent Medical Review was implemented, taking the decisions of medical necessity away from the WCAB (the court) and handing it to a panel of doctors (medical professionals).
Swedlow stated that research from the CWCI, based in Oakland, shows that SB 863 reforms have led to stabilization of workers’ compensation medical cost trends. The improvements are, in part, due to implementation of a resource-based relative value scale medical fee schedule, as well as the removal of duplicate payments for the surgical hardware used in spine surgeries.
lonce@adjustercom.com, Lonce LaMon, journalist, copyright by adjustercom.
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