What You Need to Know About New MPN Regs and Other Recent Regulatory Revisions
The DWC continues to churn out regulations in order to fill in the details needed to implement various SB 863 reforms. On July 16, the Division submitted its proposed regulations governing Medical Provider Networks to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). OAL has until August 27 to approve these regs and file them with the Secretary of State, and DWC has requested that they become effective upon filing with the Secretary of State. In addition to the pending MPN changes, the state already has adopted changes to the Outpatient Facility Fee Schedule, which take effect September 1, and changes to regulations addressing predesignation and chiropractor treating physician requirements, which took effect July 1. To help workers’ compensation claims, medical care and legal professionals become familiar with these changes, CWCI will conduct an online regulatory seminar on Thursday, September 18.
The program will be presented by CWCI Claims and Medical Director Brenda Ramirez, CWCI Senior Research Associate Stacy Jones, and Ann Taintor, Regional Medical Coordinator for Liberty Mutual and chair of CWCI’s Medical Care Committee. CWCI General Counsel Mike McClain will provide legal insight and moderate the program, and Institute President Alex Swedlow will review of Institute research examining the use of MPNs in California workers’ compensation. The seminar will run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with two 15-minute breaks. To allow for audience participation, attendees will be able to submit written questions for a Q&A session. The primary focus of the program will be on the MPN reg, so key topics will include:
- The impact of the regs on the development, maintenance and operation of MPNs;
- MPN notice requirements;
- New penalty provisions;
- Network access standards; and
- Medical access assistant requirements
Claims professionals who register for the seminar can qualify for three post-designation training hours and, if they convene in a classroom setting with an instructor, toward Department of Insurance claims certification requirements. Upon request, after completing the program CWCI will issue certificates for individual enrollees. The cost of the program is $125 for CWCI member company employees and $175 for nonmembers, with group rates available for companies enrolling 5 or more employees (call 510-251-9470 for pricing). To register for the online seminar, go to the Seminar section of the CWCI website, http://www.cwci.org/. Confirmations, course materials and instructions for participating will be emailed to enrollees. For those who are unable to participate on September 18, CWCI may offer this program on our website on an on-demand basis at a later date.