International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals Vocational Expert Fee Survey Report, 2012

Transcription

1 San Diego State University Interwork Institute International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals Vocational Expert Fee Survey Report, 2012 Submitted to: IARP-California Chapter Prepared by: Mark Tucker, Ph.D. Interwork Institute San Diego State University i

2 Table of Contents Title Page 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Purpose of the Study 3 Methodology 3 Development of the Survey Instrument 3 Study Population 3 Survey Distribution 4 Limitations 4 Results 4 Respondents 4 Hourly Rates (Not Including Testimony), Civil 4 Hourly Rates (Not Including Testimony), Workers Comp 6 Hourly Rates for Trial Testimony and Depositions, Civil 8 Hourly Rates for Trial Testimony and Depositions, Workers Comp 10 Combined Hourly Rates, Civil 12 Combined Hourly Rates, Workers Comp 12 Years of Professional Experience 13 Hourly Rates by Level of Education 13 Rates (Not Including Testimony) by Education, Civil 13 Rates (Not Including Testimony) by Education, Workers Comp 14 Rates for Trial Testimony and Depositions by Education, Civil 14 Rates Trial Testimony and Depositions by Education, Workers Comp 14 Combined Hourly Rates by Level of Education, Civil 15 Combined Hourly Rates by Level of Education, Workers Comp 15 Licenses, Certifications, and Memberships 16 2

3 Introduction The California Chapter of International Association Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP- CAL) serves rehabilitation professionals throughout the state of California through education, professional development and networking opportunities. Their mission is to provide a community for private sector rehabilitation professionals in their quest for education and professional growth. Members join the international association and pay a nominal fee to join the state chapter. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study was to learn about the range of fees that are charged by vocational experts in California through survey research. The information will be used to evaluate the average hourly rate charged by vocational experts in the state and this information will be provided to the Administrative Director of Workers Compensation, who is charged with developing a vocational expert fee schedule by The information has also been used to propose regulatory language regarding Workers Compensation that was submitted during the summer of In order to carry out the survey research and render an impartial result, IARP- CAL contracted with a third-party, San Diego State University s Interwork Institute. Development of the Survey Instrument Methodology The survey questions were developed by IARP-CAL and were sent to the Administrative Director of Workers Compensation for review. The survey consisted of a number of questions which prompted respondents to indicate the type(s) of vocational expert services performed, their hourly rates for providing a variety of vocational expert services in civil and Workers Compensation settings, the number of evaluations they completed monthly, the ZIP codes of their primary business address, their education levels, the number of years they had been in practice, and licenses, certifications, and memberships held by respondents. Study Population Vocational experts in California were identified for inclusion in the survey effort largely through membership in two organizations, the California Chapter of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP-CAL) and the California membership of the American Board of Vocational Experts (ABVE). IARP-CAL members identified additional practicing vocational experts in California who may or may not have been IARP-CAL or ABVE members; as a result the respondents represented in the results section of this report may include some individuals who were not affiliated with either organization at the time the survey was conducted. addresses were available for a total 209 unique individuals. 3

