Florida subcommittee approves workers’ comp doctors bill

• A House subcommittee in Florida approved a bill that will increase reimbursement rates for expert medical witnesses testifying in workers’ comp cases to boost the number of physicians willing to treat those patients.
• It’s the first for the first time for an increase in 20 years.
• Florida’s workers’ compensation law currently limits the amount a healthcare provider can be paid for providing expert witness testimony during depositions on a claim to $200 an hour.
• HB 1299 increases the maximum hourly rate by $100 an hour, allowing expert witnesses to earn $300 per hour.
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Lawmakers want to expand worker comp for part-time police officers, volunteer firefighters

• Part-time police officers and volunteer firefighters would receive expanded worker’s compensation benefits under a bill introduced by Michigan Sen. Jon Bumstead.
• Senate Bill 244 would correct an oversight in a 2021 update to the state’s Worker’s Disability Compensation Act that currently covers full-time police and firefighters who are granted a presumption that respiratory illness or heart disease arose during their employment.
• The plan would also include part-time and voluntary members of police and fire departments.
• SB 244 was referred to the Senate Committee on Labor for consideration.
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Workers compensation and social security

• After turning age 66 last year, a woman who worked for the federal government received a letter from Social Security saying that she will start getting retirement funds while still receiving workers’ compensation.
• The woman was concerned she couldn’t be paid by two government agencies at the same time.
• However, because she has reached her full Social Security retirement age, nothing prevented her from receiving both her workers’ compensation payments and a Social Security benefit.
• The woman already reached her full retirement age under Social Security, so she may earn OWCP benefits without a reduction in Social Security benefits.
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Injured workers’ emergency room use varies

• Nearly a third of injured workers in Massachusetts sought treatment for strains and sprains in a hospital emergency room, while in Nevada only 10% did, according to the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute.
• That wide disparity was repeated for other types of injuries in the first-ever multi-state comparison of where workers’ compensation payments choose to seek treatment.
• The findings suggest that some state workers’ compensation systems are not steering care to the most cost-effective healthcare facilities.
• The study found that 44% of all new workplace injuries in Massachusetts were treated initially in a hospital emergency room, 37% in Mississippi and 33% in New York.
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