2015 State Board Rules Changes
» Posted July 2, 2015 • Newsletters
Friends,
The State Board of Workers’ Compensation has just released the 2015 Rules changes effective July 1st. These Rules changes are certainly notable on 2 fronts. First, Rule 102(A)(6) prohibits the audio or video recording of a Board proceeding which includes conference calls with our ALJs. These are still available through specific permission from the Board but are otherwise prohibited. Please be advised, that some of the members of the Bar had been discovered to have recorded and even transcribed some of our scheduled and impromptu conference calls with ALJs to resolve various issues. As you may be aware, many of these conference calls are informal and include very frank discussion about the facts of claims as well as opinions from our ALJs. The prohibition of recordings of these conference calls is an extremely favorable Rule change and will serve to foster open dialogue between all of the parties and our members of the bench.
Second, I am pleased to announce the repeal of the requirement that our six panel medical providers be non-associated. The previous Rule requiring that all six physicians be non-associated was becoming an increasingly larger obstacle with each coming year. The medical market place has involved a tremendous amount of practice consolidation and mergers, leading to an association of many providers who previously had no business relationships. This trend appears to be one that will continue for the foreseeable future. As a result, this was creating severe problems in certain geographical areas to simply have the minimum required physicians to populate the panel. Now that the providers can be associated, this problem is immediately alleviated.
We have attached a copy of the summary of the 2015 Amendments to the Rules of the State Board for your review. As with all updates and alerts, please do not hesitate to contact us for further questions or clarification.