Much is made of California as the quintessential blue state in Texas as the classic large deep red state, we are both part of the United States and in many ways there are more similarities than differences. The issues with Worker’s Compensation law are one area where workers are feeling the effect in both states. Consider this recent study in California indicating that an audit revealed the lengthy delays due to lack of experts available in the Worker’s Compensation field. This is similar to problems Texas and workers are currently experiencing due to the limited number of doctors willing to take on Wow much is made of California as the quintessential blue state in Texas as the classic large deep red state, we are both part of the United States and in many ways there are more similarities than differences. The issues with Worker’s Compensation law or one area where workers are feeling the effect in both states.
Consider this recent study in California indicating that an audit revealed the lengthy delays due to lack of experts available in the Worker’s Compensation field.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Injured workers in California often wait months or even years to receive the medical evaluations required to get needed treatment, and in some cases to determine how disabled they are as a result of the injury.
The reason? The state lacks enough physicians signed up with the state’s program to serve as experts.
That’s among the findings of a first-ever state audit of California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation, which noted that the state has not increased the pay schedule for expert doctors, known as Qualified Medical Evaluators, in 13 years.
“It’s affecting real workers, and if something is not being done correctly, they need to fix it,” said Democratic Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio of Baldwin Park. She requested the audit as a member of the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit, which will hold a hearing on the findings Tuesday. “But if it doesn’t get fixed, then we can step in and fix it. The department needs to take it seriously.”
This is similar to problems Texas and workers are currently experiencing due to the limited number of doctors willing to take on Worker’s Compensation.
This actually has several different facets. One, doctors in Texas are frequently unwilling to take on Worker’s Compensation cases as the primary treating physician due to the administrative role this entails and the paperwork associated with that.
Two, specialists who find it lucrative to practice in their field are seeing that Worker’s Compensation is not a good area to practice in because the paperwork and appeal requirements are often massively out of scale to the compensation gained. They have often found that they can reduce their staff and make more money by focusing on other areas of revenue from private insurance companies to government benefits.
Three, state designated doctors are contracted to perform independent medical evaluation to determine benefit eligibility in certain situations. They may cover extent of injury, maximum medical improvement, impairment rating, and return to work issues. These doctors perform these tasks for a scheduled rate and many specialists are not willing to do the work finding their practice areas more lucrative than medical examinations.
California in recent years has attempted to overhaul its Worker’s Compensation system. I do not know enough about California law to say whether any of those changes have had an affect as described in the audit, but it does appear they are grappling with some of the same issues that Texas has dealt with for years now.
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