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Everything here is free to read, and nothing here is a claim about your case. Built from California’s published records and modified by us — not official government data. How these numbers were made.

Treatment class · category · California

Acute inpatient medical denials at external review

When a California health plan denied care in the acute inpatient medical class and the enrollee took it to Independent Medical Review, this is what independent physician reviewers decided.

62.1%

Overturned
77 of 124
Era
2021-2025
Jurisdiction
California DMHC IMR
Published class
Acute Med Svc Inpt
Median days to decision
49
All years
49.0% of 341
77 overturned47 upheld

What reviewers relied on

3 validated codes

California requires each published decision to carry “a detailed case summary that includes the specific standards, criteria, and medical and scientific evidence, if any, that led to the case decision” (Health & Safety Code § 1374.33(h)(1)(K)). These are the elements our extraction found in this class, split by how the decision came out.

What the reviewer relied onIn overturnsIn upholds
the FDA label or approval status0%n=770%n=47
a standardised level-of-care instrument4%n=770%n=47
a California statutory definition3%n=770%n=47

Read as description, not instruction. These are patterns in what reviewers wrote, not steps to follow, and no combination of them predicts an outcome. Only codes that cleared the validation gate appear — thirteen did not.

Authorities named in this class

computed
  • LOCUS family3
  • IDSA2
  • NCCN2
  • American Academy of Neurology1
  • American College of Cardiology1
  • American Diabetes Association1
  • American Heart Association1
  • Medicare / CMS1

A rate here is the outcome of decisions that named the authority, not the effect of naming it. Reviewers cite the standard they applied; the citation and the outcome share a cause.

By condition

computed
  • Overturned — the reviewer did not sustain the denial
  • Upheld — the reviewer sustained the denial
  • Trauma & injuries17
  • Cardiac & circulatory14
  • CNS & neuromuscular12
  • Orthopedic & musculoskeletal11
  • Cancer10
  • Genitourinary & kidney10
  • Infectious disease10
  • Digestive & GI9

Browse all condition classes · Pick your own pair

The specific conditions inside this class

below n=30, no rate is claimed
  • Other17
  • Brain Injury/Concussion8
  • Hernia5
  • Bacterial Infection4
  • Viral Infection4
  • Auto Accident3
  • Breathing Problem3
  • Chest Pain3

By review type

computed
  • Medical Necessity61.5%122
  • Urgent Care2

Medical-necessity review asks whether the care is needed. Experimental/investigational review asks whether it is likely to be more beneficial than standard therapy — a harder statutory test, and the rates show it.

Every figure on this page is conditional on a denial having reached external review. Fewer than 1% of denials are appealed internally at all, so this describes denials that were fought to the end — not denials in general — and it describes California only. Who this does not cover.

Free help, first: the California DMHC Help Center files your Independent Medical Review at no cost — 1-888-466-2219, dmhc.ca.gov.