Workers Compensation

Plain English Breakdown

Some details about specific procedural changes and financial impacts are not fully detailed in the provided official source material.

Workers Compensation Changes

This bill allows funds from a special account to be used for computer system costs and updates rules related to medical evaluations and legal procedures in workers' compensation cases.

What This Bill Does

• Allows money from the Subsequent Injury and Vocational Recovery Fund to be used for implementing and maintaining a computer system for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
• Changes the process by which employees can compel doctors to give depositions in workers' compensation cases, removing the requirement for an employee petition and requiring physicians to comply with court orders.
• Updates the procedure when someone cancels their case before it is heard by a judge.
• Clarifies that multiple authorized treating physicians may assign impairment ratings totaling at least 10% of the body as whole according to AMA Guides, and requires these findings to be certified on a specific form.

Who It Names or Affects

• Workers who receive or seek workers' compensation benefits in Tennessee.
• Doctors involved in evaluating workers for injury claims.
• The Bureau of Workers' Compensation and its computer system maintenance.

Terms To Know

Subsequent Injury and Vocational Recovery Fund

A special fund used to pay certain costs related to workers' compensation cases, including legal defense and vocational assistance.

AMA Guides

The American Medical Association's guidelines for evaluating permanent impairments in medical cases.

Limits and Unknowns

• It is unclear how much money will be spent on the computer system costs from the Subsequent Injury and Vocational Recovery Fund.
• Some of the changes require doctors to comply with court orders, but it does not specify what happens if they do not.

Official Summary Text

Present law requires t
he sums collected by th
e chief administrative officer of the bureau of workers' compensation of the department of labor and workforce development
("
administrator
")

to
be deposited
in
a special fund
called the

"
subsequent injury and vocational recovery fund
."

The funds must
be disbursed by the administrator only for
certain
purposes
, including
for costs associated with legal counsel to defend the administrator in actions claiming compensation from the fund

and for costs associated wit
h providing vocational recovery assistance to eligible employees
. This bill authorizes the funds to also be used
for costs associated with implementing and maintaining a computer system for the bureau of workers' compensation.

PROCEDURE

If a physician refuses to make a reasonable effort to give a deposition in a workers' compensation case within 90 days of receipt of notice,
present law authorizes
the employee
to
petition the court for an order requiring the physician to give the deposition.

If the physician does not respond to the petition in a timely fashion, the physician may lose the
ir
exemption from subpoena to trial
. This bill removes that the employee may petition the court and the physician respond to the petition and, instead,
authorizes the employee to file a motion with the court and for the physician to comply with the court's order.

If a party who has filed a request for hearing files a notice of nonsuit of the action,
then present law provides that
either party
has
90 days from the date of the order of dismissal to institute an action for recovery of benefits
. This bill provides that if
a party who has filed a petition for benefit determination

files a notice of nonsuit of the action,
then
either party
has
90 days from the date of the order of dismissal to institute an action for recovery of benefits
.

AMA GUIDES

Present law requires certain criteria to be met
in extraordinary cases where the employee is eligible for increased benefits
, including that t
he employee
must
be assigned an impairment rating of at least 10% to the body as

whole, that has been determined by the authorized treating
physician
and, generally,
according to the 6th edition
(2024)
of the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, American Medical Association, until a new edition is designated by the general assembly
. However, t
he edition that is in effect on the date the employee is injured is the edition applicable to the claim
. This bill clarifies that more than one
authorized treating

physician

may assign the
employee impairment ratings totaling at least 10% to the body as
a
whole,
as
determined according to AMA guides
in general. This bill also clarifies that all such
authorized treating physician
s

must certify

their findings
on a form provided by the bureau
.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 1861
By Johnson

HOUSE BILL 1630
By Lamberth
HB1630
010033
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 50,
Chapter 6, Part 2, relative to workers'
compensation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 50-6-208(d), is amended by deleting
the first sentence of the subsection and substituting:
The sums collected by the administrator as provided in this section must be
deposited by the administrator in a special fund, which must be termed the "subsequent
injury and vocational recovery fund", to be disbursed by the administrator only for the
purposes stated in this section, for costs associated with legal counsel to defend the
administrator in actions claiming compensation from the subsequent injury and
vocational recovery fund pursuant to this section, for costs associated with providing
vocational recovery assistance to eligible employees pursuant to subsection (i), and for
costs associated with implementing and maintaining a computer system for the bureau
of workers' compensation.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 50-6-235(a)(1), is amended by
deleting "petition" and substituting "file a motion with".
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 50-6-235(a)(2), is amended by
deleting "respond to the petition in a timely fashion" and substituting "comply with the court's
order".
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 50-6-239(c)(3), is amended by
deleting "request for hearing" and substituting "petition for benefit determination".

- 2 - 010033

SECTION 5. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 50-6-242(a)(2)(A), is amended by
deleting "an impairment rating of at least ten percent (10%) to the body as whole, that has been
determined according to the AMA guides as defined by § 50-6-102, by the authorized treating
physician" and substituting "impairment ratings totaling at least ten percent (10%) to the body as
whole, that have been determined according to the AMA guides, by the authorized treating
physicians".
SECTION 6. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 50-6-242(a)(2)(B), is amended by
deleting "physician has" and substituting "physicians have" and by further deleting "physician's
certification" and substituting "physicians' certifications".
SECTION 7. This act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.