REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• While the 2017-2018 Iowa Workers' Compensation Law books are not yet available, you are now able to pre-order your books online.  The order link is: http://www.iwcac.org/publications.html (link is external)
• EDI Claims Update:  To All IWD DWC Workers’ Compensation Carriers, Claims Administrators, and Self-Insured Employers: This correspondence is to provide you with the attached announcement regarding an Iowa Division of Workers' Compensation (IWD DWC) EDI Claims update. Iowa has decided to implement Claims Release 3.1 rather than 3.0 as previously announced, with the mandatory reporting period start date of December 3, 2018.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Beginning October 2, 2017, all hand-delivered documents for the Division of Workers’ Compensation MUST be delivered directly to the Workforce Development location at 150 Des Moines Street between the hours of 8 am - 4:30 pm.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Medical mileage will be decreasing to $.535 effective July 1, 2017.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Medical mileage will be decreasing to $.535 effective July 1, 2017.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Effective July 1, 2017, the Division of Workers’ Compensation is increasing the fee for all copies from fifteen cents (.15¢) to twenty-five cents (.25¢). This change reflects the increased costs the Division has incurred since it last changed the fees and brings the Division of Workers’ Compensation in line with the costs charged by Iowa Workforce Development.

LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS:

• House File 518
  The enacted legislation makes various changes to Iowa Code chapter 85 related to workers’ compensation by reducing benefits, limiting benefits, changing the qualifications for benefits, and reducing the interest rate calculation.  The Bill provides for training, at an Iowa community college that at a minimum, will result in the awarding of an associate degree or completion of a certificate program that will enable a worker who has sustained a shoulder injury, as specified in Iowa Code section 85.34(2), to return to the workforce.  The Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) Department is required to evaluate those workers for career and training opportunities.  The Iowa community colleges are required to have a new Career Vocational Training and Education Program to address the needs of those workers.  Each of those injured workers will be entitled to up to $15,000 for the payment of tuition, fees, and required equipment, to be paid for by the injured worker’s employer or employer’s insurer.  The community college may be required to report each semester on the status of the employee’s training.  An annual report on the Program is due to the General Assembly beginning December 1, 2018.  The report is to be provided by the IWD, in cooperation with the Department of Education, the Insurance Division of the Department of Commerce, and all community colleges.  Effective Date: July 1, 2017.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• A notice from the Indiana Division of Workers’ Compensation was published on March 15, 2017:  “Please share this information with all customers and staff who contact Workers’ Compensation to make them aware there will be some delay in responding to inquiries. The Division of Workers’ Compensation is experiencing an extraordinary number of filings of Original Notices and Petitions which began two weeks ago. Our docket staff is diligently processing these petitions.  Soon we expect to start receiving replies and pleadings in response to each of those petitions, which will also require additional processing time. With such a significant increase in our workload, our response time to voicemails, return calls, and requests for information will not be as prompt as we would like.   Defense counsel offices: Please contact the insurance carrier/claim administrator for the compliance number and/or the DWC file number.  Answers and pleadings containing claimant’s name and injury date will provide sufficient information for us to link to the petition and process properly. While we expect, this inconvenience will be temporary, we have no way to determine a time frame.  We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time, and we thank you for your support.”

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Iowa published on their web site Guidelines for Preparation of Hearing Exhibits.  Currently the guidelines are not mandatory but may be used however the guidelines do become mandatory May 1, 2017.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Beginning in 2017, DWC will no longer hold hearings in Iowa Falls.  Instead the hearings will be held in Fort Dodge, on the Iowa Central Community College campus, at the following location:

Iowa WORKS
3 Triton Circle
Fort Dodge, IA 50501

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• The Iowa Workers’ Compensation Division published on July 5, 2016 emergency regulation regarding workers’ compensation payroll taxes. This amendment updates references to the tables which determine payroll taxes. In compliance with Iowa Code section 17A.4 (3) “a,” the Workers’ Compensation Commissioner finds that notice and public participation are unnecessary. Rule 876—8.8(85,17A) is noncontroversial and, further, Iowa Code section 85.61(6) requires adoption of current tables to determine payroll taxes by July 1 of each year. The Division must wait until the Internal Revenue Service and the Iowa Department of Revenue determine whether there will be changes in their publications on July 1 of the current year.