Workers’ compensation: medical treatment.
Existing law establishes a workers’ compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law requires an employer to provide medical treatment that is reasonably required to cure or relieve an employee from the effects of the injury. Existing law allows employers to create networks of medical treatment providers to send employees to for treatment. Existing law sets out criteria for these networks and exceptions for when an employee may be treated outside the network.
This bill would require the administrative director to establish a statewide medical provider network, called the California Medical Provider Network (CAMPN). The bill would establish that an employee may choose to treat within their employer’s network or the CAMPN. The bill would require that the providers in the CAMPN be sufficient to enable treatment for a variety of injuries in all parts of the state. The bill would specify criteria physicians must meet to be included in the CAMPN and would require inclusion for those physicians that meet the criteria. The bill would require the administrative director to establish rules and procedures for the CAMPN and create and adopt a continuity of care policy.