Officials Strain To Set New Calif. Comp Regs

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, Aug. 31, 3:32 p.m.EDT?Efforts by the Division of Workers' Compensation tomeet a deadline for crafting regulations that implementCalifornia's new comp law reforms are on schedule, a spokesmansaid.[@@]

"We're still on track with our time frame. There hasn't been anydelays," said Dean Friar, speaking for the Department of IndustrialRelations, which contains the division.

The possibility that development of rules could be delayed hasbeen an issue of concern raised by some in the insuranceindustry.

"There's a lot left to implement by Jan. 1," said Bruce Wood,assistant general counsel of the American Insurance Association inWashington, D.C., speaking about the regulations last week.

Mr. Wood, speaking at the Workers' Compensation EducationalConference in Orlando, Fla., told a session on National Trends InWorkers' Compensation, sponsored by National Underwriterthat he thought work on the regulations "could go either way. Itcould be implemented successfully or we could have a trainwreck."

Mr. Friar said the regulations being worked on involve the useof American Medical Association guidelines for impairment ratingsthat would determine an injured worker's degree of disability.

Among other regulations would be standards and requirements foremployers' use of medical provider networks to treat injuredworkers.

Mr. Friar said the division aims to complete regulations by Nov.1 in order to deliver them to the Office of Administrative Law fora review of compliance with state statutes.

OAL has a month to approve the regulations or send them back formodification. The division has had two meetings to put togetherregulations and will hold public hearings in September and Octoberto further refine them before Nov. 1. "It's an aggressive approachbut we're going to do it," he said.

Sam Sorich, president of the Association of California InsuranceCompanies in Sacramento, said insurers were looking forward torules setting a permanent disability schedule that gives carrierspredictable results so they have the ability to predict ultimatelosses.

The current system, he said, is very subjective and allows forbig differences in the findings of different judges for the sametype of injury.

Predictability, he said, would make insurers "more confident tostay in the marketplace."

As for meeting the deadline, Mr. Sorich said: "I wouldn't saywe're in a crisis stage quite yet." However, he noted, "there wasan expectation by now there would be at least a draft ofregulations out." Still, he added, "I wouldn't sound the alarmquite yet. We remain hopeful."