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Action needed:
Call and write your state senator and ask them to oppose Senate Bill (SB) 213 (Cortese, D-Silicon Valley), which would create a workers’ compensation presumption for acute care hospital employees, without any evidence of widespread or wrongful denial of benefits for workers injured on the job. Find contact information for your senator on the state Legislature’s site.
Timing:
Contact your state senator by Jan. 7.
Resources:
CHA has developed a template letter and key messages about the bill for members’ use.
Background:
Similar to many unsuccessful efforts over the past decade, SB 213 would create a rebuttable presumption in the workers’ compensation system that an infectious disease, musculoskeletal injury, or respiratory disease arose out of work for any hospital direct patient care worker. Aside from recent COVID-19-specific and time-limited workers’ compensation presumptions that cover all industries, presumptions have been limited to the public sector.
Because it is virtually impossible to overcome a workers’ compensation presumption, hospitals would be required to accept more claims with little to no evidence that they are work-related. Such claims can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars in temporary and permanent disability payments and medical costs for a single case.
Please personalize the primary messages below with your hospital’s unique experiences when you call and write your senator:
- Hospitals highly value their employees and prioritize their well-being. Without healthy employees, hospitals could not fulfill their mission of care.
- According to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute, health care employers have one of the lowest denial rates of any industry — including public safety. In 2019, denial rates for health care ranged from 7.7% to 9.3%, while public safety/government ranged from 13.8% to 18.3%, and the average denial rate for all industries ranged from 10.4% to 12.6%.
- These increases in workers’ compensation costs will directly and immediately impact hospitals’ financial ability to protect access to high-quality care, especially considering that 39% of hospitals already operate in the red.