As part of our mission to help QMEs and AMEs stay on top of compliance and best practices, we’ve summarized two key updates for California medical-legal that directly impact the way you work and report.
1. AB 1293 Passes Senate Committee
On June 23, 2025, the California Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement unanimously passed AB 1293, a bipartisan bill that proposes the following:
- Standardized Templates: The DWC will be required to develop a template for QME med-legal reports, as well as a standard form for parties requesting a QME.
- Feedback Mechanism: A new process will be implemented for stakeholders to submit allegedly inaccurate or incomplete QME reports.
- Annual Reporting: The DWC must conduct an annual evaluation of med-legal reports and publish the results publicly.
2. New DWC Quality Assurance Checklist: What’s Changed?
Alongside the legislative developments, the DWC released an updated QME Quality Assurance Checklist—a detailed guide created by a joint team of judges, physicians, and legal professionals to help QMEs produce compliant and credible reports.
Here are some of the most important sections you should review:
Face-to-Face Time Reporting
Clearly document actual minutes spent with the injured worker, per CA Regulations 49–49.9.
Records Reviewed + Attestation
You must state under penalty of perjury the exact number of pages reviewed and confirm they were received with proper declarations. If declarations are missing, do not review the records.
AI Disclosure
If you use any artificial intelligence tools to help prepare reports (e.g., summaries, dictation tools, etc.), these must now be disclosed in the report.
Impairment Ratings and Causation
The checklist reiterates the importance of:
- Almaraz-Guzman analyzes only when standard ratings don’t reflect true impairment.
- Explaining causation in terms of reasonable medical probability, using clear “how and why” reasoning.
- Apportionment being based on evidence of actual contribution, not risk factors alone.
How Simplexam Helps You Stay Ahead
We designed Simplexam with compliance in mind. Key tools include:
- Record Page Counter + Declaration Uploader – Log exactly how many pages you received and reviewed—with built-in alerts for missing declarations.
- Template Customizer – Simplexam’s document builder can now be customized to match any DWC-issued templates—so you’re never scrambling to reformat.
- Flag & Feedback Tools – Mark incomplete records or missing attestations within the system.
Stay tuned for further updates. In the meantime, check out why choosing the right service vendors is so important when it comes to delivering compliant, high-quality reports.
