California Insurance Commissioner OKs Workers’ Comp Rating Bureau Filing

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has approved a filing from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s that makes amendments to uniform statistical reporting and experience rating.

The WCIRB submitted a regulatory filing and ensuing amendments to the filing in Aug. 1 which was followed by a public hearing was held on Aug. 3.

California Cites Garment Contractors $570K, Some Lacked Workers’ Comp

The California Labor Commissioner’s Office has cited six Los Angeles area garment contractors $573,704 for labor law violations after uncovering a scheme where the contractors illegally operated under one license to avoid compliance.

Four of the contractors did not have valid workers’ compensation coverage for their employees.

California Comp Quarterly Report: Written Premium on Pace with Last year, but an Overall Declining Trend

Worker’s compensation rates in California have been going down a while, and that has had an impact on written premium, a report released on Wednesday shows.

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s report looks at on insurer loss and premium experience valued as of March 31, 2018.

California High Court: Workers’ Comp Law Provides Exclusive Remedy in Utilization Review Case

The California Supreme Court issued an opinion today that utilization review physicians cannot be sued for malpractice, upholding established law that the workers’ comp system provides injured employees an exclusive remedy against an employer for compensable work-related injuries.

The court considered the application of workers’ comp exclusivity to claims arising from the utilization review process. Utilization reviewers act on behalf of employers and determine whether the treatment plan recommended for an employee’s injury is medically necessary after consulting a schedule of uniform treatment guidelines.

Study Looks at Polypharmacy Claims in California Workers’ Comp

A study from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute shows the likelihood that indemnity was paid on a workers’ comp claim increased with the number of concurrent prescriptions the injured worker was on.

Concurrent use of multiple medications to treat one or multiple medical conditions has become prevalent, with up to 10 percent of the U.S. population and up to 30 percent of older adults taking five or more drugs simultaneously, according to the CWCI study.

California Workers’ Comp Changes Helping System, Division Chief Says

California’s workers’ compensation system has undergone numerous changes since the implementation of the sweeping reforms that started in 2013 with Senate Bill 863.

In the last few years medical provider fraud has been addressed by subsequent new laws, a plague of liens that burdened the system are being addressed, and there’s even a new drug formulary.

9 California Restaurants Cited for Failing to Provide Workers’ Comp

A joint enforcement strike force issued more than $200,000 in administrative fines to nine Contra Costa County, Calif. restaurants for failing to provide workers’ compensation insurance.

Investigators from the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, Department of Industrial Relations’ Labor Commissioner’s Office, and Employment Development Department conducted surprise inspections in June and July at Contra Costa County restaurants suspected of evading the obligation to provide workers’ comp insurance to employees.

Study Examines California Worker’s Comp Prescription Drug Outcomes Under New Formulary

A new analysis offers a preliminary look at Utilization Review and Independent Medical Review outcomes involving pharmaceutical requests for California injured workers since the state implemented a workers’ compensation formulary in January.

The analysis from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute issued on Friday shows that the proportion of UR decisions involving prescription drug requests fell from 44.5 percent in the pre-formulary period to 40.7 percent in the first five months of 2018.

California Orders Work Comp Insurers to Report Federal Income Tax Savings

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has issued an order directing every insurer licensed to write workers’ compensation insurance in the state must report their federal income tax savings annually through a rate filing in light of the new tax law.

The recent revision to the Federal Tax Schedule for 2018 reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. That means that nationally insurers will now be able to retain even more of policyholder premiums as profit.

California Workers’ Comp Division Says Temporary Total Disability Rates to Increase for 2019

The 2019 minimum and maximum temporary total disability rates will increase on Jan. 1, 2019, the California Division of Workers’ Compensation announced on Tuesday.

The minimum TTD rate will increase from $182.29 to $187.71 and the maximum TTD rate will increase from $1,215.27 to $1,251.38 per week.

PARMA

Workers’ Comp