Drug abuse is back in the news in workers’ compensation \u2013 with a new wrinkle.<\/p>\n
The Workers’ Compensation Administration is suggesting yet another attempt to change the statutory language relating to workers who get injured while using drugs or alcohol.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the workers’ compensation community is more and more concerned about workers who get addicted to drugs as a result of their injuries.<\/p>\n
The question of whether benefits should be barred for workers who were intoxicated has been a political hot potato for decades. \u00a0The public is outraged when a worker who got hurt while drunk or stoned gets workers’ compensation benefits. \u00a0Prior to the 1990 reform, the law said that if drugs or alcohol were the sole cause of the accident, the claim could be thrown out, but there was no consequence if intoxication was a partial factor.<\/p>\n
The 1990 workers\u2019 compensation task force, which overhauled the statute, battled over the issue but could not reach agreement.\u00a0\u00a0 Labor leaders argued that a worker\u2019s family should not suffer because the worker made a mistake.\u00a0\u00a0 The task force left the old provision in place and created a follow-up task force, which struggled valiantly and arrived at a recommendation that nobody else liked, so it was never even introduced in legislation.<\/p>\n
In 2001, an amendment was enacted that was supposed to say that if drug or alcohol use was a partial factor, the worker would lose 10 percent of benefits. The bill came from the Johnson-era Workers\u2019 Compensation Advisory Council. \u00a0Their intention was to base the penalty simply on evidence of use of drugs or alcohol, with no need to prove causation.\u00a0 On its way through the process, the language was badly garbled.\u00a0 The enacted language led to a confusing standard of partial causation and lots of litigation.\u00a0 It has been a problem ever since.\u00a0\u00a0 At a recent meeting, the WCA suggested to a new Advisory Council that this should be revisited.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the industry is deeply worried that injured workers are turning into pill addicts in record numbers.\u00a0 It was on everyone\u2019s lips at the annual conference of the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Association.<\/p>\n
Drug testing has long been a part of the system.\u00a0 As a sign of the times, the testing companies are offering tests for new kinds of deviant behavior.\u00a0 When a workers’ compensation patient has a prescribed dose of opioid painkillers, they can test that the patient is not supplementing that dose with cocaine, other prescription meds, or anything else. They can also make sure that the patient is taking the prescribed dose and not less \u2013 in other words, that he\u2019s not selling his pills on the street.<\/p>\n
Medical evidence shows that non-addictive, less expensive drugs like Tylenol are often just as effective, but claims adjusters complain that they can\u2019t stop doctors from writing prescriptions for opioids. The talk in the conference hallway is that doctors are lazy, or maybe the patients demand these pills and doctors comply because it\u2019s easier than spending time educating patients about the risks of addiction. \u00a0I argue that maybe it\u2019s because the fee schedule doesn\u2019t pay the docs to spend time doing this.<\/p>\n
The workers’ compensation system can\u2019t afford to push doctors around.\u00a0 It is said to be harder than ever to find doctors willing to take workers’ compensation cases. \u00a0The drug issue is just part of the problem.\u00a0 Doctors can\u2019t stand the extra paperwork, long delays for insurance approvals, and the threat of having to testify in litigation.<\/p>\n
As if we hadn\u2019t had 22 years since our famous big reform to figure out how to make the physician\u2019s role in this difficult system less frustrating.<\/p>\n
Contact Merilee Dannemann at www.triplespacedagain.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2012<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drug abuse is back in the news in workers’ compensation \u2013 with a new wrinkle. The Workers’ Compensation Administration is suggesting yet another attempt to change the statutory language relating to workers who get injured while using drugs or alcohol.\u00a0 … Continue reading