The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s Actuarial Committee is set to talk about insurer experience, and the impact of the economic slowdown on the pure premium.

The committee is set to meet virtually at 9:30 a..m on March 21. The meeting is open to the public.

It takes seven years to close the vast majority of workers’ compensation claims in California, more than double the time in the median state.

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California released a report detailing duration drivers for California workers’ compensation claims.

The report, Drivers of California Claim Duration, describes duration drivers for California workers’ comp claims, including how claim duration differs regionally across the state.

California’s State Average Weekly Wage rose by more than 5% in the year ending March 31, 2022, which will result in an increase in California workers’ compensation temporary total disability and permanent total disability rates for 2023 work injury claims and other workers’ compensation benefits that are tied to SAWW increases, the California Workers’ Compensation Institute is reporting.

The latest wage data from the U.S. Department of Labor examined by CWCI show that California’s SAWW increased by 5.159% from $1,570 in the first quarter of 2021 to $1,651 in the first quarter of 2022.

As a result, the TTD/PTD maximum rate, which stands at $1,539.71 per week for 2022 injuries following a record increase of more than 13.5% that took effect last January, will increase by an additional $79.44 to $1,619.15 per week for claims with injury dates on or after Jan. 1, 2023.

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California released its 2022 WCIRB Geo Study, which underscores regional differences in claim characteristics across California.

Edgardo Cabrales Sr., 61, and his son, Edgar Cabrales Jr., 36, both of San Jose, California, were charged with five felony counts each of insurance fraud after a California Department of Insurance investigation found they allegedly underreported $12 million in employee wages and payroll to save on workers’ compensation insurance premiums.

The Cabrales own two commercial cleaning companies in San Jose: Pine Building Maintenance and Network Facility Management.

More than a half of all reported COVID-19 indemnity claims in California continue to arise from workers in the healthcare sector, according to a new report from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau.

The WCIRB released the information this week in a report, “COVID-19 in California Workers’ Compensation – 2022 Update.”

This report details the characteristics of COVID-19 workers’ comp claims in California and their impact on the state’s workers’ comp system.

An investigation by the California Department of Insurance resulted in the arrest last week of Rene Carlos Aguero, 71, and Gustavo Adolfo Lopez, 56, for allegedly submitting fraudulent vocational training vouchers for workers’ compensation claims and failing to provide the training at the for-profit school they run, Computer Institute of Technology.

Many of the injured workers were Spanish speakers who were asked to sign documents in English, which they did not understand, according to investigators.

Aguero and Lopez were charged with 18 felony counts, including conspiracy, insurance fraud, grand theft and forgery. The CDI estimates the fraudulent insurance claims to reach $1.7 million.

New data shows the types of drugs used to treat injured workers in California, and the distribution of payments for those medications, has shifted over the past decade, with opioids becoming far less prevalent and anti-inflammatory drugs accounting for an increasing share of the prescriptions and the total drug spend within the workers’ comp system.

Updated figures from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute ranks the top 10 therapeutic drug categories in the state’s workers’ comp system based on the volume of prescriptions and total reimbursements.

The summer surge of COVID-19 claims that hit the California workers’ compensation system in July and August appears to have run its course, according to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute.

A CWCI analysis released on Tuesday shows the number of claims reported to the state Division of Workers’ Compensation in September and October fell sharply, with the projected claim count for October falling to 3,621 cases, down nearly 56% from the 8,197 claims projected for the summer peak in August.

California workers’ compensation written premium for the first quarter of 2021 was 13% below that for the first quarter of 2020, according to a quarterly experience report issued on Wednesday by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California.

The WCIRB report is an update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of March 31.