The number of qualified medical evaluators resolve disputes over California workers’ compensation claim issues fell 20 percent between January 2012 and September 2017, according to a new California Workers’ Compensation Institute study.

However, the CWCI study shows that the impact on QME accessibility was partially offset by an increase in the median number of office locations per QME, which doubled over the same period.

The study also notes that after climbing steadily from 2007 through 2014, the average payment per med-legal service leveled off in 2015 and 2016, with data from the first half of 2017 suggesting the average may now be declining.

The study compares data from the list of physicians certified by the state as QMEs in 2012 to the certified QME list from September 2017, identifying the number of providers, their specialties, their addresses and their number of office locations.

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