California DWC

California's MPN Cesspool: Impossible by Design?

California’s Medical Provider Network (MPN) system is broken beyond repair, to the point where finding an MPN doctor is simply impossible for many injured workers. We’...

Sedgwick: Non-Compliant Bulk Payments From Careworks (Part 1)

In California, claims administrators—and apparently, Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs)—are effectively free to create their own payment rules. A provider submitt...

CA OMFS Update: Physician Services (Q3 2025)

California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (CA DWC) issued a third-quarter update to the Physician and Non-Physician Practitioner portion of the Official Medical Fee Sche...

DWC Data: Texas Delivers, California Dodges

The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation (TX DWC) and the California Division of Workers’ Compensation (CA DWC) each hold a sacred public trust to oversee the treatment of...

CA Advances New Med-Legal Law. Will CA DWC Ignore It?

On June 2, the California Assembly unanimously passed Assembly Bill 1293, which aims to improve the state’s Medical-Legal process for resolving disputes between injure...

CA DWC Ignores IBR Law That Protects Doctors

California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (CA DWC) is violating state law daily by failing to timely assign payment disputes to Independent Bill Review (IBR).Maxi...

Report: CA DIR Director Hagen Resigning

According to Workers’ Comp Executive, California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) Director Katrina Hagen is stepping down after five years. The Californ...

Workers’ Comp Has a Serious Data Problem

Anyone who’s been hurt at work (or treated an injured worker) knows that the workers' comp system is in crisis. To fix it, stakeholders need reliable, verifiable data—but tha...

Comp Is a Cash Cow—But CA Insurers Want Higher Rates?

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) just voted to ask California’s Insurance Commissioner to increase workers’ comp insurance rates by 11.2%.Tha...

Long Beach Pays CA Doctors Less Than Interpreters (and Plumbers)

Last week’s Diabolical Discounts revealed that the City of Long Beach paid a doctor just over $32 to treat an injured municipal employee. The article provoked outrage–and com...

Sedgwick Stiffs Doctors, County of LA Taxpayers Pick Up the Tab

Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. has made it a business practice to defy California workers’ compensation laws, and public entities like the County of ...

Diabolical Discounts: Long Beach Pays Doctor $32 to Treat Injured Employee

Across the nation, providers struggle to treat injured workers without financially damaging their practices. The problem is especially ugly in California, where extrem...