What Is 8 CCR §9767.12: MPN Written Notice to Employees?

This MPN notification shall be provided to employees in English and also in Spanish if the employee primarily speaks Spanish.

What does section 9767.12 require?

It requires a written notice addressed to you personally, not just a workplace posting, whenever your injury is covered by an MPN or your care is moved into one.

This rule applies the moment your injury is reported, your employer learns of it, or an existing injury's treatment has to transfer into an MPN. Unlike the general workplace posting this site's 8 CCR 9881 guide covers, this notice is sent to you by name and has to cover far more detail about your specific MPN.

What must your individual MPN notice say?

It must identify your MPN, give you a way to reach it, and explain how care, choice, and second opinions work inside it.

Section 9767.12(a)(2) lists what a complete notice has to cover. Four groups of information matter most to an injured worker:

• Your MPN's identification number, the name and phone number of the MPN Contact person who answers questions and complaints, and the Medical Access Assistants who help you find a doctor and book appointments.
• How to get the full list of MPN doctors, including a website address if the MPN has one, and how care works if you are temporarily working, traveling, or recovering outside the MPN's service area.
• How to choose your first doctor, switch to another MPN doctor, get a referral, and request a second or third opinion, plus how to ask for an MPN independent medical review.
• That the MPN's transfer of care and continuity of care policies exist and that you can get a copy of either one, in English or Spanish, on request.

This site's MPN guide explains what these rights look like in practice, including how to actually find your doctor list.

How and when must the notice reach you?

It is due as soon as your injury is reported or your care is moved into the MPN, and it must be in Spanish too if you primarily speak Spanish.

The notice can be sent electronically instead of by mail, but only if you have regular access to email at work to receive it at the time of injury or transfer. If you cannot receive it electronically at work, your employer has to give it to you in writing instead. The quoted language above applies here directly: the notice must be in English, and in Spanish as well if you primarily speak Spanish.

What happens when your MPN coverage is ending?

You get a separate written notice before coverage ends, and you gain the right to choose your own doctor 30 days after you reported the injury if no MPN covers you anymore.

Section 9767.12(b) requires a second kind of notice when your employer or insurer will stop using its MPN for your care. Before that date, the notice must tell you:

• The effective date your MPN coverage ends, and the MPN's identification number.
• Whether the MPN will still be used for injuries that happened before that date.
• The address, phone number, and email address for the MPN Contact and the Medical Access Assistants.
• That once you are not covered by any MPN, you may choose your own physician 30 days after you first notified your employer of the injury.

Any independent review still pending inside the MPN, following a third opinion, ends along with your coverage under that MPN.

How does this notice connect to your other MPN rights?

It has to point you toward the second and third opinion process and the further independent review available after that, both set out elsewhere in the law.

Labor Code section 4616.3 is the law behind the second and third opinion process this notice has to explain. Labor Code section 4616 is the broader law that lets an insurer set up the MPN this notice describes. If you are still deciding whether to rely on the MPN or name your own doctor ahead of time, this site's MPN-versus-predesignation guide walks through that choice.

What should you do if you never received this MPN notice?

Ask your employer or claims administrator for the MPN Contact's name and the notice in writing, and keep a record of when you asked.

If you were never given a written notice naming your MPN, its contact person, or how to choose and switch doctors, write to your claims administrator and ask for that information directly. Keep a copy of your request and the date you sent it. A missing notice does not change your underlying right to pick and switch doctors inside the MPN once you know how to use it.

Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form for a free consultation. Yazdchi Law P.C. represents injured workers across California from its one office in Palmdale and reviews each matter individually before deciding whether to take it on.