Three State Industrial Commission members can expect another lively discussion in their May meeting when they again consider a recommendation that the relative value schedule for medical fees paid in workers' compensation cases be increased by 4 percent.
At their last meeting, commissioners Stephen M. Hadley, Tom Carlson and Colleen Colton heard several doctors and other health care providers speak in favor of the increase and opposition coming from Priscilla Weaver, branch manager of Scott Wetzel Services Inc., a risk management planning and support company.Dr. Alan Colledge, the commission's medical consultant, said the proposal for the 4 percent increase in the RVS was made by the Relative Value Schedule Committee, which meets periodically to examine the fees doctors receive for treating injured workers.
When the RVS was last increased in December 1993, Colledge said, Lane Summerhays, president of the Workers Compensation Fund of Utah, suggested an annual evaluation of the schedule because if any increases were warranted a small increase annually is easier to take than a large increase every three or four years.
Colton asked Colledge if there was a problem if the commission delayed a decision until the May meeting (there will be no April meeting) and he said there wouldn't. But, he said, there is a possibility the committee will bring a request for another rate increase in October that would be applicable for 1996.
Colledge said the committee believes the 4 percent increase is justified because of the increasing cost of paperwork in dealing with workers' compensation cases and increasing costs of running their offices.
Weaver expressed her opposition to the increase and Colton brought up figures that show Utah spends more money on medical benefits in workers' compensation cases than any other state.
Colledge said it's true 64.8 percent of money going to injured workers is for medical care, but statistics can be deceiving. He quoted from John Burton's Workers' Compensation Monitor, which said Utah spends $10.7 million in workers' compensation benefits per 100,000 workers, which is below the national average.
In support of the committee's recommendation, Dr. Mark Anderson said Utah has the second lowest RVS in the United States. He said physicians treat injured workers without getting an up-front payment and then when the claim is denied doctors "have to eat" the cost of the services.
Anderson said more paperwork is required in injured-worker cases because insurance companies are paying more attention to this type of coverage.
Dr. John Henrie, a member of the RVS Committee for 20 years, said he treats injured workers and spends 50 percent of his time in each case doing paperwork for the various government agencies and insurance companies.
Robert Short, vice president of the Workers Compensation Fund of Utah, an agency that writes workers' compensation insurance for 55 percent of Utah businesses, said he realizes is takes more time for doctors to deal with injured workers and fund officials wouldn't oppose an increase.