TWCC Fee Schedule Halted by Travis County Judge

The new medical fee guideline approved by the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission (TWCC) last spring and scheduled to go into effect Sept. 1 was temporarily stayed by a Travis County judge. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Judge John Dietz made the ruling as part of a lawsuit filed against the TWCC by groups opposing the new fee schedule.

The fee guidelines, adopted as part of TWCC’s efforts to hold down skyrocketing workers’ comp costs in Texas, would have cut reimbursements by as much as 15 percent to certain doctors for various medical procedures.

The Texas Medical Association and the AFL-CIO filed the lawsuit jointly. The groups allege that TWCC violated the law in basing the fee structure on Medicare reimbursement guidelines.

In halting implementation of the fee schedule, Dietz ruled that the commission had failed to justify the guidelines.

The new guidelines are supported by the Texas Association of Business, which says workers’ compensation costs for Texas business rose by 50 percent last year.