Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed legislation approving the recommendations made by the state's Workers' Compensation Task Force placing tighter controls on medical costs, improving the state's workplace safety program and encouraging injured individuals to return to work.
The reforms, HB 175, signed into law last week, puts a two-year freeze on the fee schedule for medical treatment; permanently reduces the inflation rate increase allowed for hospitals treating injured workers, and reduces other reimbursements.
The bill creates a rate advocate for Delaware businesses. The part-time attorney will advocate the interests of the state's businesses to the hearing officer making recommendations to the Department of Insurance.
The reforms will encourage the injured back to by imposing more responsibility on insurance carriers to ensure employers are supplying a list to doctors of job opportunities an injured employee might be able to fill while still recovering.
The state's workplace safety program saw three changes:
• It calls for rigorous inquiry into past injuries in a workplace before awarding credit.
• Insurance company inspections that are as exacting as those performed by the Department of Insurance can substitute for the Department's inspections.
• Companies will need to be compliant with their back to work responsibilities for injured employees before being eligible for credit.
The state established its task force after experiencing two consecutive years of rate increases. The task force, which met earlier this year, will remain in place for a limited time to address issues it did not have time for and to monitor the impact of its recommendations, suggesting stricter measures where needed. Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, who chairs the task force, says there is still more work to do on workers' comp and it will seek further control costs "without impacting the quality of medical care received by injured workers."
The Delaware Association of Insurance Agents & Brokers Vice Chairman Lee Dotson says the association supports the reforms and appreciates that legislators saw the value in having an agent representative appointed to the task force for future meetings.
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