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Video: Key Workers’ Compensation Legislative Updates for 2019

June 4, 2019 - WorkCompWire

By Brian Allen, VP of Government Affairs, Mitchell

Are you up-to-date with all of the legislative changes happening at the state and federal level?

Take a deeper dive into the current legislative and regulatory landscape in this interview with Mitchell’s VP of Government Affairs, Brian Allen. Learn what topics are permeating legislative sessions, from opioids to medical marijuana.

Summary
The major trends in legislation for 2019 are:

  • Opioid prescribing limits and other opioid-related laws
  • Medical marijuana legalization
  • Formulary development and implementation
  • Workers’ compensation reform

Opioids
Several states are examining opioid prescribing limits. For first fills, many are looking to limit the length of prescription to three days, often decreasing from previously set seven-day limits. Several states are also looking at greater patient education, warning labels on the prescription bottles, locking vials and co-prescribing of Naloxone. Interestingly, a couple states are looking at rolling back previously set opioid prescribing limits.

The federal government is also examining opioid prescribing laws, considering a bill to federally limit prescribing to five days. This potential law would not circumvent state laws that are more restrictive, but would set in place limit laws for those states that do not currently have them.

Medical Marijuana
To date, thirty-three states have legalized medical marijuana and several more have legalized recreational marijuana. In this year’s legislative session, more than 15 states have looked at bills related to medical marijuana, whether to legalize for the first time or to expand their medical marijuana programs. Some of these bills have not passed, but several more are still active in their state legislatures.

One major focus for a couple states in legalizing marijuana is to allow for use by opioid patients, in an effort to stem the impact of the opioid crisis.

At the federal level, there are bills related to banking, research and rescheduling of marijuana.

Formularies
Several states are looking at or are finalizing their formulary rules:

  • Illinois and Nebraska are looking at bills to establish a workers’ compensation drug formulary.
  • Kentucky recently passed its drug formulary, which will go into effect on July 1, 2019.
  • Montana’s formulary went into effect on April 1, 2019.
  • New York is in the final stages of creating its formulary rule.

Up Next: Workers’ Compensation in 2020
As we move into the latter half of the year and the beginning of 2020, there are several topics that legislators may continue to examine, including:

  • Workers’ compensation reform
  • Options for workers’ compensation care, such as the model that Texas follows
  • Use of medical marijuana and the issue of reimbursement
  • Utilization review

Want more insights into upcoming legislative changes in workers’ compensation? Visit our news page for regular compliance updates.

Partner Post:
This is a sponsored post from WorkCompWire marketing partner Mitchell.

Filed Under: Featured Articles

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