A California Workers’ Compensation Institute analysis opioid prescription data between 2017 and 2023 from the California Department of Justice’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System builds on prior CWCI studies by tracking multiple opioid utilization metrics. The study examines …
A bill that would give a presumption of compensability to farmworker heat-related injury claims if an employer is found to be out of compliance with Cal/OSHA’s outdoor heat illness prevention standard would likely create more challenges than it would solve, …
A California Workers’ Compensation Institute study shows nearly half of all litigated claims in the Los Angeles Basin are cumulative trauma claims that involve physical or mental injuries from repetitive stress, motion, or exposures, rather than from a specific event …
The number of inpatient hospitalizations in the California workers’ compensation system declined 51.1% between 2012 and 2022, a new report shows. The trend was driven by declining claim volume, technological advances and changes in Medicare rules that allow more outpatient …
A study from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute shows the likelihood that indemnity was paid on a workers’ comp claim increased with the number of concurrent prescriptions the injured worker was on. Concurrent use of multiple medications to treat one …
New data on the Independent Medical Review (IMR) process used to resolve California workers’ comp medical disputes show that IMR volume dipped for the first time ever in 2017, but the outcomes were unchanged as IMR physicians again upheld 91.2 …
Workers in California’s Central Valley have a distinctly different workers’ comp claims experience than those from other regions in terms of notification and treatment lag times, mix of injuries, types of care, types of drugs used, levels of attorney involvement, …
A recent California Workers’ Compensation Institute study shows that adopting a state-mandated workers’ comp prescription drug formulary such as those used in Texas and Washington State could reduce California workers’ compensation pharmacy payments by an estimated $124 million to $420 …