CWCI News

Report: California Workers’ Comp Public Self-Insured Claim Volume Rose in FY 2021/22

California’s public self-insured workforce rose less than 1% in the 12 months ending June 30, but the total number of public self-insured work injuries and illness claims reported to the state jumped 35%, as the medical-only claim count rose 29.9% …

California Workers’ Comp Benefits to Increase in 2023

California’s State Average Weekly Wage rose by more than 5% in the year ending March 31, 2022, which will result in an increase in California workers’ compensation temporary total disability and permanent total disability rates for 2023 work injury claims …

California Workers’ Comp Independent Medical Review Volume Fell in First Half of 2022

After hitting a record low in 2021, the number of independent medical reviews used to resolve California workers’ comp medical disputes continued to decline in the first half of 2022 according to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute. California law requires …

California Private Self-Insured Claim Frequency Hit 14-Year High in 2021

Workers’ compensation claim frequency among California’s private self-insured employers last year hit the highest level since 2007 as both medical-only and indemnity claim volume rose, according to a California Workers’ Compensation Institute review of initial data from the state Office …

Report: Sharp Increase in California Workers’ Comp Med-Legal Costs

Payments for medical-legal services used to resolve medical disputes over compensability issues in California work injury claims have risen sharply under the new Medical-Legal Fee Schedule that took effect last year, a new report shows. The report from the California …

Report: Ibuprofen Now Most Heavily Used Drug in California Workers’ Comp

New data shows the types of drugs used to treat injured workers in California, and the distribution of payments for those medications, has shifted over the past decade, with opioids becoming far less prevalent and anti-inflammatory drugs accounting for an …

Report: Sharp Drop in California Workers’ Comp Independent Medical Reviews

A report from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute on the state’s independent medical review process used to resolve workers’ comp medical disputes shows the number of IMR decision letters hit an all-time low in 2021. The drop comes as pharmaceutical …

People Moves: Thaler to Chair California Workers’ Comp Institute Board; Belk, Brady, Hansen, Mathis, Steiner, Zender on Executive Committee

Sharon Thaler, national director of workers’ compensation field underwriting operations at AF Group/CompWest, has been elected to chair the California Workers’ Compensation Institute board for 2022. Thaler was elected at CWCI’s 58th annual meeting in Walnut Creek. She was first …

Medical Access in California Workers’ Compensation Examined

A new California Workers’ Compensation Institute study shows injured workers’ overall access to medical care for their initial treatment remained relatively consistent between 2010 and 2020. CWCI used data from more than 1.5 million job injury claims from accident years …

Report: California Public Self-Insured Workers’ Comp Indemnity Claim Cost up

An analysis shows that in the midst of the pandemic, the total number of job injury claims reported by California public self-insured employers edged down slightly last year, but a growing number of lost-time claims and rising claim severity fueled …