Summary of Major Changes to the New WC Act

Although the new workers' compensation reform bill has not officially been signed into law by Governor Quinn, its seems as though it is only a matter of time. Below, please find a summary of some of the major areas of change in the new Act. This is not meant to be a complete list, only a brief summary of some of the main changes.

 

1. Illinois’ medical fee schedule — the amount paid to health-care providers for workers’ comp procedures — would be cut by 30 percent, to 150 percent over what those providers are paid by Medicare for the same procedure.

2. Employers would have the opportunity to prove that intoxication was the cause of an injury and not the workplace, and employees would then have the burden of proving it was not their intoxication.

3. Employers would be allowed to refer workers to a preferred medical provider networks, under which employees still would be allowed their current two choices of doctor. If an injured worker chooses a doctor outside the network, they give up one of their choices. Hence, if an employer offers a company doctor, the employee has the option of going to the company doctor and/or one other physician of his or her choice and anyone either of those doctors refer him or her to.

4. The new Act will allow for anonymous reports of fraudulent claims and require any fraud claims be sent to the attorney generals office for determination of prosecution.

5. All of the arbiters currently on staff would be fired. Governor Quinn would be able to appoint new arbiters, subject to Senate confirmation. The Governor's office has already posted an Application Form onto the Industrial Commissions main website. Even current Arbitrators will have to apply in order to be re-appointed. This again seems to indicate his likelihood of signing the bill.

6. Under the new law, if an employee's injuries result in a loss of wages, the wage differential paid to the employee would be capped at age 67, or five years after the accident, whichever occurs later. This is significantly less money than what the previous Act allowed - which was payment of the difference for the rest of the employee's life.

It should be noted that these changes would only effect cases filed after September 1, 2011.