Assembly Bill 584 (Fong): stops the unlicensed practice of medicine

AB 584 (Fong) is an important step in the right direction and should be supported by physicians and by all of their organizations.

As matters stand now, injured workers may legally be denied access to diagnostic tests and treatment needed to diagnose and treat their injuries even when properly prescribed by duly licensed California doctors.

The legal maneuver used to deprive injured workers of indicated and necessary treatment is based on the Schwarzenegger adaptation of utilization review. Utilization review is required by California law -- it's supposed to be a way to supervise treating doctors and prevent overutilization of services. It is primarily a cost control measure.

In 2005 the Schwarzenegger administration persuaded the Office of Administrative Law to agree that utlization review wasn't medical practice and, therefore, did not require California state licensure. Never mind that the Medical Board of California stated that utilization review was certainly an aspect of medical practice. Once the leash was relaxed on the insurance companies, several insurance groups and their management cohorts hired doctors for utilization review who were not licensed in California and who would not, therefore, be required to take the special 12-hour course in pain management that is required of California licensed doctors.

The upshot is that under current law utilization review doctors who are not licensed in California are allowed to overrule California doctors who are licensed in California.

These non-California licensed doctors are not responsible for their mistakes before the Medical Board of California because they're not licensed in California. They're also not responsible to the medical boards of the states in which they are licensed because those states don't have jurisdiction in California.

The non-California licensed doctors are also not obliged to pay licensure fees to the Medical Board -- they get a free ride while their licensed colleagues are obliged not only to pay for licensure but also for a mandatory pain management course.

Injured workers in California are subjected to delays and denials of treatment by doctors who should not have been allowed to practice in California in the first place.

The Schwarzenegger workers comp policy has caused innumerable delays and denials of treatment and has caused countless workers to lose out on the treatment that could have returned them to work.

Physicians in California should reach out in support of AB 584 (Fong). The bill has already passed the Assembly. It should clear the Senate. Then Gov. Brown should sign it into law.