New Hire Pamphlets

In late February, DWC amended the regulations governing the Predesignation of Personal Physicians and Reporting Duties of the Primary Treating Physician (CCR 9780, 9780.1, 9783, 9783.1, and 9785). These regs take effect July 1, 2014 and include some slight changes in the language the state has adopted for its optional physician predesignation form and its optional form that employees can use to name a personal chiropractor or acupuncturist, a version of which must be included in the new hire pamphlet per LC 3551(b)(3) and CCR 9880(c)(8).

CCR 9883 continues to allow insurers, employers or private enterprises to prepare and publish their own new hire pamphlet (as well as the posting notice) as long as they:

• include information specified in CCR 9880,
• are available in English and Spanish, and
• are approved by the DWC Administrative Director.

Some pamphlet vendors began alerting employers and other customers several weeks ago that they must change to a revised pamphlet by July 1. To avoid confusion and reassure those who were concerned, when it was time to reprint our pamphlets last month, CWCI opted to use the optional forms that were adopted by the state in February. We began distributing them in early June so employers could have them by July 1.

We have been asked whether employers will remain in compliance with the state’s notice requirements if they continue to provide the current (Rev. 10/12) version of their new hire pamphlet without the revised physician predesignation and personal chiropractor/acupuncturist forms. We put that question to Acting AD Destie Overpeck, who advised us late last week that because CWCI developed its own predesignation form that accurately reflects the statute, our Facts About Workers’ Comp pamphlet (Rev. 10/12) is fine and may be used after July 1, though pamphlets produced by other entities that contained DWC’s old version of the predesignation form should no longer be used after July 1 because the regs included a substantive change to DWC’s optional predesignation form.

Our pamphlet prices remain unchanged, so anyone who wishes to order the 7/1/14 version may do so by going to our online store (http://www.cwci.org/store.html). The pamphlet is available in English and Spanish (per CCR 9883). However, in estimating how many pamphlets you may need, please be advised that DWC continues to work on benefit notice regs that will eventually require more changes to the new hire pamphlet, posting notice, DWC-1 claim form, and benefit notice letters. The timeframe for final adoption of these regs is unclear as the state has been working on them for more than a year and they need to go through the regulatory approval process, but to minimize waste, we are suggesting that at this point, claims organizations stock no more than enough to last through 2014.

Again, you may continue to use the Facts About Workers’ Compensation (Rev. 10/12) , or if you choose to order pamphlets with the revised predesignation and personal chiropractor forms you can order them at our current prices either by visiting our online store or by calling our customer service department at 510-251-9470.

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