November 2005

California MDs upset with WC

California chiropractors are not the only healthcare providers who are upset with the state’s workers’ compensation system. According to a survey of medical doctors taken by the California Medical Association, 63 percent of MDs in the survey say they intend to leave or reduce participation in workers’ comp. And of these, one-third plan to quit entirely.

The survey was conducted 18 months into the state’s WC reform effort. According to the medical association report, workers’ compensation remains costly and the execution of reforms “reveal hostility to injured workers and the physicians who treat them.”

The survey found:

• Workers do not get timely and necessary medical care because clinical guidelines are inadequately developed and improperly implemented;

• Bureaucratic processes add significant cost and delay treatment;

• Individuals who lack necessary clinical training and do not meet statutory requirements designed to protect injured workers are making treatment decisions;

• WC insurance carriers routinely delay payments and underpay claims;

• A number of “medical provider networks” demand discounts but offer no experience in managing workers’ comp and no assurance that they pass savings to employers.

The report says that the medical association agreed that reforms were necessary, but the reforms that were implemented lack auditing and enforcement. As a result, “employers and insurers operate outside the law.”

The full report is available on the California Medical Association Web site, www.cmanet.org.

Source: California Medical Association, www.cmanet.org

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