REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• The Court has issued its statistical report for 2007-2016. The report summarizes information reported to the court by employers and insurers for work-related injuries and illnesses that occurred during calendar years 2007 through 2016, regardless of the year in which the reports were filed.

LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS:

• Legislative Bill 444
  The enacted legislation prohibits cities and counties offering individual or family health insurance to law enforcement officers from cancelling such policy if the officer is injured in an assault while on duty. The city or county may cancel the policy if the law enforcement officer does not return to employment within twelve months. Effective Date August 31, 2017.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Kids' Chance of Nebraska is seeking new applicants for upcoming school year. For the children of Nebraska workers who have been severely or fatally injured in a workplace accident, this opportunity could provide critical financial assistance for higher education and open up new possibilities for the future.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• The Nebraska Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses for 2015 and Nebraska Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries for 2015 are now available in portable document format (pdf).
• The Schedules of Fees for Inpatient Hospital Diagnostic Related Group (DRG) and Inpatient Hospital Trauma Services have been updated with information from CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center Bergan Mercy that was previously unavailable.
• Published the results of their Vocational Rehabilitation meeting announcement and results of the 02/03/2017 meeting are now available in portable document format (pdf).

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• The court's revised Rules of Procedure are now available in portable document format (pdf).  Amendments to the court's adjudicatory Rules 5 and 12 were adopted at a Dec. 14, 2016 public meeting and were approved by the Nebraska Supreme Court on Jan. 19, 2017. Amendments to the court's non-adjudicatory Rules 26, 63, and 73 were adopted, with varying effective dates, at a Dec. 14, 2016 public meeting.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Amendments to the court's non-adjudicatory Rules 26, 63, and 73 were adopted, with varying effective dates, at a December 14, 2016 public meeting.
• Schedules of Fees for Medical Services, Inpatient Hospital Diagnostic Related Group (DRG), and Inpatient Hospital Trauma Services (effective January 1, 2017) may be downloaded from the Fee Schedules section of the court's web site.
• Judge Dirk V. Block was sworn in on January 13, 2017 to serve on the bench of the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court.

FEE SCHEDULE NEWS:

• A new medical fee schedule has been adopted with an effective date of January 1, 2017. The fee schedule is based on 2017 CPT codes, descriptions, modifiers and the National Correct Coding Initiative as established by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  New conversion factors have been adopted.  The next update is scheduled for January 2018.
• The state has also adopted changes to Inpatient DRG/Trauma hospital rates with an effective date of January 1, 2017. The next update is expected in January 2018.

REGULATORY ACTIVITY:

• Effective January 3, 2017, to revise or supplement a Lump Sum Settlement Application, the court will require parties to submit either an Amended Lump Sum Settlement Application or a Joint Stipulation setting forth the charges. No Filing fee will be required for either document.  If an Amended Lump Sum Settlement is submitted all attachments must be included.  If a Joint Stipulation is used attachments may be added or removed as applicable.  A revised proposed order approving the Amended Lump Sum Settlement or Joint Stipulation and Lump Sum Settlement will also be required.  The procedures are already utilized in e-filed lump sum settlement applications and will supersede the current practice of allowing substitute pages to make revisions.
• Governor Pete Ricketts announced his appointment of Dirk V. Block to the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court.   Block, 55, is managing member of Marks, Clare, and Richards, LLC in Omaha where he leads a team of attorneys who try cases before the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court and counsel clients on employments matters.  He has also worked as a partner and associate attorney at the firm.  Block was previously an associate attorney at Knapp, Mues, Beaver, and Luther in Kearney. Block holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and a Juris Doctor from Creighton University School of Law.  He has received the Martindale Hubbell “AV” peer review rating since 2005. The vacancy is due to the retirement of Judge Laureen K. van Norman, effective January 1, 2017.
• Effective January 1, 2017, the mileage rate will become 53.5 cents per mile for travel to seek medical treatment or while participating in a vocational rehabilitation plan. This conforms to the reimbursement rate paid to State of Nebraska employees.
• The Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court held a public hearing on amendments to four rules and the adoption of a fifth. Under Rule 5, Interpreters, amendments would provide deadlines for submission of requests for interpreters; require an affidavit affirming the selection of the interpreter, and that person’s name and date of the legal proceeding. New Rule 12, Withdrawal of Counsel, would establish the procedures for attorneys of record to withdraw from cases. Under amendments to Rule 26, Schedules of Fees for Medical, Surgical and Hospital Services, the agency would adopt a new fee schedule effective Jan. 1. It would include 2017 current procedural terminology codes and relative value units established by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicaid Services, and include Medicare Diagnostic Related Groups with the inpatient hospital fee schedule. Rule 63, Independent Medical Examiner Selection, would be amended to provide that once an IME is assigned; neither party can submit additional questions without the court’s approval. And Rule 73, Self-Insurance Security, would be amended to provide that no security will be released for at least two years after the last payment to the claimant on all claims arising during the time the employer was approved for self-insurance.