Blogs

Every January, California's workers' compensation benefit rates shift, and 2026 was no exception. For the attorneys and paralegals who keep cases moving, these adjustments are easy to file under "the carrier's problem." They are not. When a benefit rate is applied incorrectly, the ripple reaches the applicant, the settlement math, and eventually the firm that has to untangle it.

In May 2026, the California Division of Workers' Compensation released a RAND-authored report evaluating the long-term sustainability of the state's Medical-Legal process. One of the study's five core research questions was blunt: how can California improve the timely delivery of medical records to Qualified Medical Evaluators?

On May 21, 2026, the Division of Workers' Compensation released a 172-page RAND Corporation study examining whether California's Qualified Medical Evaluator system is sustainable and still serving its original purpose. The study drew on DIR data spanning 2012 to 2024 and stakeholder interviews with attorneys, claims representatives, QMEs, and injured workers.

How to get medical and employment records in a California workers' comp case: Authorization vs Subpoena, the Notice to Consumer rule, and faster retrieval.

EAMS e-filing guide for California workers' comp firms. The correct document titles, why filings get rejected, and how to fix each error.

Six common HIPAA authorization mistakes that delay records in California workers' comp, and how to catch them before the form goes out. HIPAA authorization rejections in California workers' compensation are not complicated. The form was incomplete, the authorization had expired, or the facility needed something specific that wasn't included. The problem is that the rejection comes back two to three weeks after the original request went out. By then it matters.

California workers' compensation firms lose $20K-$33K a year in non-billable hours chasing medical records. Here's where the time goes and how to get it back.

When a California workers’ comp practice starts feeling stretched, the answer usually looks obvious: hire someone. It’s a reasonable instinct. But staffing shortages and workflow problems wear the exact same face, and the fix for one doesn’t do anything for the other.

Non-billable administrative work is one of the biggest drains on a workers' compensation law firm's time and revenue. This article identifies the four tasks that consume the most hours, explains what it looks like to hand them off, and gives California workers' comp attorneys a practical framework for deciding what to offload first.