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Workforce Safety & Insurance updates rules on equipment, medical payments and attorney fees
Summary
WSI presented a multi‑year cleanup and modernization of its rules to remove statutory redundancy, update medical‑service payment language, expand equipment payments for vocational and skill‑up needs, and adjust attorney‑fee schedules and policyholder transfer language. The committee accepted the presentation and asked clarifying questions.
Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) briefed the committee on a comprehensive rule revision driven by prior court decisions, recent legislation and an industry review request. Tim Wallin, Chief of Injury Services, said the update removes redundant language that duplicates statute, modernizes medical‑payment and device rules, and revises attorney‑fee schedules to reflect current practice.
Wallin described expanded authority to pay for equipment, including computers and tools used in vocational retraining, and clarified payments for mobility devices, prosthetics, home modifications and footwear. He explained changes to how historical losses follow a business when ownership changes and outlined new language to allow payment of employer attorney fees in limited jurisdictional disputes. The package also includes an administrative rule to implement premium credits for certain military‑service attorney fees.
Committee members asked where statutory provisions remain and why some detail was removed from rules; WSI said the rules removed duplicative material that already exists in statute and left more prescriptive material where it guides payment and claims processing.
What’s next: WSI distributed written testimony detailing the changes and the committee will consider the submitted amendments; staff praised the effort to modernize and simplify rules that had accumulated redundant language.
