BILL NUMBER: S4518
SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to communi-
cations between a claimant's attorney or representative and an injured
employee's treating provider or a claimant's medical consultant
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that claimants' counsel and repre-
sentatives can communicate with their clients' providers/consultants,
without fear of having their provider's/consultant's opinion precluded.
This will also ensure that medical providers can prepare for, and testi-
fy, in a more informed and expeditious fashion, to better focus their
time on providing injured workers with medical care.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Amends the workers' compensation law by amending subdivision
6 of section 13-a to allow claimant attorneys or representatives to
communicate with claimants' medical providers.
Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill aims to remove the undue limitations that the Workers' Compen-
sation Board has placed on claimants' counsel/representative's ability
to communicate with their client's treating medical providers or medical
consultants. The Board's policy regarding claimant communication with
providers extends well beyond the concern of improper influence set
forth in WCL.
The Board's policy prohibits claimants' counsel/representatives from
having any verbal communication with the treating provider (or claim-
ants' medical consultant),outside of the presence of the
carrier/carrier's representative. It calls for the diminishment or
complete preclusion of a claimant's medical opinion for any verbal
communication by claimant's counsel/representative outside the presence
of the carrier, no matter the nature of the communication. It requires
every written communication by claimants' counsel/representative to a
treating provider (or claimant's medical consultant) to be copied to the
carrier, no matter the nature of the communication. It presumes that
contact by a claimant's attorney or representative, that does not
include the carrier or carrier's representative, was done with the
purpose of improperly influencing the treating provider or claimant's
medical consultant. The Board's policy significantly hinders a claim-
ant's ability to investigate the opinion of the treating physician or
claimant's consultant, to properly determine the viability of a claim,
and to prepare for litigation. The Board's policy interferes with an
attorney's ethical obligations to zealously represent their client and
to only pursue claims that have merit.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: S8323 (Ramos) Passed the Senate / A8957 (Reyes) Referred to
Labor
 
FISCAL IMPACT:
TBD
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.