Lawmakers will once again be asked to shave workers compensation costs by closing a prescription drug loophole thought to bump up pharmaceutical costs more than 600 percent when the drugs are dispensed from medical offices.
Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, and Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, have filed legislation that would cap how much medical offices could charge when dispensing medication prescribed by an on-site physician.
We have a choice to make: We can choose to charge every business in the state of Florida 9 percent more on workers compensation rates, or we can choose to charge them less, Hudson said.
We want to make sure that workers compensation provides treatment they deserve, but we want to make sure our businesses are not being unduly charged to provide that.
Hays estimated the cap, which would put the cost of prescription medication on par with what a pharmacy charges, could save Florida small businesses that pay into the workers compensation system $62 million, through a 2.5 percent rate reduction.
The bill wouldnt preclude medical offices from dispensing medication, Hays said.All it does is limits the price that physicians can put on the medication, he said.
A cap was approved as part of a larger bill by legislators in 2010. But with opposition expressed by medical groups, including the Florida Medical Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, mostly on convenience grounds, former Gov. Charlie Crist enacted a line-item veto on the cap.
Last month, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty expressed concerns in approving an 8.9 percent rate hike in workers compensation costs requested by the Boca Raton-based National Council on Compensation Insurance, which manages the workers' compensation insurance industry.
That number is going to continue to go up until the Legislature can get its arms around this problem, said Monte Stevens, director of governmental affairs with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.
The National Federation of Independent Business has called the hike, which goes into place Jan. 1, 2012, bad news for small businesses.
However, a group opposed to the Hays-Hudson measure called it bad news for health care.
"Regulating the process in this way ties the hands of physicians -- physician dispensing holds down costs for employers, improves patient care and gets injured workers back to work sooner," stated Alia Faraj-Johnson, a spokeswoman for Automated HealthCare Solutions, in a release.
A spokeswoman for the AMA deferred comment to Automated HealthCare.
Even with the rate increase, Florida maintains the lowest workers compensation insurance rates in the Southeast.
NCCI stated in its filing with the state that insurers have seen an increase in claims for the past two years. NCCI also noted that since 2003, rates had been cut by a cumulative 64.7 percent.
"Regulating the process in this way ties the hands of physicians -- physician dispensing holds down costs for employers, improves patient care and gets injured workers back to work sooner," stated Alia Faraj-Johnson, a spokeswoman for Automated HealthCare Solutions, in a release.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859 or (772) 215-9889.
