FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday September 15, 2003

CONTACT:
Christine Baker
415-703-4220


CHSWC is Honored with International Workers' Compensation Award

San Francisco - The California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation (CHSWC) received the International Association of Industrial Accidents Boards and Commissions (IAIABC)/Workers' Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Research Award for its Workers' Compensation Medical Payment Systems study.

The award for CHSWC's study represented "the best workers' compensation agency research product using data and analysis to answer an important public policy question of national interest." The purpose of the study was to reduce costs, simplify the medical payment systems, and improve administrative efficiency in the California workers' compensation system. CHSWC received the award on September 5, 2003, as part of the IAIABC Conference held in San Francisco

The IAIABC is a not-for-profit trade association representing government agencies charged with the administration of workers' compensation systems throughout most of the United States, Canada, and other nations and territories. The WCRI, organized in 1983, is a not-for-profit research organization providing information about public policy issues involving workers' compensation systems.

CHSWC, created by the workers' compensation reform legislation of 1993, is charged with overseeing the health and safety and workers' compensation systems in California and with recommending administrative or legislative modifications to improve their operations. The Commission was established to conduct a continuing examination of the workers' compensation system and of the state's activities to prevent industrial injuries and occupational diseases and to examine those programs in other states.

Since its inception in 1994, CHSWC has held meetings, conducted fact-finding hearings, and directed several studies to determine how these crucial programs are serving California employees and employers. These studies, conducted by independent research organizations under contract with the Commission, as well as other CHSWC activities, were developed with the involvement of state agency personnel and interested members of the workers' compensation community. This cooperative public-private partnership continues to identify, describe, measure and propose solutions to problems and difficulties within the current health and safety and workers' compensation systems.

Information about CHSWC is available at www.dir.ca.gov/chswc. Further information about CHSWC and its activities may be obtained by writing to Christine Baker, Executive Officer, Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, 455 Golden Gate Avenue, 10th Floor, San Francisco, California 94102; by calling (415) 703-4220; by faxing a request to (415) 703-4234; or by emailing chswc@dir.ca.gov

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