Industry Experts Offer Thoughts, Analysis of IMR

ANAHEIM, Calif. – If there was a recurring theme regarding independent medical review during the annual conference of the California Coalition on Workers' Compensation, it is that the jury is still out on whether the process will produce the cost savings that state lawmakers intended. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, in its initial cost projections for SB 863, said the new medical dispute resolution process would save $390 million a year. That was the second-largest cost-cutting component in the multi-faceted reform bill, coming behind only the lien provision...