WCIRB Produces Massive SB 863 Study
California’s Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) has recently produced a massive monitoring study on Senate Bill 863. The monitoring plan is basically an outline and specifications on future SB 863 studies.
The outline itself is 23 pages in length.
The plan is separated into Indemnity and Medical benefit delivery changes. The studies that are planned for publication in 2013 include:
- Indemnity Claim Frequency Changes
- Liens
- Surgical Implant Hardware
- Ambulatory Surgical Care Centers (ASC’s)
- % of Medical Care Provided in Medical Provider Networks (MPN’s)
- Independent Bill Reviews
The most discussed study results will likely be liens. However, the one that should be interesting and may possibly apply outside of CA is the medical treatment provided by MPN’s. Proper use of employer directed medical care is control of the claim and lower costs to provide an acceptable level of medical care. MPN’s are CA’s version of medical treatment panels in other states.
States that do not have employer directed medical care or medical treatment panels have been shown to be much more expensive to provide applicable care.
Surgical implant hardware analysis may produce unexpected results. This type of medical treatment has rarely been studied at length. Implanted hardware has been a very controversial topic for many years.
ASC’s have long been a controversial topic in certain states. Outpatient treatment were allowed to be off-fee-schedule which caused much inflated charges to be incurred by TPA’s, carriers, and in turn employers.