Workers' compensation: medical provider networks: independent medical reviews.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. Existing law authorizes an insurer, employer, or entity that provides physician network services to establish or modify a medical provider network for the provision of medical treatment to injured employees, and requires the administrative director to contract with individual physicians or an independent medical review organization to perform medical provider network independent medical reviews. Existing law provides that if a treatment or diagnostic service remains disputed after a 3rd physician's opinion, the injured employee may request a medical provider network independent medical review. Existing law requires the review to use standards established in statute or use the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines. This bill would delete the authorization to use the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines as standards for those independent medical reviews. The bill would make additional technical, nonsubstantive changes.