Report Title:

Worker's Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Council

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

189

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  
   

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting the director of labor and industrial relations to establish a medical fee advisory council.

 

 

WHEREAS, in 1995, the worker's compensation reimbursement fee schedule was set at the Medicare rate plus ten per cent; the fifth lowest fee schedule in the nation; and

WHEREAS, at this level, health care providers are being reimbursed at a loss; and

WHEREAS, a study by the Legislative Reference Bureau states that the Medicare plus ten per cent rate has "had a negative impact on access to specialty care by injured workers and has diminished the number and quality of providers who treat patients in worker's compensation cases"; and

WHEREAS, a medical fee advisory council to advise and assist the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations in adjustments to the medical fee schedule and other issues relating to the medical fee schedule and medical services for worker's compensation would be helpful in determining a worker's compensation medical fee schedule that is fair to both injured employees and healthcare providers; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Director of Labor and Industrial Relation is requested to establish a medical fee schedule advisory council within the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for the purpose of assisting and advising the Director in adjusting the worker's compensation medical fee schedule as provided in section 386-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and other matters concerning the medical fee schedule and medical services; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the council is requested to consist of nine voting members, including:

(1) Four voting members representing health care providers of authorized medical services, including physicians, chiropractors or physical therapists;

(2) Two voting members representing the business community, including representation from small business;

(3) One voting member representing the insurance industry;

(4) The Director of Labor and Industrial Relations or the Director's representative as an ex-officio voting member;

(5) One voting member representing the community at large; and

(6) Four nonvoting members representing each of the four counties and the general public;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the advisory council is requested to:

(1) Review annual modifications to the Medicare Resource Based Relative Value Scale and recommending to the director adjustments that should be made to provide adequate rates and fees that ensure at all times that the standard of services and care intended by the worker's compensation law are available to injured employees; and

(2) Advising the Director on any other matters relating to the medical fee schedule the Council may find appropriate to maintain the standard of services for compensable injuries, and take into consideration in the charges made in the State for similar treatment of injuries that are not compensable under this chapter;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations.

 

 
 

OFFERED BY:

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