California suspended 261 comp providers in 2022

The California Division of Workers’ Compensation last year suspended more providers who were convicted of fraud than in any year since 2017.

The DWC suspended 261 providers in 2022, according to information on its website — more than five times the total suspensions during the height of the pandemic. The division suspended five providers in 2021 and 42 in 2020.

California lawmakers in 2016 passed A.B. 1244, which included a provision requiring the DWC to suspend providers convicted of fraud or related crimes, who have lost their license or who have been kicked out of a program such as Medicare or Medicaid starting in 2017.

The division suspended 166 providers in the first year of the new law and another 175 in 2018. The DWC suspended 83 providers in 2019.

Information on the DWC’s fraud page shows the agency suspended another 33 providers so far this year, bringing the total suspensions since 2017 to 765. An additional 71 suspensions are currently pending.

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