NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
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Every so often DWC gets around to looking into medical treatments which may or
may not be effective. That is to see if Texas injured workers can benefit
or could be harmed, and to evaluate the economic benefits to certain
physicians. Case in point is DWC’s recently announced intent to audit the use of spinal cord stimulators to
determine the appropriateness of a physician’s decision to install one into the
body of an injured worker, and the effectiveness of the device once installed.
The review will be part of and conducted under the auspices of the DWC’s
Medical Quality Review Process. We mention here that these devices require
preauthorization under Rule 134.600 so that medical necessity is evaluated by
qualified Utilization Review Agent (URA) physicians. It is unclear
whether the audit will scrutinize URAs, the information requesting doctors send
to the URA to justify medical necessity, the treatment guidelines criteria for
stimulators, or all of the above. Apparently even our friends “down
under” are taking a look at this issue: To hell and back: Devices meant to ease pain are
causing trauma.
Copyright 2023, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
If you have been around Texas comp for a while, you will remember some
interesting treatments prescribed by Texas doctors under the umbrella of things
that might relieve the effects of a work injury. For example, the
Theramed Bed, various iterations of electrical muscle stimulators (aka
transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators), Vax-D (a spinal decompression
table), exercise bikes, recliners, mattresses, special shoes, hot tubs, and
placebo treatments galore. For those with an eye toward the lesson that
the past predicts the future, an entertaining read is Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure
Everything. Some of the treatments (as we see nowadays),
seemed like good ideas at the time but were later determined either to be weird
and useless or weird and harmful. The common theme, however, is generally
profit, with the treatments often benefiting the doctor more than the patient.
Copyright 2023, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
Helpful reminder – July 31st is the last day-old versions of the following forms will be accepted by DWC: DWC Form-022; DWC Form-031; DWC Form-051; DWC Form-057. More riveting information regarding the new forms (always check for revisions) can be found on the DWC website. It isn’t clear what the consequence for using the old forms will be. However, beware.
Copyright 2023, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
EDI is thankfully something most of us never have to think about. But if you are into compliance issues (as in, avoiding TDI/DWC penalties) you want to know the Implementation Schedule for Claims Electronic Data Interchange Release 3.1.4. There are lots of DWC forms that have to be sent by way of EDI to DWC that give DWC a way to monitor insurance carrier performance and the delivery of benefits. We put this in the newsletter so that you can’t say we didn’t warn you. For more info, check out the implementation guide here.
Copyright 2023, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
We couldn’t help but state the obvious. Stay cool, and plan on supporting Kids’ Chance of Texas by coming to the Annual Kids’ Chance Golf Tournament in DFW. We can’t guarantee cool weather on October 23rd, but we can guarantee that it will feel good to support our Kids! Register NOW here. All levels of players are welcome!
Copyright 2023, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP