HB2660 HD1 HSCR435-04

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 435-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2660

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2660 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to allow an employer to direct an employee to a physician of the employer's choice in workers' compensation cases.

The Administration has proposed an omnibus bill intended to reform Hawaii's workers' compensation system. That measure, H.B. No. 2486, contains nine separate components pertaining to:

(1) Managed care and limits on palliative care;

(2) Exemptions for limited liability corporations, limited liability partnerships, partnerships, and sole proprietorships;

(3) "Maximum medical improvement" and limits on coverage;

(4) Mental stress claims;

(5) Employer-designated health care providers;

(6) Emergency care;

(7) Vocational rehabilitation;

(8) Arbitration; and

(9) Fraud.

To facilitate the thorough review of each of these components, proposed House Drafts of H.B. No. 2486 were heard for purposes of receiving testimony and public comment.

Because this measure is substantively similar to a component of H.B. No. 2486, a proposed House Draft of this bill containing technical, nonsubstantive amendments was heard with the other proposed House Drafts of H.B. No. 2486.

Testimony in support of this bill was received from: the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the Hawaii Independent Insurance Agents Association, Kaiser Permanente, and several concerned individuals. The Department of Human Resources Development and the Hawaii Employers' Mutual Insurance Company supported the intent of this measure and offered comments.

Testimony in opposition was received from: ILWU Local 142, United Public Workers, Hawaii Government Employees Association, Hawaii State IBEW, Hawaii State AFL-CIO, Hawaii Firefighters Association, Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii, American Chiropractic Association, Hawaii Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association, Hawaii Psychological Association, Hawaii State Chiropractic Association, and several concerned individuals.

After careful consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by inserting the provisions of the proposed house draft and making additional substantive revisions. As amended, this bill would:

(1) Authorize an injured employee to select any physician or surgeon to render care during the first 60 days after a work injury is sustained;

(2) Authorize the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations (Director) to seek competent medical advice from a panel of three physicians to determine the need for or sufficiency of medical services furnished or to be furnished;

(3) Provide that if, after consulting with the panel there are diverse medical opinions on the extent of disability, the Director shall require the injured employee to select a provider from an employer-designated medical care provider list to provide care for the next 120 days;

(4) Provide that 180 days after the injury is sustained, the employee may choose the employee's physician or surgeon;

(5) Require that all charges applicable to workers' compensation claims not exceed 110 percent of fees prescribed by the Medicare system as applicable to Hawaii; and

(6) Make technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity, style, and conformity.

Your Committee notes that the application of all Medicare fee schedules to workers' compensation claims, rather than just the Medicare Resource Based Relative Value Scale that is currently used, will result in the greatest direct impact on reducing the costs for employers of all of the proposals discussed during the public hearing.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2660, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2660, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor and Public Employment,

 

		____________________________ MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair