CWCI Reports Increase in IMR Decision Letters

The California Workers' Compensation Institute reports that the number of Independent Medical Review decision letters is on the rise after several years of steady decreases. Despite the increase in volume, CWCI said the IMR process continues to uphold utilization review decisions to deny or modify treatment requests nearly 90% of the time. IMR disputes increased each year after the administrative process for appealing a denial of recommended treatment, created with the SB 863 reforms, was introduced in 2013.  In 2018, Maximus Federal Services issued a record 184,735 IMR decisi...