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State agencies are required to review rules every four years and either
readopt, readopt with amendments, or repeal the rule. So this month, DWC went
out on a limb and readopted all sections in Chapters 126 (General Provisions
Applicable to All Benefits), 127 (Designated Doctor Procedures and
Requirements), and 128 (Benefits – Calculation of Average Weekly Wage). Well
done, guys and gals.
DWC is accepting public comments on a proposed rule amending Rule 120.2 to
update its Austin address and OIEC’s and DWC’s website addresses. If you’re
looking to shake things up a little bit, you can let the DWC know you take
issue with their changes of “shall” in the rule to “must” or “will.”
The DWC also renamed Rule 147.10 “Commutation of Impairment Income Benefits.”
In case you were diverted by all the election shenanigans, this was necessary
because in April 2024, the DWC inadvertently named this section Rule 147.11
(the horrors).
DWC also made DWC Forms 001 (Employer’s First Report of Injury or Illness), 002
(Employer’s Report for Reimbursement of Voluntary Payment), and 006
(Supplemental Report of Injury) more attractive… and removed references to
outdated violation language that the Legislature removed from the law… in 2005.
Copyright 2024, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
DWC is looking for input on the proposed Medical Quality Review Audit Plan for
the year 2025. The plan is to conduct one audit to evaluate the quality of
designated doctor (DD) reports and the necessity of additional testing or
referrals ordered by DDs to resolve the issue in question.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Annual Audit Plan was to evaluate the feasibility
and impact of adopting a more current version of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of
Permanent Impairment. The 4th edition was published in 1993 and since
then, the 5th and the 6th editions have been published, with updates to the 6th
edition published yearly since 2021. There are two months to go in 2024 so we
will await the results of this study with bated breath. (Okay, okay, to be
fair, the DWC did acknowledge in its 2025 announcement that this study
was dependent on revisions to the musculoskeletal chapters, which were just
finalized on September 12, 2024 and effective December 1, 2024.)
Regardless:
Copyright 2024, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP