Bills › 89th General Assembly
Relating to the choice of doctor to treat an injured employee under workers’ compensation laws and including applicability date provisions
Topics:Jobs & workers
Where it is now
- Done: IntroducedJanuary 21, 2021
- Stopped: SubcommitteeDied when the General Assembly ended
- Next: House committee
- Next: Passes the House
- Next: Senate committee
- Next: Passes the Senate
- Next: To the Governor
- Next: Signed into law
Died when the session ended The 2022 session adjourned on May 24, 2022, the General Assembly’s last regular session. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died. What’s a funnel?
What’s in it
This bill relates to the choice of a physician to treat an injured employee under the state’s workers’ compensation laws. The bill allows the employer to choose care unless the employee has predesignated a physician as provided in the bill. The bill gives an employee the right to predesignate a physician who is a primary care provider, who has previously provided treatment to the employee and has retained the employee’s medical records, to provide treatment for a work-related injury. The employer is required to provide written notice to employees of this right upon hire, and periodically during employment, and upon receiving notice of an injury from an employee who has not yet predesignated a physician of their right to do so, in a manner prescribed by the workers’ compensation commissioner.
Read the full explanation
An employer or an employer’s insurer shall not coerce or otherwise attempt to influence an injured employee’s choice of a physician. If the employer fails to provide such notification, an injured employee has the right to choose any physician to provide treatment for the work-related injury and that treatment shall be considered authorized care. If the employer or employee is dissatisfied with the care chosen by the other party, the dissatisfied party is required to communicate the basis of dissatisfaction to the other party in writing and the parties may agree to alternate care reasonably suited to treat the injury. If the parties cannot agree to such alternate care, the dissatisfied party may make an application for alternate care to the commissioner. An application for alternate care is an original proceeding and is treated as a contested case. A party may request that the hearing be held in person, by telephone, or by audio-video conference. The commissioner is required to issue a decision within working days of receipt of an application made pursuant to a telephone hearing or audio-video conference hearing and within days of an in-person hearing. The bill provides that if the employee has chosen care, when it is medically indicated that no significant improvement from an injury is anticipated, the employee may obtain a medical opinion regarding the extent of the employee’s permanent disability from the employee’s physician. If the employer believes that the evaluation of permanent disability obtained by the employee is too high, the employer has the right to obtain another medical opinion from a physician of the employer’s choosing. The bill applies to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2022.
Iowa Code it changes
Lobbying
3 for · 2 against · 10 undecided · Who →
Family tree
Tried before
89th General Assembly
Picked up later
Earlier and later bills are matched by wording or an identical title.
Tried before
This idea has been filed in an earlier General Assembly. None got through a chamber.
- HF 86 Relating to the choice of doctor to treat an injured employee under workers’ compensation …88th General Assembly · In committee · same titleCleared committee
Similar bills this General Assembly
- SF 365 Relating to the choice of doctor to treat injured employees under workers’ compensation la…90th General Assembly · In committeeVery similar
- SF 456 Relating to the choice of doctor to treat injured employees under workers’ compensation la…91st General Assembly · In committeeVery similar
Matched by wording or an identical title.