2015 Workers' Compensation Statute Revisions

Legislation was recently passed and signed into law by Governor Mark Dayton that may cut workers’ compensation inpatient hospital costs by 10 to 15 percent.

The newly passed law will require the Minnesota’s workers’ compensation system to use the same payment system that Medicare uses to reimburse hospitals.  The law will take effect beginning in January 2016.

The primary thrust of the law bases a hospital’s reimbursement on a patient’s diagnosis, using what is referred to as Medicare Severity – Diagnosis-Related Groups (MS-DRGs).  The current system bases reimbursement on charges billed for treating a patient.

The legislation is also intended to enhance electronic billing and reduce information that hospitals must submit along with their bills.   Payment disputes might be reduced as a result of the enhanced electronic billing.

The legislation authorizes the commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry to adopt rules, to take effect in 2017, setting up a similar system to pay for outpatient hospital and ambulatory surgical center services provided to injured workers.

Additional changes to the Statute were made to ensure that injured workers are granted the right to have benefit payments electronically deposited in their own banking accounts.

The complete revisions can be seen here: