Sedgwick CMS 2009 Capabilities Overview
Transcription
Sedgwick CMS 2009 Capabilities Overview
Legislative Reforms Sweep the Nation – What You Need to Know Presented by: Darrell Brown, Senior Vice President Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Legislation in the last 10 years NY CA TX FL Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 2 Commonalities Networks Utilization review Benefit increases Fee schedules Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 3 Legislative reform cycle Balance Slippage Correction Political tension Imbalance Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 4 Legislative changes ME MT WA WI NE CO CA MO KS MA MD IL KY NC TN OK AZ NY MI LA MS FL Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 5 Impact of 2010 Elections Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Illinois and Kansas • Illinois – Senate Bill 1349 IL Allows employers to establish preferred provider network (PPP) Requires utilization of AMA Guidelines, 6th Edition Assigns more weight to utilization review Reduces medical fee schedule by 30% Intoxication could be basis for denial Fee schedule change from geo-zip to more Medicare based • Kansas – HB 2134 KS Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Increases benefit caps Permanent partial Permanent total Death benefits Excludes coverage for employees at a companysponsored event, unless worker was ordered or coerced to participate. 7 Montana and Oklahoma • Montana - House Bill 334, Senate Bill 243, and House Bill 71 MT 5 year limit on long-term benefits for injured workers who are not permanently totally disabled. Insurer designation of treating physician Amended definition of course and scope to address offsite break and recreational or social activities. Criteria for permanent partial disability Allows settlements of medical benefits on accepted claim Requires department to establish rules for use of evidence-based guidelines. • Oklahoma - Senate Bill 878 OK Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Fee schedule - 120% of Medicare Use of latest edition of ODG Implement EDI by 7/1/2012 Reduces maximum number of TTD weeks from 300 to 156 Provides that no permanent disability for a body part where there was no medical treatment. 8 Tennessee • Tennessee – House Bill 1503 and Senate Bill 923 TN Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Redefines injury under workers’ compensation (causes either disablement or death of the employee). Hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome or other repetitive motion would not be considered occupational diseases. Presumption of treating physician’s opinion Guarantees employers access to injured workers’ medical records. Allows parties to mutually agree to settle future medical - unless employee is permanently totally disabled. 9 Washington • Washington – Senate Bill 5566 and House Bill 1869 WA Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Allows for the settlement of claims Establishes an industrial health care provider network. Mandates that injured workers seek treatment from network for all but the first visit. Requires L&I to identify best practice standards that will be used to evaluate that the network provides and removes those that fail to adhere to the best practices and fail to deliver optimal outcomes to patients. 10 Michigan • Michigan – House Bill 5002 Provides that a personal injury is compensable if work causes, contributes to or aggravates the condition of the employee so as to create a condition that is “medically distinguishable” from the employees’ prior condition. Adds degenerative arthritis as a condition of the aging process that may be compensable. Adds a requirement that an employee’s perception of actual events be reasonably grounded in reality, for a mental disability to be compensable. Allows employers to choose health care providers for injured employees for 28 days from the start of medical care, rather than 10 days. Employee can then choose to be treated by his or her own physician. Provides that a limitation of wage earning capacity occurs only if an employee is unable to perform all jobs paying the maximum wages in work suitable to his or her qualification and training. Provides that an employee terminated from reasonable employment due to the fault of the employee is considered to have voluntarily removed himself/herself from the work force and is not entitled to wage loss benefits. Changes the amount the weekly benefits can be reduced if the employee received Social Security retirement benefit payments before the date of the injury or work-related disease. MI Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 11 North Carolina NC Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Medical compensation amended to include attendant care services. Defines “suitable employment” offer Employee may be disqualified from receiving compensation if certain misrepresentations were made at time of hire. TTD benefits are capped at 500 weeks from the first date of disability unless employee makes application to the Industrial Commission that total loss of earning capacity has been sustained. 