CCWC Conference’s Opening Session Debates SB 863

The CCWC Conference was July 16-19, 2014. The event was held at the Grand California Hotel on the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. They indicated there were over 500 attendees and over 52 speakers at the conference.

The opening session was a Legislative – Political update. The panelists were Paul Yoder and Jason Schmelzer from CCWC.

The speakers indicated it was too early to determine the ultimate impact of SB 863 as much of that bill has not been fully implemented. They discussed some of the goals of SB 863 and whether those goals are being met. Specifically;

Goal: Increased PD benefits
Outcome: PD has been increased. The costs associated with this have been higher than projected.

Goal: Reduce liens and the litigation associated with this.
Outcome: Liens are down around 50%

Goal: Implementation of RBRVS fee schedules
Outcome: This has been done, but the end result was a $300 million increase in costs to the system. This increase in costs was not anticipate.

Goal: Provide $2 in savings to employers for every $1 in PD increases
Outcome: This has not happened. At best, the impact of SB 863 will be flat. As it currently stands, SB 863 has increase costs for employers.

Finally, they mentioned a pending bill that is causing great concern for public entity employers. AB 2378 would make the 4860 benefits paid to police/fire in their first year post injury not count toward the 104 week cap on TD benefits. That would make police/fire eligible for an additional year of benefits.