WC
Reform Result of Chamber Action
The workers' compensation package passed by both houses of
the Legislature and signed by the Governor in April includes the elements that
the Chamber deemed essential to addressing the workers' compensation crisis in
California.
The Chamber has consistently highlighted the need to address
the cost drivers within the system: excessive litigation, subjective medical
standards, and doctor shopping, among others. This package effectively
addresses each of these key issues while also protecting benefits of
California's severely injured workers.
By passing this package immediately, savings can be realized
and passed onto employers and the sooner employers see their skyrocketing costs
brought under control, the sooner they will have the resources to create jobs
in our state.
Specifically, reforms contained in this package will fundamentally change the
system for determining the level of injury and the amount of disability
assigned to that injury. California's existing disability system is wrought
with subjectivity that leads to questionable and inconsistent disability
ratings.
Key points of the package include:
· Requiring that disability reports be based on the standards from the American
Medical Association's 5th Edition of Impairment standards and that the
disability schedule be objective and consistent;
· Ensuring that employers are only responsible for the
portion of the injured workers' disability that is the result of their existing
job;
· Closing a loophole that allowed multiple disability awards in excess of 100
percent of disability;
· Creating a new medical network for employers to control unnecessary medical
utilization in the workers comp system that provides that injured workers be
treated by a network chosen by the employer. However, there are extensive
provisions to allow injured workers who are dissatisfied with their care to
change doctors within the network and ultimately to ask for an independent
medical review;
· Ensuring that medical treatment follows nationally recognized
guidelines;
· Clear parameters for what is acceptable treatment for injured workers in the
workers' compensation system;
· Reducing excessive litigation by reducing the friction in the permanent
disability system, ensuring that medical decisions are resolved by doctors not
lawyers and judges.
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The reforms came through SB 899
sponsored and piloted through the process by Senator Charles Poochigian;
R-Fresno and supported by area legislators.
Information provided by The California Chamber of Commerce. For more
information, go to
http://www.calchamber.com/headlines/index.cfm?id=299&action=detail&navid=374
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