House Bill No. by Representative Echols aims to amend the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Law by establishing a new medical fee reimbursement schedule. The bill mandates that the assistant secretary of the office of workers' compensation administration will create a reimbursement schedule for various medical services, drugs, and supplies. The new reimbursement structure will limit charges to either the amount due under Medicare multiplied by one and one-half or the actual charge for the service, whichever is lower. This replaces the previous requirement that charges be based on the mean of usual and customary charges.

Additionally, the bill repeals the assistant secretary's authority to collect certain information and calculate the reimbursement schedule, as well as the confidentiality provisions related to this data. Specifically, it removes the sections that allowed for the collection of data necessary for establishing the reimbursement schedule and the associated confidentiality requirements. Overall, the bill seeks to streamline the reimbursement process for workers' compensation claims while eliminating previous regulatory burdens.

Statutes affected:
HB198 Original: 23:2(A), 23:2(C)(2)