Virginia HJ 544: Study; JLARC to study the Virginia's workers' compensation system; report.

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2017 SESSION

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17100459D

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 544 

Offered January 11, 2017 

Prefiled October 10, 2016 

Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to 
 study Virginia's workers' compensation system. Report. 
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Patron-- Lingamfelter 

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Referred to Committee on Rules 

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WHEREAS, Virginia enacted the Workers' Compensation Act in 1918 
 as part of the "grand bargain" between employers and employees; and

WHEREAS, this "grand bargain" was designed to ensure 
 the protection of injured workers and their families by requiring employers to 
 provide medical treatment and financial compensation when an employee is 
 injured or killed during and in the scope of his 
 employment, while employers were assured that workers' compensation would be 
 the exclusive remedy and that, by agreeing to such a system, they could no longer 
 be sued at common law for injuries or death suffered by employees during and in 
 the scope of their employment; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission 
 administers the workers' compensation program in the Commonwealth and oversees the 
 resolution of claims in accordance with the Workers' Compensation Act through 
 mediation and hearings; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Workers' 
 Compensation Commission received nearly 55,000 claims and applications and 
 adjudicated more than 13,000 disputes in 2013; and

WHEREAS, employees and their representatives have raised 
 concerns about (i) delays that can be experienced within the current system 
 before benefits are awarded and (ii) the complexity of the dispute resolution 
 process; and

WHEREAS, employers and insurers have consistently complained 
 in recent years about the prices they are forced to pay for workers' 
 compensation medical services under the prevailing community rate provisions of 
 � 65.2-605 of the Code of Virginia and judicial presumptions that have 
 developed thereunder; and

WHEREAS, recent national studies show that 
 payments by Virginia employers for a number of common workers' 
 compensation medical services are 200 to 300 percent higher than payments for the same services under general health care; and 

WHEREAS, while recent national studies indicate that 
 Virginia's workers' compensation insurance premiums are the fourth lowest in 
 the nation, they also show that medical costs paid 
 per workers' compensation claim in Virginia have experienced a high growth rate 
 in recent years, are now higher than in most states, and now account for 
 two-thirds of all workers' compensation payments in Virginia; and

WHEREAS, by enacting House Bill 378 and Senate Bill 631 in the 
 2016 Session of the General Assembly, the General Assembly has directed the 
 Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission to esta