COMPACT for workers' compensation professionals

February 2007
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry

CONTENTS
2 Annual workers' compensation legislative reports available

2 Department testing data-driven approach

3 Amendments to work comp treatment parameter rules

3 Workers' compensation dispute-resolution process studied

4 Mediation 101: Identifying cases for mediation

4 Notice concerning annual Workers' Compensation Report of Benefits

Paid

D-1 Court decisions: October through December 2006

Annual legislative Mediation 101: Court decisions:

reports available Identifying cases for mediation October through December 2006

Summaries of
2 4 Decisions D-1
 Annual workers' compensation legislative reports available
2006 Collection and Assessment of Fines and Penalties
Minnesota Statutes §176.222 directs the commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry to
submit an annual report regarding the assessment and collection of fines and penalties under the
workers’ compensation law. Some of the results of the current report include the following.

• In fiscal-year 2006, there was an increase in the amount of failure

to insure penalties assessed.
• Twenty-seven percent of the penalties assessed in fiscal-year
2006 resulted from investigations of home health care
providers.
• Of the other penalties assessed in fiscal-year 2006, 17
percent of the total penalties assessed involved uninsured
employers in the construction trades and five percent involved
the trucking industry.
• The increase in the quantity of the “other penalties” category is
primarily due to review of all denials of primary liability.

The complete 2006 report is available online at www.doli.state.mn.us/pubwkcp.html.

2006 Prompt First Action Report on Workers' Compensation Claims
Minnesota Statutes §176.223 directs the commissioner of the
Department of Labor and Industry to publish an annual report
providing data about the promptness of all insurers and self-
insurers in making first payments on a claim for injury.

The department evaluates data submitted on the First Report of

Injury and the Notice of Insurer’s Primary Liability
Determination forms to determine whether the first payment or
denial of benefits is timely. In fiscal-year 2006, 87.1 percent of
the 28,708 lost-time claims had a timely first action. This is an
increase from fiscal-year 2005, where 85.7 percent of the 29,177
lost-time claims had a timely first action.

The complete 2006 report is available online at www.doli.state.mn.us/pubwkcp.html.

Department testing data-driven approach

The Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) is evaluating the possibility of

moving toward data-driven regulation in workers' compensation instead of
its current forms-based approach. As part of this project, DLI is now working
with the information collected on one workers' compensation form — the
Notice of Intention to Discontinue (NOID) — via the data it contains rather
than a scanned image of the form.

2 • COMPACT • February 2007

 Amendments to work comp treatment parameter rules
By Kate Berger, Legal Services

Information about possible adoption of or

amendment to Department of Labor and Industry
(DLI) rules is available in the department
rulemaking docket posted on the DLI Web site at
www.doli.state.mn.us/rulemaking_activity.html.
The rulemaking docket provides drafts of rules and
other information about the rule adoption process,
including how to submit comments.

Current drafts of amendments to the workers'

compensation treatment parameter rules are available for review. The drafts include possible
rules governing muscle relaxants, narcotic analgesics, long-term use of narcotic analgesics,
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications and other amendments to parts 5221.6030 to
5221.6600. The drafts are available for review at www.doli.state.mn.us/pdf/rulemaking_5221_
6020_8900_docket_trtm_par.pdf. The draft rules will be discussed with the Medical Services
Review Board at its meeting at the department (443 Lafayette Road N., St. Paul) on March 1,
2007, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Workers' compensation dispute-resolution process studied

By Brian Zaidman, Research Analyst
Research and Statistics

The Department of Labor and • What opportunities exist for parties to resolve
Industry (DLI) Research issues before disputes are presented to DLI?
and Statistics unit is • After disputes are presented, are there
engaged in a project to opportunities for resolving some of them at
help the DLI Benefit an earlier stage than occurs now?
Management and • What aspects of the dispute-resolution
Resolution unit improve process are working well?
its administration of the • Are there areas for improvement?
workers’ compensation • In medical treatment disputes, to what extent
dispute-resolution process. The purpose of the are the treatment parameters applied by the
project is to statistically describe the workers’ parties and by DLI specialists and Office of
compensation dispute-resolution process, Administrative Hearings judges in their
identifying areas where administrative changes can decisions?
improve system performance.
The study is focusing on disputes that were
Data is being collected from case file documents and presented to DLI in 2003. This is to allow enough
log entries to attempt to answer many questions. time for the dispute-resolution process to have run
• What issues are disputed? its course between then and now. The file review
• How are disputes brought to the attention of process will continue through June 2007; the
DLI and how are they resolved? results will be presented to DLI staff members later
• What factors affect when, where and how in the year.
resolution occurs?
3 • COMPACT • February 2007
 MEDIATION 101: Identifying cases for mediation
By Mark McCrea, Supervisor, Alternative Dispute Resolution
The Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) is committed to providing quick and effective dispute-
resolution services to parties in Minnesota’s workers’ compensation system. The expanded use of
mediation has been identified as one of the primary
tools DLI intends to use to accomplish this objective.

Mediation is voluntary. Consequently, parties may

request mediation for any dispute or claim, at any
time. No filings or other formalities are necessary to
participate in mediation in Minnesota’s system.
Mediators at DLI frequently conduct mediations
regarding closed periods of disability, denials of
primary liability, medical-only claims, claims filed
by pro se (without an attorney) litigants, permanent
partial disability claims, average-weekly-wage issues and disputes about medical treatment.
Frequently, administrative conferences about medical or vocational rehabilitation issues at DLI are
converted into mediation sessions to resolve disputes beyond the original vocational rehabilitation or
medical issues.

Factors to consider in determining if the early initiation of mediation is feasible include:

• whether the parties are emotionally ready and motivated to resolve the dispute; and
• whether sufficient information has been received to properly evaluate the claim.

Parties should also consider

“turning points” or changes in
the dynamics of a dispute in Notice concerning annual Workers'
determining when to mediate. Compensation Report of Benefits Paid
Turning points are specific
times, events or results that can Beginning with the calendar-year 2006 reporting period, the
influence resolution, such as a Department of Labor and Industry will no longer mail paper
deadline for filing an answer or forms and instructions to insurers and self-insured employers that
response, scheduled depositions, must file the annual Workers' Compensation Report of Benefits
deadlines for filing motions and/ Paid form.
or the trial calendar.
Instead, the department will be mailing
DLI Alternative Dispute
a letter directing those companies to a
Resolution provides mediation
Web site to file reports electronically.
services that are impartial, fair
Letters regarding the 2006 filing will
and creative. For more
be mailed by Feb. 15; the filing must be
information, visit www.doli.
completed by April 1. The department is
state.mn.us/irdspres.html or
making this change to improve efficiency in
call DLI's Mark McCrea at
the assessment process.
(651) 284-5229.
4 • COMPACT • February 2007