Workers' compensation: medical treatment.

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 employment. Existing law requires the administrative director to adopt a medical treatment utilization schedule. Existing law requires the administrative director to contract with an outside independent research organization to evaluate and report on the impact of the provision of medical treatment within the first 30 days after a claim is filed, for claims filed on or after January 1, 2017, until January 1, 2019. Existing law requires the report to be completed before January 1, 2020, and to be distributed to the administrative director, the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations, and the Assembly Committee on Insurance. This bill would require the administrative director to contract with an outside independent research organization to evaluate and report on the impact of the provision of medical treatment within the first 30 days after a claim is filed for those claims filed between January 1, 2017, and January 1, 2021. The bill would require the report to be completed before July 1, 2023.