ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6226
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State of Washington | 65th Legislature | 2018 Regular Session |
By Senate Labor & Commerce (originally sponsored by Senators Keiser, Conway, Cleveland, Kuderer, and Saldaña)
READ FIRST TIME 01/30/18.
AN ACT Relating to improving health outcomes for injured workers by facilitating better access to medical records and telemedicine; amending RCW
51.36.070; and adding a new section to chapter
51.36 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 51.36.070 and 2001 c 152 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Whenever the director or the self-insurer deems it necessary in order to resolve any medical issue, a worker shall submit to examination by a physician or physicians selected by the director, with the rendition of a report to the person ordering the examination. The department or self-insurer shall provide the physician performing an examination with all relevant medical records from the worker's claim file. The director, in his or her discretion, may charge the cost of such examination or examinations to the self-insurer or to the medical aid fund as the case may be. The cost of said examination shall include payment to the worker of reasonable expenses connected therewith.
(2) The self-insured employer shall ensure that all relevant medical records of the injured worker scheduled for an independent medical exam are provided as electronic medical records to the independent medical exam physician or physicians, and, if electronic medical records are not possible, paper records must be delivered to the independent medical exam physician or physicians at least ten business days prior to the scheduled exam. If the independent medical exam is scheduled to occur before ten business days or if a medical record only becomes available to the employer during the ten business days, then the paper records must be delivered to the independent medical exam physician as soon as possible before the exam occurs.
(3) The director shall adopt policies developed by the telemedicine collaborative pursuant to section 2 of this act to establish access to telemedicine for independent medical exams and reimburse independent medical exam physicians for services.
(4) Physicians must undertake the training developed by the telemedicine collaborative in section 2 of this act, prior to performing any independent medical exams through telemedicine.
(5) For purposes of this section, "the telemedicine collaborative" means the collaborative for the advancement of telemedicine created by section 2, chapter 68, Laws of 2016.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 51.36 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The telemedicine collaborative shall develop policies for the department to establish access to telemedicine for independent medical exams and reimburse independent medical exam physicians for services in a manner that is similar to the policies developed for commercial health insurance plans under RCW
48.43.735 and medicaid managed care plans under RCW
74.09.325.
(2) The telemedicine collaborative shall develop a training program to train physicians who perform independent medical exams. The training program must be offered to physicians seeking to provide independent medical exams through telemedicine.
(3) For purposes of this section, "the telemedicine collaborative" means the collaborative for the advancement of telemedicine created by section 2, chapter 68, Laws of 2016.
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