WCDefenseCA

Your humble blogger has often thought, dear readers, that if he was given unlimited power and control over California’s workers’ compensation system, there are a lot of changes he would make. 

Bow ties would be mandatory, always and forever.  Judges would be powerless to sanction defense attorneys for doing air quotes when addressing the deponent as “doctor” during a deposition.  5710 fees would be limited to comparable rates for defense attorney hourly fees.

Once the drunk-with-power period faded, however, there are some substantive changes that I would like to see made to the way we navigate our beloved swamp of workers’ compensation.  So, introducing as of today, the humble blogger’s wish-list series!

Today’s wish is a reform of MPN mileage rules to reflect the realities of telemedicine.  Pursuant to 8 CCR 9767.5, one of the requirements for MPN validity is to provide at least 3 physicians ready to serve as PTP within 15 miles or 30 minutes of an applicant’s residence or workplace (or only the workplace, depending on which panel decisions you follow) and 60 minutes or 30 miles for occupational health services and specialists.

What does that mean in a world where a growing number of physician visits are conducted over telemedicine?  If applicant challenges the validity of an MPN based on distance requirements, can the defense realistically offer PTP’s exactly zero miles from applicant’s home because the internet connects to applicant’s living room?

Your humble blogger would revise 9767.5 to offer an exception to the distance requirements, which could be inserted as 9767.5(a)(3) as follows:

Any treating physician equipped and willing to treat a covered employee’s injury or injuries via telemedicine will be considered as having satisfied the access standards set out in subsection (a), above.

Easy, no?

I understand, dear readers, that your humble blogger, when taking up the task of a running wish list, would make such a modest proposal… well… one could be seriously underwhelmed.  However, isn’t this perfectly consistent with the aspirations of a man who dreams of unrestricted power to force everyone to wear bow ties?

Hopefully this will be an ongoing series throughout these blog posts, dear readers.  But if you have any proposals, particularly those that would mitigate the destructive and poisonous effect the current workers’ compensation system has on employers, then your humble blogger is like a corn field right before harvest time: all ears.

Happy Monday, dear readers!

Your humble blogger loves nothing more than sharing virtual real estate in this beloved swamp of ours, called Workers’ Compensation.  But, if I might invite you to join me for a stroll through “delusions of grandeur forest” I will arrogantly take sole credit for the recent change in the goal and purpose of AB1465.

My beloved readers will recall my rather scathing blog post in the proposed legislation which would have rendered Medical Provider Networks toothless and moot by creating a so-called “California MPN” to which injured workers could flock when an MPN doctor declined to prescribe an all-expense paid vacation to Hawaii… you know… to cure the symptoms and all that.

Anywho, after taking my share of harsh words from some of the applicant attorneys and lien claimants (and their respective writings), it appears that AB1465 has changed significantly from all but eliminating MPNs to merely requiring “the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation, on or before January 1, 2023, to submit a study … on delays and access to care issues in medical provider networks.”

To demonstrate the boundless generosity of your humble blogger, I will save Californians countless tax dollars by providing a link to the CWCI study issued just last month, showing that, based on just over 181k claims with dates of injury between January 2019 and June 2019, there was practically no difference in days to first treatment as between MPN and non-MPN cases.  The average difference was 5.9 days for MPN cases and 5.6 days for non-MPN cases.  For the folks keeping score at home, that’s a difference of 7.2 hours. 

Your humble blogger is pleased that this further blow to employers and insurers was avoided, if only temporarily, and (all delusions regarding my own influence and reach aside) is grateful that reason prevailed.

Now, your humble blogger must turn his attention to the torches-bearing physician’s aides and pitchfork swinging applicant attorneys assembling at his front door, so, dear readers, till Wednesday!