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SALEM -- Gene Lawhorn told a House committee Thursday that while the state has been wrestling the past two months with
how Workers' Compensation doctors can be paid, he has been calling around trying to find a doctor who would treat his
workplace injury.
"Nobody wanted to take me on," said the Salem carpenter. "I'm the guy that this affects."
Lawhorn spoke at the end of a four-hour hearing by the House Interim Committee on Business and Labor on a July change to
a Workers' Compensation rule. The opinion of the majority of witnesses was that the Workers' Compensation Division made
a big mistake.
The 18 witnesses included lawyers, doctors, lobbyists and Workers' Comp Division chief John Shilts.
"I have never seen a worse rule come out of this division," said Diana Godwin, a Portland lawyer representing physical therapy
clinics.
Thursday's hearing was the latest public discussion of the emergency rule, which went into effect July 7 for 180 days.
The change affects how doctors are paid for taking on workers' compensation cases, which are more demanding medically
and administratively.
Insurers are required to pay doctors by a state fee schedule, but the rule instead allowed insurers to shop around for
discounts to the doctors' fees, which significantly undercut the fee schedule.
The division imposed the rule without consulting its labor, management or medical advisers. Division officials said they
had to act because a Maryland company that contracts with doctors had threatened to pull out of Oregon if the division
did not act quickly.
Shawn Miller, a lobbyist representing the insurers, said the rule merely aimed to stabilize the payment system to doctors.
But other witnesses told the House panel that the rule change threw Oregon's workers' compensation system into chaos.
Several doctors testified that they know of dozens of colleagues who have decided not to accept any more cases until the
rule dispute is settled.
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Hearing - Most speakers object to a rule redefining how doctors are paid for treatment!