Positive Workers’ Comp Bill Now in the Senate

A solution is in the works to a potentially very costly workers’ compensation situation is now awaiting action in the state Senate.
SB 61 will allow the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission to establish a pre-determined fee schedule for hospital or ambulatory (out-patient) surgical centers (ASC) services in workers’ comp medical cases. Some details are still being worked out.
The idea of using a fee schedule is a good one: Forty-one other states are using a fee schedule for workers’ comp medical cases, and in Connecticut, workers’ comp claims—so far—are the only medical services that do not have a set fee schedule (most likely because workers’ comp medical services are only about 2% of the healthcare market). 
Without use of a fee schedule to arrive at equitable fees, workers’ comp costs could skyrocket in Connecticut.
Yet the bill offers a win-win-win opportunity: Hospitals will be able to recover costs more quickly, workers’ compensation claimants will be able to focus on their recovery and getting back to work, and the Workers’ Compensation Commission won’t have to divert key resources to resolving fee disputes. 
It’s very important to control rising workers’ comp costs. As of Jan. 1, 2014, workers’ comp rates increased 5.7% percent in Connecticut, which is why CBIA, towns and municipalities, and the insurance industry have all testified in favor of SB 61 as a means of an equitable resolution to help prevent workers’ comp costs from their continual rise. 
CBIA encourages the Senate to adopt SB 61 as a good solution for a potentially costly problem.
For more information, email Faith Gavin Kuhn.