Access to Medical Treatment for Injured Workers in California: Year 1 Annual Report

An estimated 16 million workers use workers' compensation (WC) insurance annually in California. Many recent policy changes might have affected access to care for injured workers. For this study, the authors assess the various dimensions of access to care in the evolving policy environment to ensure that injured workers have adequate access to needed medical care and the opportunity to achieve better health outcomes. Access to care is an important domain to monitor, especially among vulnerable populations, as patients with better access to care systems are more likely to receive comprehensive, higher-quality care and are therefore more likely to experience better outcomes. The key objective of this study is to describe access to medical care among injured workers in the state of California, as mandated by Labor Code Section 5307.2. The authors analyze administrative and medical service bill data to examine changes over time for measures related to access to care for injured workers. The authors aim to highlight potential access-to-care barriers in the WC system and to understand whether changes in the WC system may be increasing access for injured workers. Overall, there were increases in claims, bill lines, and spending per provider. Although these increases were moderate to large in number, many of the differences were not statistically significant. These results suggest a concentration of treatment for injured workers, in which a relatively smaller number of providers furnished care to injured workers. Increasing concentration could offer opportunities for specialization in the treatment of work-related injuries. On the other hand, increasing concentration could lead to future access barriers related to scheduling.