Recommendations from the 2023 Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council become law

A new largely technical law encodes into Minnesota statutes the recommendations from the Department of Labor and Industry’s 2023 Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council.

Sponsored by Rep. Dan Wolgamott (DFL-St. Cloud) and Sen. Jennifer McEwen (DFL-Duluth), the law is effective Aug. 1, 2023, unless otherwise noted.

Article 1 – Workers’ compensation self-insurance

• modifies the definition of “insolvent self-insurer” and the ramifications of becoming insolvent;

• clarifies the duties of a private self-insurer filing a voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy petition; and

• clarifies the duties of a commercial self-insurance group upon a court of competent jurisdiction declaring the group to be insolvent.

Article 2 – System efficiencies

• modifies procedures all parties must follow in a disputed worker injury claim;

• specifies that braces, dental work, hearing aids and other medical devices customized to fit an injured worker are the property of the injured worker (effective May 20, 2023);

• clarifies the conditions when an employer or insurer may require an injured employee to obtain a second medical opinion on the necessity of a nonemergency surgery;

• specifies acceptable fees a health care provider can charge for producing medical records; and

• establishes timelines for when results of a medical examination of an injured worker must be given to the worker.

Article 3 – Permanent partial disability schedule

The payment schedule for permanent partial disabilities will increase, with an impairment rating of less than 5.5% paying out $114,260 (up from $78,800) and a 100% disability paying out $567,840 (up from $540,800). The schedule changes are effective for injuries occurring on or after Oct. 1, 2023.

The law also specifies that during the 2026 legislative session, and every even-year session thereafter, the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council must consider whether the permanent partial disability schedule represents adequate compensation for permanent impairment.

Article 4 – Hospital outpatient fee schedule

The Department of Labor and Industry must adjust conversion factors related to total payments for workers’ compensation hospital outpatient services, based on the current inpatient hospital services calculated by Medicare, on Oct. 1 each year in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Effective for services occurring on or after Oct. 1, 2023, the Department will no longer need to conduct a study analyzing the percentage of claims with a service in the workers’ compensation hospital outpatient fee schedule that were paid in a timely fashion and the percentage of claims paid accurately.

Article 5 – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Study

Effective May 20, 2023, the Department will conduct a study to identify systemic or regulatory changes to improve the experience and outcomes of employees with work-related post-traumatic stress disorder. A onetime $500,000 appropriation in fiscal year 2023 from the workers’ compensation fund will pay for the study.

Article 6 – Housekeeping

The law clarifies that, effective May 20, 2023, in workers’ compensation claims for family farm workers, the “relative value fee schedule” means the medical fee schedule adopted by rule under section 176.136, subdivision 1a, using the Physician Fee Schedule tables adopted for the federal Medicare program.

It also:

• clarifies that the department’s rehabilitation review panel, when hearing appeal cases regarding vocational rehabilitation of injured employees, has the authority to make certification approvals of qualified rehabilitation consultant firms (effective May 20, 2023);

• modifies the notification requirements of workers’ compensation payments that cease upon the death or marriage of any dependent;

• clarifies the workers’ compensation payment formula for reimbursing inpatient hospital services that are based on the Medicare MS-DRG system (effective May 20, 2023); and

• repeals a statute requiring the department to publish a report providing data for each insurer on the total number of the insurer’s claims, and the number and percentage of the insurer's claims with prompt first action.

HF2988*/SF3193/CH51

HF2988* / SF3193 / CH51