HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 155

BYRepresentatives R. King,  Wang, Patrick, Ballard and Betrozoff

Authorizing self-insurers to select physicians for examination of persons claiming industrial injuries.

House Committe on Commerce & Labor

Majority Report:     Do pass.  (9)

     Signed by Representatives Wang, Chair; Cole, Vice Chair; Fisch, Fisher, R. King, Patrick, Sanders, C. Smith and Walker.

House Staff:Chris Cordes (786-7117)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & LABOR FEBRUARY 26, 1987

BACKGROUND:

If medical examination is necessary to resolve a medical issue in an industrial insurance case, the director of the Department of Labor and Industries has authority to select the physician who will conduct the examination.  The director has the discretion to charge the cost of the examination to the self-insured employer or to the medical aid fund as appropriate.  In practice, self-insured employers select the physician for most medical examinations they request.

SUMMARY:

A self-insured employer or the director of the Department of Labor and Industries may choose the physician who will examine a worker whenever an examination is deemed necessary to resolve a medical issue in an industrial insurance case.  The cost of this examination will be charged to the self-insurer or to the medical aid fund as appropriate.

Fiscal Note:    Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     Melanie Stewart-Gerla, Marlin W. Sandig, and Deena Pease, Self-Insurers Association.

Neutral:  Joe Dear and Doug Connell, Department of Labor and Industries.

House Committee - Testified Against: John Winney, Injured Workers' Awareness Committee; Larry Kenney, Washington State Labor Council; Rick Brock, Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers; and Mike Welch, Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.

House Committee - Testimony For:     Allowing self-insured employers to select physicians for medical examinations puts into statute the procedures already occurring in practice.

House Committee - Testimony Against: Self-insurers should not be granted expanded authority until the study that was required by the legislature in 1986 is completed.