Recent Releases
Division of Workers' Compensation Announces "Blue Ribbon Panel" on Medical Treatment Guidelines
April 20, 2006
California Labor Secretary Victoria Bradshaw said Wednesday that the Division of Workers' Compensation will release proposed regulations in about two weeks that would create a medical review committee to take the state’s utilization-review system beyond American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) treatment guidelines. Bradshaw made herself available for media interviews in conjunction with the second anniversary of the signing of Senate Bill 899. She touted the success of the reform bill and said regulators are taking a careful, deliberate approach toward further system changes. One of those steps will be adoption of a more comprehensive set of treatment guidelines, as mandated by SB 899. The reform bill imposed ACOEM as a stop-gap until the DWC produced a more thorough set of guidelines. Bradshaw said the proposed medical review committee will consist of medical doctors, chiropractors and other providers appointed by the DWC administrative director.