ACTION ALERT--Help stop increases in Workers’ Comp costs

Special interests in the medical field are trying to convince the S.C. Workers’ Compensation Commission to change a regulation that will result in tens of millions of additional costs to the system. The result will be significant premium increases for small businesses.

My letter below gives the details about the changes sought in the regulation and why we oppose the changes. Essentially the proposed changes would open the door to every medical specialist group to ask for higher compensation for their treatment of injured workers.

We need your help to stop the Commission from changing the regulation. Please email or send a letter to the Commission with this message:

Please oppose amending Regulation 67-1302(A). The current system for determining compensation to medical providers is objective and fair. A vote to amend the Regulation as proposed is a vote for raising workers’ compensation insurance premiums on small businesses.

Send this message before August 8th to:

Mr. Gary Cannon
Executive Director
S.C. Workers’ Compensation Commission
P.O. Box 1715
Columbia, SC 29202-1715

Email -- gcannon@wcc.sc.gov

Your message will be given to all the Commissioners and will greatly help our efforts at the public hearing on August 15th.

Thanks for your support.

Frank Knapp, Jr.

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July 23, 2011

Mr. Gary Cannon
Executive Director
S.C. Workers’ Compensation Commission
P.O. Box 1715
Columbia, SC 29202-1715

Dear Mr. Cannon,

First, let me thank the Commission for the opportunity for The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce to participate in the Advisory Committees on the Pharmacy Fee Schedule and Surgical Implants. We hope to add a constructive voice on those issues.

We would also appreciate being heard at the August 15th public hearing on the “Maximum Allowable Payments to Medical Practitioners”.

Our comments will be in opposition to the proposal to amend Regulation 67-1302(A), which requires the Commission to use a relative value scale and a single conversion factor when establishing maximum allowable payments for medical services provided by medical practitioners.

We support a fee schedule that is based on an objective, scientifically-based analysis of medical costs such as Medicare’s Resource-Based Value Scale (RBRVS) that the Commission presently uses. Proposing to eliminate the use of the RBRVS and single conversion factor without proposing a comparable national data-driven replacement process is a recipe for an all-out assault on the limited-resourced Commission by well-financed special interests seeking to increase their compensation.

The end result of amending the Regulation as proposed will be much higher workers’ compensation insurance premiums for South Carolina businesses with no improvement in healthcare outcomes for our injured workers and their employers.

The Commission has invested much time in making sure that the present medical services compensation system is fair to all parties—businesses, providers and workers. Amending the Regulation and allowing multiple conversion factors will undermine this delicate balance and drive up system costs at a time when workers’ compensation loss costs, and thus premiums, are in decline.

Thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing.

Sincerely,

Frank Knapp, Jr.
President & CEO
The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce