Tulare County extends CorVel workers’‑comp contract for one year after public criticism; staff ordered to survey claimants

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 25 extended the county’s contract with third‑party workers’ compensation administrator CorVel for one year but directed risk management to collect detailed feedback from departments, providers and employees and return to the board with results after roughly three months.

The extension followed more than an hour of public comment and board discussion dominated by employee complaints about CorVel’s communication and claims handling. Multiple current and former county employees and union representatives told the board they had waited months, had providers decline to treat patients for claims tied to CorVel and in many cases had to seek attorneys to obtain a response.

“Communication is a huge issue,” said Robbie Hebrard, president of the Tulare County Deputy Sheriffs Association. He told the board that members frequently do not receive responses from adjusters and that provider offices have stopped working with CorVel because of those communication problems.

Supervisor Larry McCarrie recounted personal and staff experiences and urged stronger oversight. “We can fix the system complexities, but we can fix zero communication,” McCarrie said. After discussion of alternatives and audits, the board approved a motion by McCarrie — seconded by Supervisor Valero — to extend the contract while directing county staff to do two specific tasks: distribute a survey to affected employees and department personnel units to document failures and service gaps; and return with a progress report to the board in approximately three months. The motion passed unanimously.

County staff and risk management officials said CorVel previously scored in Prism’s independent claims audit (an excess insurer audit) and that CorVel’s most recent audit score was 88% (up from 83% in the prior audit). Risk staff acknowledged persistent problems in frontline communication and said several corrective items are being implemented, including an updated online provider lookup, a dedicated complaint‑logging route on CorVel’s site, an internal risk complaint hotline (559‑623‑0280) and additional risk staff to monitor complex claims.

County counsel told the board the contract contains a 30‑day termination clause, meaning the county can give notice and change third‑party administrators if problems persist. Chairman Pete Vanderpool said the county would share a summary of speakers’ concerns with CorVel and encouraged the company to respond. “This is almost a million‑dollar contract; they should be somewhat significant to us,” Vanderpool said.

The board’s action keeps CorVel as the county’s administrator beginning April 1 for the new contract year while building a documented record of employee experience the board can use to determine whether to continue that relationship or issue a new request for proposals.