STAND. COM. REP. NO. 450

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 876

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 876 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Authorize an employer and provider of services to notify the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations in the event of a reasonable disagreement relating to specific medical services charges relating to workers' compensation claims;

 

     (2)  Require that the notice of dispute is made in writing and that the parties negotiate during the thirty-one calendar days following the date of the notice of dispute to the Director;

 

     (3)  Authorize the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations to render an administrative decision without a hearing in the event the parties fail to reach an agreement within the thirty-one-day negotiation period; and

 

     (4)  Provide that the administrative decision rendered by the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations is final and nonappealable.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Solera Integrated Medical Solutions and Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

 

     Your Committees find that this measure offers a necessary informal dispute resolution process for disputes between an employer and service provider relating to workers' compensation claims.  Your Committees have concerns, however, regarding this measure's service fee and the inability of an employer or service provider to appeal the Director's decision.  Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Lowering the service fee assessed to either or both parties who fail to negotiate in good faith from $500 to $250;

 

     (2)  Mandating that the administrative decision rendered by the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations shall be appealable to the Appellate Board for ninety days after the administrative decision is issued and thereafter to the Intermediate Appellate Court, subject to chapter 602, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

 

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 876, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 876, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair		____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair