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April 19, 2024
Workers Compensation Bill 2024: One percent of employee’s salary to contribute to workers’ compensation fund in Kenya.

April 15, 2024
Colorado Worker Shows Head Injury Happened as a Consequence of a Knock on the Head at Work

April 4, 2024
Callfornia Division of Workers' Compensation Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee Meeting Scheduled for April 17, 2024

April 3, 2024
California Division of Workers' Compensation Posts Adjustments to Official Medical Fee Schedule (DMEPOS)

Relief is coming soon. So say state regulators finalizing the details of the workers' compensation reforms passed this year by the Legislature.

When the final changes emerge this week, California should offer a much friendlier environment to current and potential employers ... without compromising care to injured workers. Let's hope so, because bloated workers' comp costs continue to cost California jobs and damage the state economy.

Policy-makers last week took a stride toward reform, retreating from doctor-shopping--a practice that has bilked billions of dollars from California companies. Now, regulators will let businesses and insurance companies create managed-care networks to handle claims. No longer will entrepreneurs be held hostage by workers' comp "specialists" that seem more adept at inflating patients' bills than healing injured workers. California companies could pocket the initial savings within days, if the insurance commissioner can persuade insurers to restrain premiums based on the projected savings.

The new networks-which must incorporate general practitioners and occupational injury specialists, and could include existing HMOs or PPOs- can launch as of Jan. 1. An injured worker would first see an employer-assigned doctor for diagnosis. The employee could then get treatment from that doctor, or any other provider in the network. The worker could seek a second or third opinion, or demand an independent review if he or she is unhappy with the first evaluation.

To make sure workers have access to the networks, doctors can be no more than 15 miles from their patients, except in rural areas, where the networks would need special exemptions from the state.

This shift-and other legislative reforms-could eventually save billions in payouts. For instance, rules the Legislature enacted this year say an injured worker is entitled to no more than 24 visits to a chiropractor or a physical therapist, unless the claims administrator approves more treatment. Previously, workers qualified for unlimited care. As a result, the typical workers' comp patient saw a chiropractor 39 times, more than double the national average of 15. Excessive office visits shot premiums skyward.

That trend is reversing, thanks to Gov. Schwarzenegger, who placed workers' comp reform at the top of his agenda, and state regulators who've brought common sense and balance to a system that's been an ATM for lawyers and injury "specialists." Here's hoping these reasonable policy changes translate into relief for ratepayers-and soon.