Steven M. Asch

Identifying the medical treatment guidelines that determine the appropriateness of treatment for California workers1 compensation recipients. Provides an evaluation of medical guidelines that might be used to determine the appropriateness of treatment for work-related injuries in California. Of 72 guideline sets that were identified and screened, five comprehensive sets were found to satisfy the legislative requirements and state preferences. Based on results of a comparative evaluation of the technical quality and clinical content of the five guideline sets, recommendations are given for actions the state might take in the short term, intermediate term, and longer term.

This report is one of five volumes providing detailed information on the QA Tools, RAND's comprehensive, clinically based system for assessing quality of care for children and adults. The QA Tools indicators encompass screening, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up in 46 clinical areas and cover a variety of modes of providing care, including history, physical examination, laboratory study, medication, and other interventions and contacts. Development of each indicator was based on the ratings of a panel of experts in the relevant fields and on a focused review of the scientific literature, which is clearly documented for each clinical condition.