Thursday, August 18, 2016

NOW COMES SB 1160 (Mendoza): Unreasonable Denials


SB 1160 (Mendoza) would require that lien claimants in workers comp file declarations with all liens as of 1 January 2017. Failure to follow through on this step would enable WCAB to dismiss the lien. As part of the signed declaration physicians would be obliged to say that the dispute in question is not subject to independent bill review. As we know from previous posts utilization review (UR) appointees  and independent medical reviewers (IMR) in California do not have to be licensed to practice in California, do not have to disclose their names, and are enabled by law to reject the most indicated and necessary treatment protocols . The situation is so dire that many treating physicians simply don't trust the utilization review or IMR process. In one recent post we disclosed how one UR doctor notified the injured worker's doctor about a denial of care at 10 PM while another notified the treating doctor's physician at 4:00 AM (nobody was home either time).

Carl Brakensiek, MBA, JD, Physician Advocate representing the California Neurology Society and the California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery, and others, has expressed concern "that some of the recently announced proposed amendments to SB 1160 will severely restrict access to care for many injured workers in California" and that certain "amendments being advanced by the Department of Industrial Relations will have a substantial adverse impact on many bona fide injured workers."


It was then pointed out that, fortunately, under the present system, because liens can be filed, there are physicians able and willing to provide medical care even though liability is being disputed. We call that a "Safety Net." It works because once proper liens are filed the providers of service get paid .

SB 1160 (Mendoza) throws all this past medical history out with the baby and the bathwater. It will require that liens for medical treatment be filed alongside declarations signed under penalty of perjury saying that the dispute isn't subject to independent medical review. Denial letters from adjusters or claims managers would no longer be automatically assumed to mean that "medical treatment has been neglected or unreasonably refused" and would allow employers to refuse coverage for injuries simply by asserting that the injury wasn't industrial. Brakensiek argues that this language should be revised "to specify clearly that if the employer has explicitly or constructively denied liability for the injury, then the claimant may file a lien."


Another likely blow to injured workers has to do with the assignment of liens. This technique is a financing modality useful when a number of liens have piled up over time because insurance companies, buttressed by Utilization Review, in turn buttressed by Independent Medical Review, have wrongly denied claims. The Lien Report from the Commission on Health and Safety Workers Compensation has already weighed in on this issue. Here is what was said: "we find no evidence that the practice of assigning lien rights is a problem in and of itself." By abolishing this mechanism, the Department of Industrial Relations now intends to make it a problem "in and of itself."

In a nutshell, prohibiting the assignment of liens would then become one more nail in the coffin of injured workers since many physicians now accepting liens would no longer be able to continue in practice. All in all we do not find that SB 1160 is helpful legislation in its current form. We find that amendments are needed. Therefore, at the present time, we urge an OUA (oppose unless amended) approach. 


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