National – Weight loss medications in workers’ compensation – Listen to this podcast that has doctors weighing in on what the medications are, why they are grabbing headlines and how they might impact healthcare and workers’ compensation.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the General Services Administration (GSA) announced new guidance advising that all federal facilities in the US include overdose reversal medications in their safety stations on site. HHS Secretary Becerra said “we must continue to do everything we can to make sure the necessary tools are quickly and easily available so anyone can respond to an emergency situation – anytime, anywhere. It’s about empowering everyone to play a role in saving lives when it counts the most.”
Illinois – Rep. Dan Agaste (R) introduced numerous workers’ compensation bills that were assigned to Labor & Commerce Committee this week. HB 4082, if passed, would amend the Workers’ Compensation Act to find that an injury arises out of and in the course of employment only if the accident significantly caused or contributed to both the resulting condition and the disability. It also limits conditions under which repetitive or cumulative trauma is compensable and states that gradual deterioration or progressive degeneration of the body caused by aging is not compensable. HB 4082 comprehensive bill with significant revisions proposed to the current Act.
HB 4087 would require the Work Comp Commission to adopt an evidence-based drug formulary and require prescriptions to be limited to that formulary. It also states that custom compound medications for longer than the one-time 7-day supply shall be approved for payment only if the compound meets specified standards.
HB 4079 would require the Work Comp Commission to establish a new medical fee schedule after September 1, 2024. It also limits prescribers from prescribing more than a one-time 7-day supply unless the prescription is preauthorized by the employer. This bill includes the same language as HB 4087, requiring an evidence-based drug formulary and limitations on custom compound medications.
New York – S1974A was heard in the Senator Labor committee earlier this week and passed 13-0. This bill is considered the patient choice of pharmacy bill, but it is not a blanket choice of pharmacy. Some conditions must be met before the choice of pharmacy is allowed.
AB 1133 would limit prescribers from writing an opioid prescription for more than a 7-day supply to a patient who is 20 years of age or older and limit opioid prescriptions to a 3-day supply to those patients 19 years of age and younger.
Kentucky – Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a complaint against Kroger citing “between 2006-2019, Kroger and its more than 100 pharmacies in the Commonwealth were responsible for over 11% of all opioid pills dispensed in Kentucky, totaling hundreds of millions of doses flooding into communities without any reasonable safeguards.” Earlier this month, General Coleman announced a nearly $7 million settlement with Publicis Health for the marketing agency’s role in the opioid crisis.
Colorado – Legislators introduced HB 1139 that would amend benefits paid to surviving spouses in workers’ compensation claims to allow for those who worked in high-risk jobs to be eligible for lifetime death benefits even after getting remarried. Currently, benefits terminate if the spouse remarries. High-risk roles include state patrol, Bureau of Investigation, Department of Corrections, firefighters, wildlife officers, Department of Transportation and parks and recreation officers.
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