Carve-Out Programs Ax IMR in Effort to Streamline Dispute Resolution

The City and County of San Francisco has entered into carve-out agreements with police and firefighter unions, providing an alternative workers’ comp dispute resolution process for about 3,800 sworn officers, officials announced on Thursday. The agreements with the San Francisco Police Officers Association and the San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798 will take effect July 1. A key provision of the identical agreements is the elimination of independent medical review, or IMR, as a way to decide disputes over injured workers’ medical treatment, according to the city’s Human ...