On February 19, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order asking federal agencies to review regulations and report back to the White House with reforms needed to be consistent with law and Trump administration policy. The EO is available at Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President's "Department of Government Efficiency" Regulatory Initiative – The White [...]
On April 1, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released new detailed guidance for reporting workers’ compensation settlements involving individuals who are Medicare eligible. See NGHP User Guide | CMS. As part of a series of new detailed guidance, CMS provided specifics with respect to the information required by CMS when a workers’ compensation [...]
On Friday, March 15th business and worker representatives joined in support of the Comp Act (HR 7368) introduced by Congressmen Mike Carey (R-OH) and Mike Thompson (D-CA). The letter (attached) notes that HR 7368 would: Create certainty for calculating the amounts to be included in Workers’ Compensation set-asides. Provide appeal rights from reviews by the Centers for [...]
On February 23, 2024 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released an alert seeking to expand the Section 111 reporting requirements for Non Group Health Plans (NGHPs) See MMSEA S111 GHP Alert (cms.gov). The expansion goes well beyond the general statutory requirement in 42 U.S.C. 1395y(b)(7)&(b)(8), and would impact self-insured employers, workers’ compensation plans, [...]
Legislation supported by UWC and a coalition of stakeholders in workers’ compensation has been introduced to address the need for clarification when there are workers’ compensation settlements involving employees who are also Medicare eligible. The appropriate determination of amounts to be paid under the applicable workers’ compensation law and Medicare has been an issue for many [...]
On September 12, 2023, the US DOL Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) posted new rules in the Federal Register with respect to Civil Monetary Penalties for failure to report. Background of This Rulemaking On April 28, 2020, OWCP hosted a public outreach webinar to solicit stakeholders' views on how OWCP could improve its processes. See E.O. [...]
On April 24, 2023 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted guidance for use in determining amounts to be set aside in workers’ compensation settlements based on life expectancy. Beginning April 29, 2023, CMS will utilize the CDC’s “Table 1: Life Table for the total population: United States, 2020” for the Workers’ Compensation Medicare [...]
On March 1, 2022, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs released notice of its review of the CMS proposed rule that would “ensure that Medicare beneficiaries are making the best health care choices possible by providing them and their representatives with the opportunity to select an option for meeting future medical obligations that fits their [...]
Two US Supreme Court decisions recently addressed the question of whether federal agencies had authority to require that individuals be vaccinated. In one decision the court addressed the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to require employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated. In the second decision [...]
On Friday, November 5, 2021 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of contracting COVID–19 by strongly encouraging vaccination. Covered employers must develop, implement, and enforce a mandatory COVID–19 vaccination policy, with an exception for employers [...]
