Sincerely,

SB 863 Tweaks the Medical Provider Network Paradigm. MPNs came into being as part of the 2004 Workers' Comp Reform package set forth in SB 899.MPNs allowed employers to retain greater control over the medical treatment provided to injured workers, by allowing employers to create a network of employer-selected physicians to provide treatment on an industrial basis. LC 4616-4616.7 and R 9767.1-9767.16 set forth the framework for this MPN paradigm. After enactment of SB 899, employers enthusiastically availed themselves of the benefits of the MPN system. To a large extent, it has worked for the workers' comp community. However, several problems continued to arise on a regular basis. Read more.

Medical Provider Networks; List of Medical Providers. WCAB, denying removal, held that pursuant to WCJ's order and R 9767.12(f)(3), defendant was required to provide applicant with complete list of all California doctors within its MPN in specialties of orthopedics, internal medicine and psychiatry, and found that requiring provision of complete list rather than simply listing doctors in applicant's geographical area was not over-burdensome, when defendant maintained an electronic listing of all providers in its MPN, and defendant was authorized under R 9767.12(f)(3) to provide listing to applicant electronically by CD or by website, or could provide information by link to comprehensive electronic listing after limiting list to specialties specified by WCAB. See Vargas panel decision.