Workers Comp

Calif. bill would extend deadline for outstanding comp report

March 25, 2022 Reprints

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A recently amended bill would give the California Division of Workers’ Compensation more time to complete a report that was due in 2020, analyzing the effect of exempting from prospective utilization review certain treatments provided in the first 30 days after an injury.

Lawmakers on Tuesday amended A.B. 2848 to require that the DWC provide lawmakers the assessment of the UR changes made by S.B. 1160 by July 1, 2023. As introduced in February, the measure proposed “nonsubstantive changes” to a law allowing the labor commissioner to investigate employee complaints.

The amended A.B. 2848 would also extend the scope of the division’s review by requiring the analysis to include claims filed between Jan. 1, 2017, and Jan. 1, 2021.

S.B. 1160, enacted in 2016, required the DWC to contract with an independent research organization to analyze the effect the UR exemption had on the treatment provided for claims filed between Jan. 1, 2017, and Jan. 1, 2019. The division has not submitted the report that was due Jan. 1, 2020, according to a state website of agency reports.

The previous legislation also exempted from UR most treatment provided by a member of an employer’s medical provider network in the first 30 days following an injury. Imaging and radiology, durable medical equipment costing more than $250, surgery, psychological treatment and home health care were excluded from the UR exemption that took effect in 2018.

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau in 2021 said its analysis found the UR provision in S.B. 1160 didn’t lead to an overall increase in medical services.

A.B. 2848 awaits a hearing in the Assembly Insurance Committee.

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