Workers' compensation amendments.

WORKING DRAFT

ORIGINAL SENATE
FILE

NO.
0032

ENROLLED ACT NO. 19, SENATE

SIXTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2012 BUDGET SESSION

AN ACT relating to workers' compensation; authorizing the medical commission to report suspected substandard or inappropriate medical or
health
care to appropriate licensing authorities; clarifying that members of the workers' compensation medical commission shall be considered public employees for purposes of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act;

providing for an election of federal tort immunity under the
Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986
;
providing that confidentiality does not prohibit authorized reports to professional licensing authorities; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.

W.S. 27
‑
14
‑
616(b)(iii)
,
(iv), by creating a new paragraph (v), (c) and by creating a new subsection (
f
), 27
‑
14
‑
801(e) by creating a new paragraph (iii)
,
27
‑
14
‑
805(a) by
creating
a new paragraph (iv)
and 35
‑
17
‑
106(a) by creating a new paragraph (viii)
are amended to read:

27
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14
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616.

Medical commission; hearing panels; creation; membership; duties; rulemaking.

(b)

One (1) member shall be elected by commission members as chairman and one (1) as vice
‑
chairman. The division shall designate an employee to serve as executive secretary of the commission or contract with an individual to provide executive secretary services to the commission. The governor may appoint no more than eleven (11) additional health care providers as associate members of the commission whose function is limited to serving as members of individual medical hearing panels. Except for initial members, the terms of commission members and associate members shall be three (3) years. Three (3)
members of the initial commission and three (3) initial associate members shall be appointed to a one (1) year term and four (4) initial commission members and four (4) initial associate members shall be appointed to a two (2) year term. The duties of the commission shall be:

(iii)

To advise the division, upon request, on the usefulness of medical cost containment measures;

and

(iv)

To furnish three (3) members of the commission to serve as a medical hearing panel to hear cases referred for hearing. The division shall refer medically contested cases to the commission for hearing by a medical hearing panel. The decision to refer a contested case to the office of administrative hearings or a medical hearing panel established under this section shall not be subject to further administrative review. Following referral by the division, the hearing examiner or medical hearing panel shall have jurisdiction to hear and decide all issues related to the written notice of objection filed pursuant to W.S. 27
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14
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601(k). Different medical hearing panels with different membership may be selected to hear different cases, but a panel may hear more than one (1) case. Individual medical hearing panels shall be selected by the executive secretary under the supervision and guidance of the chairman of the medical commission. At least one (1) member of each panel shall be a physician. One (1) member shall be designated by the executive secretary to serve as chairman of the panel. When hearing a medically contested case, the panel shall serve as the hearing examiner and shall have exclusive jurisdiction to make the final administrative determination of the validity and amount of compensation payable under this act. For cases referred to the medical commission as small claims hearings under W.S. 27
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14
‑
602(b), the medical hearing panel may consist of one (1) physician who shall serve as the
hearing examiner and shall have exclusive jurisdiction to make the final administrative determination of the validity and amount of compensation payable under this act
;
.

and

(v)

To advise the division

regarding
any suspected substandard or inappropriate medical or
health care
provided to an injured worker by a health care provider or
health care facility
.

(c)

The members of the
commission
and of medical hearing panels
and
any health care provider providing peer reviews or independent medical evaluations, reviews or opinions,

when serving shall

be deemed public employees for purposes of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act,
and
shall
be immune from liability
and shall be defended by the attorney general if sued and indemnified against loss from legal action in the same manner as state employees

pursuant to W.S. 1
‑
39
‑
104
.

(
f
)

Any
member of the commission
who knows or has reasonable cause to believe or suspect that a
health care provider or
health care facility
has provided substandard or inappropriate medical or
health care
shall immediately report it to the
appropriate professional or facility licensing authority
and to the division
.

27
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14
‑
801.

Duties of director.

(
e)

The director shall:

(iii)

R
eport to the appropriate professional or facility licensing authority any suspected substandard or inappropriate medical or
health care
provided to an injured worker by the provider or
health care facility
.

27
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14
‑
805.

Confidentiality of information; unlawful disclosure; exception.

(a)

Except as otherwise provided by this act, information obtained from any employer or covered employee pursuant to reporting requirements under this act or investigations conducted under W.S. 27
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14
‑
803 shall not be disclosed in a manner which reveals the identity of the employer or employee except to the employer, the employee, legal counsel for an employer, legal counsel for an employee or in situations necessary for the division to enforce any of the provisions of this act. The confidentiality limitations of this section do not apply to transfers of information between the divisions of the department of employment so long as the transfer of information is not restricted by federal law, rule or contract. In addition, nothing in this section shall prohibit the division from:

(iv)

Reporting to the appropriate professional or facility licensing
authority
any suspected substandard or inappropriate medical
or health
care provided to an injured worker by a health care provider or
health care facility
.

35
—
17
‑
106.

Election to be covered by federal immunity.

(a)

The state of Wyoming elects to be immediately covered by the immunity granted by the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, P.L. 99-660, Title IV adopted by Congress in 1986, to the extent authorized, as of the effective date of this section for all health care professional review bodies as defined in the act, for the applicable division of the department of health in its duties under W.S. 33
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36
‑
101 through 33
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36
‑
115 related to emergency medical services and for:

(viii)

The Wyoming workers' compensation medical commission and any health care provider providing peer reviews or independent medical evaluations, reviews or opinions, W.S. 27
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14
‑
101 through 27
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14
‑
806.

Section 2.

This act is effective July 1, 2012.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.

Chief Clerk

1