The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) will begin the process of amending the MTUS regulations by posting the proposed changes to its online forum.
This round of proposed regulatory amendments will be made pursuant to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. These changes lay the foundation for the evidence-based guideline updates to the MTUS that for the first time will apply an expedited process pursuant to the recently amended Labor Code section 5307.27(a). Once the formal rulemaking process begins with these proposed regulatory amendments, DWC will begin the expedited process to update the evidence-based guidelines by Administrative Director order.
This round of proposed regulatory amendments makes the following changes:
– Deletes the distinction between the “Clinical Topics” section and “Special Topics” section and incorporates all of the treatment guidelines under a new section entitled “MTUS Treatment Guidelines”;
– Revises section numbers as a result of the deletion of the current “Special Topics” section;
– Deletes all of the guidelines under the “General Approaches,” “Clinical Topics” and “Special Topics” sections (All of these guidelines will be updated by an Administrative Director order);
– Adds a provision requiring any Medical Evidence Evaluation Advisory Committee (MEEAC) recommendations concerning the drug formulary be referred for consideration by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee;
– Provides non-substantive changes to the language to correct a spelling error, specify when the MTUS Treatment Guidelines are being referenced as opposed to the MTUS in general, and clarify how the MTUS’ presumption of correctness may be challenged.
The proposed amendments to the MTUS regulations start with section 9792.20 of title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
Members of the public may review and comment on the proposed MTUS changes until 5 p.m. on March 10, 2017. They may also mail in-depth comments to: Division of Workers’ Compensation, P.O. Box 420603, San Francisco, CA 94142 – Attn: DWC forums.