12 2012 legislation ME WI NE MO CO OK AZ MS LA FL Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 13 Florida and Oklahoma • Florida – HB 5203 FL Abolishes the state Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reemployment Services and allows the state to contract the rehabilitation of injured workers out of private vocational counselors. • Oklahoma OK Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Oklahoma has been considering “opt-out” legislation since 2010 when House Bill 2881 was introduced. This bill would have allowed businesses to opt-out of the state workers’ compensation system as can be done in Texas. The bill was re-filed as House Bill 1286 in 2011, but again did not pass. 14 Missouri and Maine • Missouri - House Bill 1540 MO Addressed the decision in Richard Robinson, et al v. Cheryl Hooker (by providing that effective August 28, 2012 an employee will not be liable for a co-employee’s workplace injury or death “for which compensation is recoverable under the workers’ compensation laws.” Provides for the inclusion of occupational exposure claims within the exclusive remedy provision of the Missouri Workers ’ Compensation act. • Maine – Legislative Docket 1913 ME Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Eliminates requirement that an employer/insurer continue paying benefits to an employee during an appeal of a hearing officer decree by the employee. Increases the percent of the state weekly average calculation from 90% to 100% for the maximum benefit level computation. Adds presumption that work is unavailable for a person participating in a rehabilitation plan ordered by the Workers’ Compensation Board for as long as the employee continues to participate in vocational rehabilitation. Changes time from which the statute of limitations for filing a petition begins from 2 years from the date an employer is required to file a first report of injury to the actual date of injury. 15 Wisconsin and Mississippi • Wisconsin – SB 409 WI Raises maximum compensation rate for permanent partial disability by $10 per week to $312 for injuries after 4/2/12 and additional $10 for injuries after 1/1/13. Changes provisions on compensation for permanent disfigurement to restrict compensation to cases in which an employee suffers “an actual wage loss due to the disfigurement.” Provides that the Work Injury Supplemental Benefit Fund, rather than employers or insurers, will be liable for benefits or treatment expenses for injuries before April 1, 2006. Permits the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) to bring an action in tort against a third party for damages due to an injury which must be paid by the Work Injury Supplemental Benefit Fund. • Mississippi - SB 2576 MS Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Requires that the Workers’ Compensation Act by law not be presumed to favor one party over another. Requires the claimant, in certain cases, to file medical proof of the direct causal connection between the work performed and the alleged work-related injury or occupational disease within 60 days after the filing of a petition to controvert. Allows employers and carriers to seek apportionment for any pre-existing condition, regardless of whether the pre-existing condition was considered occupationally disabling. Provides that compensation is not payable if the proximate cause of the injury is the use of illegal drugs or the taking of a valid prescription medication contrary to the prescriber’s instructions and/or contrary to label warnings. Increases the maximum amount the commission may award the employee for serious facial or head disfigurement from $2,000 to $5,000. Increases the maximum amount the commission may award as maintenance compensation from $10 per week to $25 per week up to a maximum of 52 weeks. 16 Louisiana LA Requires that workers’ compensation cases are to be decided on their merits and not to be liberally construed in favor of the employee. Reduces the period for paying the first week of temporary disability benefits from six weeks to two weeks. Mandates electronic data interchange (EDI) by December 31, 2013. Increases the lump sum one-time payment for catastrophic injuries from $30,000 to $50,000,in addition to any other benefits owed. Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Increases benefits for burial expenses from $7,500 to $8,500. Clarifies how and when utilization review companies can be used and procedures for when an independent medical exam is requested. 17 Arizona • Arizona – SB 1016, HB 2155 & HB 2368 Allows employees to received benefits through electronic fund transfer or prepaid debit card. Permits IME physicians to access data from the state’s prescription drug-monitoring drug database and to disclose that information to the employee, employer, insurance carrier and the commission. Permits the board to release data from prescription drugmonitoring database to IME physicians. Requires the commission to develop and implement state-specific, evidence-based treatment guidelines by December 31, 2014. AZ Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 18 Colorado • Colorado – HB 1003 CO Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Requires an employer report to the division and its carrier within 10 days all contraction of occupational disease or injuries resulting in more than three days or three shifts loss of time from work. Fatalities must be reported immediately. 19 Nebraska • Nebraska – Legislative Bill 738 NE Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Increases the maximum workers’ compensation burial benefits from $6,000 to $10,000 payable to eligible dependents. 20 California • California SB 863 CA Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. Permanent impairment Medical Provider Network Independent bill review (IBR) Independent medical review (IMR) Fee schedules Liens Return to work 21 On the horizon OK TN FL Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 22 What actions the risk management community should take: Activism Vigilance Understanding Data Operationalize Measurement Training Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 23 Thank you for attending this webcast. This virtual event will be available on demand. If you wish to view this or any other presentation again or refer a colleague, register or log in to the virtual show at: www.BusinessInsurance.com/Compcosts Sedgwick © 2012 Confidential – Do not disclose or distribute. 24