Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features CWCI’s release of a new report on California’s Independent Medical Review (IMR) process which found that after hitting a record high in 2018, the number of IMR decision letters declined in both 2019 and 2020.
CWCI noted that IMR decision letter volume fell to an all-time low last year as the pandemic drove down overall claim volume, and the adoption of the evidence-based prescription drug formulary reduced the number of pharmaceutical disputes submitted for IMR. Other key findings included that opioids’ share of pharmaceutical IMRs have declined from 32.2% to 28.3% since 2018, while over the same two-year span dermatologicals showed the biggest increase, jumping from 10.9% to 14.8%.