The following is our updated analysis of SB 863 medical treatment provisions:

SB 863 Analysis: Medical Treatment Provisions (Revised 9/7/12). SB 863, widely lauded as the "new and improved" workers' compensation reform package passed both the houses of the legislature on Friday, August 31 and is now on the Governor's desk waiting to be signed. The package contains a plethora of revisions to current law intended to improve delivery of benefits to injured workers (IWs) while reducing costs for employers. This is especially true in the area of medical treatment...read more.

The Legislature passed SB 863 on 8/31/2012. Read the  enrolled bill.

SB 823 and Home Health Care. It looks likely that Governor Brown is going to sign Senate Bill 863 into law. There has been a lot of discussion concerning some of the more significant aspects of this legislation. The discussion thus far has seemed to focus on the Independent Medical Review (IMR) process, the elimination of the psyche, sleep disorder and sexual dysfunction add-ons and the increase in the PD rates. There is a lot more to the new law however. One of the interesting, yet not often discussed, aspects of the new law has to do with home health care. Read more.

CWCI Scorecard Examines California Workers' Comp Sprain Injury Claims. A new California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI) "Injury Scorecard" offers detailed data on work injury claims involving shoulder, arm, knee, and lower leg sprains. The Institute compiled data for the Score Card from 236,567 open and closed California workers' compensation claims from accident years 2001-2011 in which the primary diagnosis was a shoulder, arm, knee or lower leg sprain. Read more.

Utilization Review and IMR in SB 863, by Richard M. Jacobsmeyer, Esq. Read it. 

 Legislature Passes SB 863, by Richard M. Jacobsmeyer, Esq. Read it.

Workers' Comp Fraud Blotter: The Noodle Will Fight No More Fires. Read it.

Special Mission Exception to Going and Coming Rule Rejected in Claim for Car Accident on Way to Work: September CCC Advanced Postings (9/6/2012). Lexis.com subscribers can read it.