RIVERSIDE - Riverside County is tentatively slated to receive $1.25 million from the California Department of Insurance for workers' compensation insurance fraud, although the grants are subject to approval in the final state budget.

"Workers' compensation insurance fraud creates costs that are a burden on our economy at the time it can least sustain it," said state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

"We must care for injured workers so they get the timely medical care they need and return to work, but those bilking the system will be caught and prosecuted," Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] he said.

More than $30 million in anti-fraud grants have been allocated to district attorneys' offices in three dozen California counties, according to Poizner.

The money is collected from employers in the form of assessments, according to the Department of Insurance.

Counties apply for the grants annually via the Workers' Compensation Grant Review Panel, which makes a recommendation to the commissioner based, in part, on a county's recent success in cracking down on insurance fraud.

The grants require legislative approval as part of the state's 2010-11 fiscal year budget.