4 Survey Distribution The survey was developed using Qualtrics, a web-based survey application. The survey was designed to be completed on-line anonymously; respondents were not asked to provide their names, addresses, or other information that might identify them personally. In addition, data from individual respondents was grouped before being reported to further protect the confidentiality of respondents. The study population was contacted several times prior to and during the survey process in order to solicit their participation. On May 13 th, 2012 the Past President of IARP-CAL, Mark Remas, distributed a message to the study population informing them of the planned survey effort and encouraging them to respond. On May 22 nd, the survey was distributed to the study population. On May 30 th, a message was sent to the study population thanking those who had completed the survey and encouraging those that had not yet responded to complete the survey. On June 6 th survey data was downloaded from Qualtrics and prepared for analysis. Limitations It should be noted that the survey consisted entirely of self-reported data from the study population. It is assumed that survey respondents provided accurate information in response to the survey questions. In order to compute the descriptive statistics presented in this report, when individuals who were asked to provide a specific figure (for example, an hourly billing rate) provided a range of values instead, the range was replaced with the average of the highest and lowest values in the range provided by the respondent. Respondents Results Eighty-four completed surveys were submitted. Of these 84 completed surveys, ten respondents indicated that they did not provide vocational expert services while the remaining 74 indicated that they provided services in the civil arena (n = 60), the Workers Compensation arena (n = 62), or both. The results that follow are based upon the responses of the 74 persons who indicated that they provide vocational expert services in one or both settings. Hourly Rates (Not Including Testimony), Civil Respondents were asked to provide their hourly rate for vocational expert services (not including testimony) in the civil arena as of January 1 st of each of the following years, 2010, 2011, and Table 1 illustrates the number of respondents providing information for each year, the mean hourly rate, the standard deviation associated with the mean hourly rate, the median, the value at the 73 rd percentile, the value at the 80 th percentile, the minimum reported value and the maximum reported value for each year. 4

5 Table 1 Average hourly rate (not including testimony), Civil Year N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80 th Min. Max Table 2 indicates the frequency of the hourly rates reported by the survey respondents. Table 2 Frequency of average hourly rate (not including testimony), Civil Year N Rate

6 Vocational Expert Fee Survey Report Hourly Rates (Not Including Testimony), Workers Compensation Respondents were also asked to provide their hourly rate for vocational expert services (not including testimony) in the Workers Compensation arena as of January 1 st of 2010, 2011, and Table 3 summarizes the number of respondents providing information for each year, the mean hourly rate, standard deviation, median, value at the 73 rd percentile, value at the 80 th percentile, the minimum rate and the maximum rate for each year. 6

7 Table 3 Average hourly rate (not including testimony), Workers Compensation Year N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80 th Min. Max Table 4 indicates the frequency of the hourly rates reported by the survey respondents. Table 4 Frequency of average hourly rate (not including testimony), Workers Compensation Year N Rate

8 Hourly Rates for Trial Testimony and Depositions, Civil Respondents were asked to provide their hourly rate for vocational expert trial testimony and depositions in the civil arena as of January 1 st of 2010, 2011, and Table 5 illustrates the number of respondents providing information for each year, the mean hourly rate, standard deviation, median, 73 rd percentile, 80 th percentile, minimum rate and maximum rate for each year. Table 5 Average hourly rate for trial testimony and depositions, Civil Year N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80 th Min. Max

9 Table 6 indicates the frequency of each hourly rate reported by the survey respondents. Table 6 Frequency of average hourly rate for trial testimony and depositions, Civil Year N Rate

10 Hourly Rates for Trial Testimony and Depositions, Workers Compensation Respondents were asked to provide their hourly rate for vocational expert trial testimony and depositions in the Workers Compensation arena as of January 1 st of 2010, 2011, and Table 7 summarizes the number of respondents providing information for each year, the mean hourly rate, standard deviation, median, 73 rd percentile, 80 th percentile, minimum rate and maximum rate for each year. Table 7 Average hourly rate for trial testimony and depositions, Workers Compensation Year N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80 th Min. Max Table 8 indicates the frequency of the hourly rates reported by respondents. 10

11 Table 8 Frequency of average hourly rate for trial testimony and depositions, Workers Compensation Year N Rate

12 Combined Hourly Rates, Civil Table 9 presents the combined average hourly rates for both vocational expert services not including testimony and trial testimony and depositions for civil cases. The hourly rates for vocational expert services not including testimony and hourly rates for trial testimony and depositions were weighted equally when computing the figures that appear in Table 9. Table 9 Average combined hourly rate, Civil Year N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80 th Min. Max Combined Hourly Rates, Workers Compensation Table 10 presents the combined average hourly rates for both vocational expert services not including testimony and trial testimony and depositions for Workers Compensation cases. The hourly rates for vocational expert services not including testimony and hourly rates for trial testimony and depositions were weighted equally when computing the figures that appear in Table

