Book Description

The California's Workers' Compensation (WC) program provides medical care and indemnity (e.g., wage-replacement) benefits to workers who suffer on-the-job injuries and illnesses. The Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) is mandated by California's Labor Code Section 5307.2 to assess whether injured workers have adequate access to quality care on an annual basis and authorizes the administrative director (AD) of DWC to make appropriate adjustments in fee schedule amounts if the AD determines there is inadequate access to care. The California Department of Industrial Relations commissioned RAND researchers to examine annual trends in access to care for injured workers in a three-year effort. This report documents findings from the second year of this effort. This Year 2 report updates the trends examined in the Year 1 report by including an analysis of medical claims data from 2012 to 2015 (which includes injured workers followed for 12 months following initial injury; i.e., into 2016), analysis from a RAND-fielded physician survey, and data from Medical Provider Network listings. Researchers' key objective for this Year 2 report is to describe access to medical care among injured workers in California as mandated by state Labor Code Section 5307.2. This report builds on earlier California WC access reports sponsored by the state.