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California’s Workers’ Compensation Permanent Disability Rating System: A Pre-Reform and Post-Reform Evaluation — 2005

This research brief describes work documented in An Evaluation of California's Permanent Disability Rating System (MG-258-ICJ).

Distribution of Losses from Large Terrorist Attacks Under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act — 2005

The pending expiration of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) of 2002 is the impetus for this assessment of how TRIA redistributes terrorism losses. The authors find that the role of taxpayers is expected to be minimal in all but very rare cases and that, even with TRIA in place, a high fraction of losses would go uninsured in each of the attack scenarios examined.

Evaluating Medical Treatment Guideline Sets for Injured Workers in California — 2005

An evaluation of medical guidelines that might be used to determine the appropriateness of treatment for work-related injuries in California. Of 72 guideline sets that were identified and screened, five comprehensive sets were found to satisfy the legislative requirements and state preferences. Based on results of a comparative evaluation of the technical quality and clinical content of the five guideline sets, recommendations are given for actions the state might take in the short term, intermediate term, and longer term.

An Evaluation of California’s Permanent Disability Rating System — 2005

California’s disability rating system has been criticized as being inconsistent and prone to promote disputes over the appropriate level of permanent disability benefits. This monograph follows an earlier interim briefing on California’s permanent disability rating schedule. The authors provide a systematic evaluation of the ratings system that was used prior to the state’s 2004 workers’ compensation reform efforts. Among other analyses, they examine the extent to which workers with higher disability ratings experience higher earnings losses.

How Does Health Insurance Affect Workers’ Compensation Filing? — 2005

How Does Health Insurance Affect Workers' Compensation Filing?

National Security and Compensation Policy for Terrorism Losses — 2005

Terrorism insurance policy may be an important element of the strategy against terrorism, particularly as terrorists increasingly focus on economic targets.

Paying for Repackaged Drugs Under the California Workers’ Compensation Official Medical Fee Schedule — 2005

Paying for Repackaged Drugs Under the California Workers' Compensation Official Medical Fee Schedule

Payment for Hardware Used in Complex Spinal Procedures under California’s Official Medical Fee Schedule for Injured Workers — 2005

This study updates analyses from a 2003 RAND report examining Official Medical Fee Schedule (OMFS) payments for workers' compensation spinal surgery discharges from acute care hospitals. The OMFS maximum allowable fees for inpatient hospital care are...

Payments for Burn Patients Under California’s Official Medical Fee Schedule for Injured Workers — 2005

Payments for Burn Patients Under California's Official Medical Fee Schedule for Injured Workers

Trends in Terrorism: Threats to the United States and the Future of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act — 2005

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) requires insurers to offer commercial insurance that will pay on claims that occur from a terrorist attack, and for losses on the scale of 9/11, TRIA provides a "backstop" in the form of free reinsurance. The authors describe the evolving terrorist threat with the goal of comparing the underlying risk of attack to the architecture of financial protection that has been facilitated by TRIA.

Adopting Medicare Fee Schedules: Considerations for the California Workers' Compensation Program — 2004

In response to rapidly increasing medical costs in the California workers' compensation program, the California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation is recommending that the current fee schedule that determines the amount health care providers are paid be linked to Medicare fee schedules. This study examines issues arising from the differences between the two types of fee schedules, modifications that may be needed to tailor the Medicare fee schedules to California's injured workers, and the implications of automatic annual updates to the schedules.

Alternative Dispute Resolution in Trial and Appellate Courts — 2004

This study reviews the available research on seven major court-administered alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures that appear to be particularly popular and representative of the broader range of alternatives.

Assessing Claims Resolution Facilities: What We Need to Know — 2004

This article proposes an agenda for research on claims resolution facilities, the results of which could assist in improving the current set of facilities and fashioning better alternatives for the future.

Assessment of 24-Hour Care Options for California — 2004

Proponents of a type of insurance program called 24-hour care — which would consolidate employers’ health care benefits, and possibly disability benefits, for both work-related and non-work-related claims — believe that it could yield substantial workers’ compensation savings for California. In this monograph, the authors present their assessment of the value of 24-hour care as a mechanism for reducing workers’ compensation costs and discuss possible options for 24-hour-care model programs.

Capping Non-Economic Awards in Medical Malpractice Trials: California Jury Verdicts Under MICRA — 2004

A model for limits on trial awards and attorneys’ fees in medical malpractice cases is the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), a law enacted in California in 1975 in the hope of controlling soaring medical malpractice insurance premiums and ensuring the continuing availability of malpractice insurance. MICRA caps awards for non-economic losses at $250,000 and limits plaintiffs’ attorney fees. The authors examine the effects these limits have on both plaintiffs’ awards and defendants’ liabilities.

Changing the Medical Malpractice Dispute Process: What Have We Learned from California's MICRA? — 2004

Compensating the Victims of 9/11 — 2004

This research brief quantifies the benefits received by the various 9/11 victim groups from each compensation mechanism including insurance payments, government programs, and charitable distributions.

Compensation for Losses from the 9/11 Attacks — 2004

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, caused tremendous loss of life, property, and income, and the resulting response from public and private organizations was unprecedented. This monograph examines the benefits received by those who were killed or seriously injured on 9/11 and the benefits provided to individuals and businesses in New York City that suffered losses from the attack on the World Trade Center. The authors examine the performance of the compensation system – insurance, tort, government programs, and charity – in responding to the losses stemming from 9/11.

Court-ordered Arbitration: An Alternative Overview — 2004

This article describes court-ordered arbitration and distinguishes it from other dispute resolution procedures.

Data for Adjusting Disability Ratings to Reflect Diminished Future Earnings and Capacity in Compliance with SB 899 — 2004

Electronic Prescribing and HIPAA Privacy Regulation — 2004

Electronic Prescribing and HIPAA Privacy Regulation

Evaluation of California’s Permanent Disability Rating Schedule: Interim Report — 2004

The authors focus on California's permanent disability rating schedule, which is at the center of legislative debates on how to reduce the costs of the state's workers' compensation system.

Fashioning a National Resolution of Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation: A Reply to Professor Brickman — 2004

Fashioning a National Resolution of Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation: A Reply to Professor Brickman

Forty Years of Civil Jury Verdicts — 2004

Past studies on civil juries have been hampered by lack of data on verdicts spanning a sufficiently long period. Average jury awards tend to be highly variable from year to year, making it difficult to distinguish trends over relatively short periods of time. The authors use the longest time series of data on jury verdicts ever assembled: 40 years of data on tort cases in San Francisco County, CA and Cook County, IL collected by the RAND Institute for Civil Justice.

Giving Away Money: Comparative Comments on Claims Resolution Facilities — 2004

Giving Away Money: Comparative Comments on Claims Resolution Facilities