By: Guillen H.B. No. 2702
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to payments associated with certain medical examinations
under the workers' compensation system; imposing a fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 408.0041(h), Labor Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(h) In accordance with the adjusted payment amounts
prescribed by the commissioner under Section 408.00411, the [The]
insurance carrier shall pay [for]:
(1) for:
(A) an examination required under Subsection
(a), (f), or (f-2), unless otherwise prohibited by this subtitle or
by an order or rule of the commissioner; and
(B) [(2)] the reasonable expenses incident to
the employee in submitting to the examination; or
(2) if an employee fails or refuses to appear at the
time and place scheduled for an examination under Subsection (a) or
(f) without good cause as determined by the commissioner, a fee set
by the commissioner in an amount not less than $100 to the
designated doctor or doctor selected by the insurance carrier, as
applicable.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 408, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 408.00411 to read as follows:
Sec. 408.00411. ADJUSTMENT OF CERTAIN EXAMINATION FEES AND
EXAMINATION NO-SHOW FEES. (a) Not later than January 31 of each
year beginning with the year 2025, the commissioner shall adjust
for inflation, in accordance with rules adopted under Subsection
(b), the amounts required to be paid by an insurance carrier:
(1) for a medical examination conducted under Section
408.004 or 408.0041(a), (f), or (f-2);
(2) for a medical examination conducted to determine
or resolve any question about:
(A) the impairment caused by the compensable
injury; or
(B) the attainment of maximum medical
improvement; and
(3) as a fee under Section 408.0041(h)(2) for the
failure or refusal of an employee to appear at the time and place
scheduled for a medical examination to which that subdivision
applies.
(b) Subject to Section 413.011, the commissioner shall
adopt rules as necessary to implement this section, including rules
providing for the computation of the amount of an adjustment under
Subsection (a), which may provide for determining the amount of the
adjustment using the Medicare Economic Index.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
not later than January 31, 2024, the commissioner shall adjust for
inflation, in accordance with this subsection, the amounts required
to be paid by an insurance carrier for a medical examination
described by Subsection (a)(1) or (2). The commissioner shall
compute the amount of the adjustment based on the percentage
increase, if any, in the Medicare Economic Index for the period
beginning on the date that the fee was initially adopted or last
adjusted by the commissioner, as applicable, and ending January 1,
2024. This subsection expires January 1, 2025.
SECTION 3. Not later than April 1, 2024, the commissioner of
workers' compensation shall set the initial amount of the fee under
Section 408.0041(h)(2), Labor Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 4. Not later than April 1, 2024, the commissioner of
workers' compensation shall adopt rules to implement Section
408.00411, Labor Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
408.0041, Labor Code, apply only to a medical examination that
occurs or is scheduled to occur, as applicable, on or after March 1,
2024. A medical examination that occurs or is scheduled to occur,
as applicable, before that date is governed by the law as it existed
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former
law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.