Young: 2022 Workers' Comp Quiz

Friday, January 21, 2022 | 0

Where is California workers’ comp headed in 2022? That’s the subject of the 2022 Workers Comp Zone quiz. Each year I kick off the year with a quiz for workers’ comp savants.

Julius Young

In some instances, there may be more than one correct answer, or perhaps none. But perhaps you can see through the fog. Give it a whirl.

1. The Workers' Compensation Appeals Board has had an open slot since the 2021 departure of Juan Pedro Gaffney. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom will: 

• Appoint an applicants' attorney to the slot.
• Use the slot for a retiring legislator.
• Appoint a defense attorney.
• Appoint someone serving in his administration.
• Appoint someone from a labor union.
• None of these.

2. Development of a copy service fee schedule has been in the works for several years. In 2022, we will find that: 

• A new schedule is finalized based on a stakeholder consensus.
• Multiple copy services close (in addition to med-legal copy service) due to unsustainable economic pressures without a new schedule.
• There is increased interest in a model for an online copy service “lockbox” with records accessible to all parties to the claim.
• The Division of Workers' Compensation will not finalize a new schedule this year.
• None of these.

3. In-person WCAB conferences and hearings will:

• Resume in the first quarter of 2022 as the omicron and delta variants ease considerably.
• Not resume until late 2022 as new variants of COVID create further waves of concern.
• Be the subject of discussion as some stakeholders propose a permanent remote option for hearings and conferences.
• None of these.

4. In 2022, there will be increasing concern about: 

• Emerging evidence that long-term COVID claims will be numerous.
• The cost of medical-legal reports under the new qualified medical evaluator fee schedule adopted in 2021.
• The impact of inflation on injured workers.
• Attracting workers to the claims industry.
• Emerging discussions about the next series of workers’ comp reforms.
• Claims arising from remote work during the pandemic.

5. On the legislative front in 2022, we will see:

• Very limited workers' comp activity.
• A major legislative fight over a single-payer proposal, with workers’ comp hardly mentioned in that tussle.
• A major comp reform proposal pushed by some stakeholders.
• A focus on COVID presumptions.
• Enactment of a bill addressing some issues with medical networks.
• Great turnover in the Legislature creating uncertainty in 2023.

6. By the end of 2022, we will notice that: 

• More QMEs are coming into the system, attracted by the new Medical-Legal Fee Schedule.
• The pool of QMEs continues to shrink, as QMEs retire faster than new ones are added.
• Significant case delays are created by the lack of QMEs in many specialties and the unavailability of timely QMEs in others.
• QME costs in the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund system come under fire.
• The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau will note that medical-legal costs have risen more than other costs in the system.
• Some stakeholders flirt with a return to a dueling QME system.

7. By the end of 2022, we will find:

• Reapportionment and legislative turnover lead to workers’ comp becoming an issue in legislative races.
• Lorena Gonzalez heading the California Labor Federation, and applicants' attorneys will have stronger ties to labor.
• Claim frequency drops due to workers’ leaving jobs during the Great Resignation.
• Claim frequency increases due to the Great Resignation.
• System frictional costs moderate.
•  Increased focus on the large systemic cost item of insurer commissions and acquisition expenses.

8. As 2022 ends, there will be:

• Anticipation of DWC study of doctors who are “frequent flyers,” generating independent medical review disputes.
• Focus on the growth of the SIBTF and employer assessments to support it.
• Groups arguing for more racial diversity at the DWC/WCAB.
• A continued decline in advisory and average workers’ comp rates paid by employers.
• An upward spike in advisory and average workers’ comp rates paid by employers after 11 declines since 2015.

9. Events that unfold in 2022 include:

• The Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation launches a study on how workers’ comp medical might be integrated into a single-payer system and the effect on indemnity claims.
• Newsom's state budget funds health coverage for the undocumented, resulting in a decline in claims that enter the comp system.
• The California Workers' Compensation Institute and the WCIRB delve deeper into factors that drive higher frictional costs in the Los Angeles Basin.
• Increased focus on medical provider networks and why many doctors in networks refuse to take comp cases.
• A new COVID variant leads to a spike in claims just when we thought we were done with the coronavirus.
• Controversy about bailouts to the Employment Development Department's unemployment and state disability programs while workers’ comp benefits are not increased.

10. 2022 events of note include: 

• Though losing ground across the country, progressive Democrats take more seats in the California Legislature and weaken the role of business Democrats at the Capitol.
• Rising workers’ comp costs become an issue in a surprisingly competitive governor’s race.
• Workers’ comp never makes it to the radar of the gubernatorial race.
• The issue of the constitutionality of Proposition 22 (the Uber/Doordash initiative) heads back to the California Supreme Court.
• Cumulative trauma claims decline, deflating some stakeholders’ call for tightening the law.
• CT claims spike as workers who resigned during the pandemic file claims.

Take a trip down memory lane. Here is the 2021 quiz, and here is the 2020 quiz.

Julius Young is an applicants' attorney and a partner for the Boxer & Gerson law firm in Oakland. This column was reprinted with his permission from his Workers Comp Zone blog on the firm's website.