Bill Text: CA AB2779 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Workers' compensation: compounded drugs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-08-24 - To inactive file on motion of Senator DeSaulnier. [AB2779 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB2779-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2779	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 15, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 22, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Solorio

                        MARCH 3, 2010

   An act to add Section 5307.13 to the Labor Code, relating to
workers' compensation  , and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately .


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2779, as amended, Solorio. Workers' compensation: compound
medication.
   Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system,
administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of
Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries
sustained in the course of his or her employment. Existing law
requires the administrative director, on or before December 1, 2004,
to adopt, after public hearings, a medical treatment utilization
schedule, as specified.
   This bill would provide that, until the administrative director
adopts medical treatment utilization guidelines governing compound
medication, a compound medication shall be covered only if there is
prior authorization for it as medically necessary, as specified. 

   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute. 
   Vote:  majority  2/3  . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 5307.13 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
   5307.13.  (a) Until the administrative director adopts medical
treatment utilization guidelines governing compound medication, a
compound medication shall be covered only if there is prior
authorization for it as medically necessary based on a determination
of all of the following:
   (1) All active ingredients in the compound medication are
medications that have been approved by the federal Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
   (2) The compound medication is not a copy or substitute for an
available FDA-approved product.
   (3) The safety and effectiveness of use of the compound medication
for the prescribed indication is supported by FDA-approval or
adequate medical and scientific research.
   (4) FDA-approved alternatives to the compound medication have been
tried with therapeutic failure or patient intolerance.
   (b) The maximum allowance for the compound medication shall not
exceed the sum of the amounts that would be allowed for the
ingredient costs and dispensing fee under regulations adopted
pursuant to Section 5307.1.
   (c) No fee shall be allowed for any compound medication unless the
initial billing for that compound medication includes all
information necessary for calculation of the fee pursuant to this
section and regulations adopted by the administrative director.
   SEC. 2.    This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
 
   Abusive billing practices for compounded drugs unreasonably
inflate the cost of workers' compensation coverage for employers and
insurers, and leave fewer dollars available for injured workers to
receive in benefits. In order to stop these abusive practices at the
earliest possible time, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.