(a) The commissioner shall adopt regulations setting forth the minimum standards of training, experience, and skill that workers’ compensation claims adjusters must possess to perform their duties with regard to workers’ compensation claims. The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall, to the greatest extent possible, encourage the use of existing private and public education, training, and certification programs.
(b) Every insurer shall certify to the commissioner that the personnel employed by the insurer to adjust workers’ compensation claims, or employed for that purpose by any medical billing entity with which the insurer contracts, meet the minimum standards adopted by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) For the purposes of this section, “medical billing entity” means a third party that reviews or adjusts workers’ compensation medical bills for insurers.
(d) For the purposes of this section, “insurer” means an insurer admitted to transact workers’ compensation insurance in this state, the State Compensation Insurance Fund, an employer that has secured a certificate of consent to self-insure pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 3700 of the Labor Code, or a third-party administrator that has secured a certificate of consent pursuant to Section 3702.1 of the Labor Code.
(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 637, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)