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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 222
February Session, 2022
AN ACT REQUIRING NOTICE OF DISCONTINUING PRESCRIPTION
MEDICINE UNDER A WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 31-294d of the 2022 supplement to 1
the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 2
thereof (Effective October 1, 2022): 3
(a) (1) The employer, as soon as the employer has knowledge of an 4
injury, shall provide a competent physician, surgeon, physician 5
assistant or advanced practice registered nurse to attend the injured 6
employee and, in addition, shall furnish any medical and surgical aid or 7
hospital and nursing service, including medical rehabilitation services 8
and prescription drugs, as the physician, surgeon, physician assistant or 9
advanced practice registered nurse deems reasonable or necessary. The 10
employer, any insurer acting on behalf of the employer, or any other 11
entity acting on behalf of the employer or insurer shall be responsible 12
for paying the cost of such prescription drugs directly to the provider. 13
If the employer utilizes an approved providers list, when an employee 14
reports a work-related injury or condition to the employer the employer 15
shall provide the employee with such approved providers list within 16
two business days of such reporting. 17
(2) Before discontinuing or reducing payment for prescription drugs, 18 Substitute Bill No. 222
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which a physician has deemed reasonable or necessary under this 19
section, the employer, or any insurer acting on behalf of the employer, 20
shall notify the administrative law judge and the employee, by certified 21
mail, of the proposed discontinuance or reduction of such payments. 22
Such notice shall specify the reason for the proposed discontinuance or 23
reduction and the date such proposed discontinuance or reduction will 24
commence. The employer's or insurer's notice of intention to 25
discontinue or reduce payments shall (A) identify the claimant, the 26
claimant's attorney or other representative, the employer, the insurer, 27
and the injury, including the date of the injury, the city or town in which 28
the injury occurred and the nature of the injury, (B) include medical 29
documentation that (i) establishes the basis for the discontinuance or 30
reduction of payments, and (ii) identifies the claimant's attending 31
physician or advanced practice registered nurse, and (C) be in 32
substantially the following form: 33
IMPORTANT 34
STATE OF CONNECTICUT WORKERS' COMPENSATION 35
COMMISSION 36
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE EMPLOYER OR 37
INSURER INTENDS TO REDUCE OR DISCONTINUE YOUR 38
PRESCRIPTION PAYMENTS ON .... (date) FOR THE FOLLOWIN G 39
REASONS: 40
If you object to the discontinuance of prescription payments as stated 41
in this notice, YOU MUST REQUEST A HEARING NOT LATER THAN 42
15 DAYS after your receipt of this notice, or this notice will 43
automatically be approved. 44
To request an Informal Hearing, call the Workers' Compensation 45
Commission District Office in which your case is pending. 46
Be prepared to provide medical and other documentation to support 47
your objection. For your protection, note the date when you received 48
this notice. 49 Substitute Bill No. 222
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(3) No discontinuance or reduction shall become effective unless 50
specifically approved in writing by the administrative law judge. The 51
employee may request a hearing on any such proposed discontinuance 52
not later than fifteen days after receipt of such notice. Any such request 53
for a hearing shall be given priority over requests for hearings on other 54
matters. The administrative law judge shall not approve any such 55
discontinuance or reduction prior to the expiration of the period for 56
requesting a hearing or the completion of such hearing, whichever is 57
later. 58
(4) In any case where the administrative law judge finds that an 59
employer has discontinued or reduced any payments made in 60
accordance with this section without the approval of the administrative 61
law judge, such employer shall be required to pay to the employee the 62
total amount of all payments so discontinued and shall be required to 63
pay interest to the employee, at a rate of one and one-quarter per cent 64
per month or portion of a month, on any payments so discontinued or 65
on the total amount by which such payments were reduced, as the case 66
may be, plus reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the employee in 67
relation to such discontinuance or reduction. 68
[(2)] (5) If the injured employee is a local or state police officer, state 69
marshal, judicial marshal, correction officer, emergency medical 70
technician, paramedic, ambulance driver, firefighter, or active member 71
of a volunteer fire company or fire department engaged in volunteer 72
duties, who has been exposed in the line of duty to blood or bodily fluids 73
that may carry blood-borne disease, the medical and surgical aid or 74
hospital and nursing service provided by the employer shall include any 75
relevant diagnostic and prophylactic procedure for and treatment of any 76
blood-borne disease. 77
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2022 31-294d(a)
Substitute Bill No. 222
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Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subdiv. (2) of Subsec. (a), "prescriptions" was changed to
"prescription drugs" for consistency with existing statutory language,
and the terms "or reduce", "or reduction" and "or reducing" were added
for consistency.
LAB Joint Favorable Subst.