BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1542 Page 1 Date of Hearing: July 8, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 1542 (Mathis) - As Introduced April 23, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Insurance |Vote:|12 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill authorizes neuropsychologists to continue to perform the services of a qualified medical examiner (QME) in the workers' compensation system, and specifies minimum qualifications a neuropsychologist must meet in order to be a AB 1542 Page 2 QME. It also allows physicians who completed a residency training program under a predecessor organization to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (which currently accredits residency training programs) FISCAL EFFECT: Any costs to the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) are minor and absorbable as part of an ongoing regulatory effort (Workers Compensation Administration Revolving Fund). COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. This bill is intended to supersede pending regulations in one narrow aspect related to QMEs, by authorizing neuropsychologists who meet certain criteria to be QMEs. 2)QME process. QMEs are appointed to evaluate medical-legal disputes (disputes over the extent to which an injured employee's injuries or conditions are disabling or are work-related), upon request of a party to a workers' compensation claim. The requesting party specifies the type of expertise needed to resolve the dispute, and the Division of Worker's Compensation (DWC) appoints a panel, from which a single QME is selected. 3)Clinical neuropsychology is a specialty recognized by the AB 1542 Page 3 American Psychological Association. Neuropsychologists assess, diagnose, and treat neurological disorders or injuries, and have expertise in the applied science of brain and behavior. A neuropsychologist may evaluate a patient or an injured worker who has a known or suspected brain injury or brain disease, and evaluate how their brain function impacts day-to-day behavior and ability. If neuropsychology is the required expertise, but only general psychologists are on the QME lists, proponents suggest the system will incur added expense and time for consultations with neuropsychologists. 4)Division of Workers' Compensation Regulations. DWC held a public hearing on May 22 to make revisions on the QME regulations. DWC intends to promulgate regulations establishing how medical specialties are recognized in the QME process. According to DIR, the Division's intent is to establish a standard that specialties must be recognized by an appropriate regulatory board. 5)Board of Psychology recognition of specialties. The Board does not recognize specialties the way some other healing arts boards do. Instead, the Board enforces competency of practice on a complaint basis using expert review to establish competency. For example, if the complaint is against someone performing neuropsychology then the Board would refer the matter to an expert in neuropsychology to see if the subject deviated from the standard of care or provided care outside of his/her expertise. 6)Urgency. The author explains an urgency clause is necessary to prevent new regulations to go into effect. According to the author and DWC, these regulations exclude neuropsychologists from being QMEs because they are not recognized as a specialty by the Board of Psychology. AB 1542 Page 4 Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081