13 Table 10 Average combined hourly rate, Workers Compensation Year N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80 th Min. Max Years of Professional Experience Seventy vocational experts provided responses to the question asking them to indicate the number of years they had been in practice as a vocational expert. The mean number of years in practice was (SD = 9.19), while the median was years. The minimum number of years reported was 1.50; the maximum reported number of years of experience was Hourly Rates by Level of Education Respondents were asked a series of questions to determine whether they had completed a bachelor s degree, a master s degree, and a doctoral degree. Seventy-one vocational experts provided information about degree completion. Four indicated that the highest degree they had completed was a bachelor s degree, while 56 respondents indicated that they had completed master s degrees and eleven had completed doctoral degrees. Table 11 summarizes the hourly rates for vocational expert services (not including testimony) in the civil arena as of January 1 st of 2012 according to the highest degree completed by the respondent. Please note that only one individual at the bachelor s degree level of education provided information about his or her hourly rate for vocational expert services (not including testimony) in the civil arena. Table 11 Average hourly rate (not including testimony) by education, Civil, 2012 Degree N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80th Min. Max. Bachelor s Master s Doctoral Table 12 indicates the hourly rates for vocational expert services (not including testimony) in the Workers Compensation arena as of January 1 st of 2012 according to the highest degree completed by the respondent. 13

14 Table 12 Average hourly rate (not including testimony) by education, Workers Compensation, 2012 Degree N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80th Min. Max. Bachelor s Master s Doctoral Table 13 summarizes the hourly rates for trial testimony and depositions in the civil arena as of January 1 st of 2012 according to the highest degree completed by the respondent. Please note that only one individual at the bachelor s degree level of education provided information about his or her hourly rate for trial testimony and deposition in the civil arena. Table 13 Average hourly rate for trial testimony and depositions by education, Civil, 2012 Degree N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80 th Min. Max. Bachelor s Master s Doctoral Table 14 indicates the hourly rates for trial testimony and depositions in the Workers Compensation arena as of January 1 st of 2012 according to the highest degree completed by the respondent. Table 14 Average hourly rate for trial testimony and depositions by education, Workers Compensation, 2012 Degree N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80th Min. Max. Bachelor s Master s Doctoral

15 Combined Hourly Rates by Level of Education, Civil Table 15 presents the combined average hourly rates for both vocational expert services not including testimony and trial testimony and depositions for civil cases as of January 1 st of 2012 according to the education level of the respondent. The hourly rates for vocational expert services not including testimony and hourly rates for trial testimony and depositions were weighted equally when computing the figures that appear in Table 15. Please note that information from only one individual at the bachelor s degree level of education was available for this analysis. Table 15 Average combined hourly rate by education, Civil, 2012 Degree N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80th Min. Max. Bachelor s Master s Doctoral Combined Hourly Rates by Level of Education, Workers Compensation Table 16 presents the combined average hourly rates for both vocational expert services not including testimony and trial testimony and depositions for Workers Compensation cases as of January 1 st of 2012 according to the education level of the respondent. The hourly rates for vocational expert services not including testimony and hourly rates for trial testimony and depositions were weighted equally when computing the figures that appear in Table 16. Table 16 Average combined hourly rate by education, Workers Compensation, 2012 Degree N Mean SD Median 73 rd 80th Min. Max. Bachelor s Master s Doctoral

16 Licenses, Certifications, and Memberships Respondents were presented with a number of professional licenses, certifications, and memberships and asked to select those that applied to them. Table 17 summarizes the number of individuals that indicated they held the following licenses, certifications, and memberships. Table 17 Licenses, certifications, and memberships held by respondents License, Certification, or Membership N IARP Member 63 ABVE Fellow or Diplomate 44 Certified CRC 53 Licensed MFT 4 Certified CDMS 17 Certified CCM 8 Certified CVE 6 Certified CLCP 5 Licensed RN 0 Certified CCRN 0 Licensed Psychologist 0 JD 0 Bar Certified 0 16