6 Workers’ Comp Issues Shaping the Regulatory Landscape Across the U.S. : Risk &

The ongoing impacts of COVID-19 in the workplace, cannabis legalization and medical cost containment are a few of the top issues that states across the country are grappling with, according to a report that follows compensation-related legislative activity.

This is the tenth year the Regulatory and Legislative Trends Report has been compiled by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI).

The 2022 report highlights workers’ compensation-related legislative activity and trending issues throughout the country.

By the Numbers

As of July 31, the report tracked 844 state and federal bills, including 447 bills in states where NCCI provides ratemaking services.

To date, 98 bills were enacted.

In addition, NCCI monitored 243 proposed workers’ compensation-related regulations. As of July 31, 95 of those proposed regulations were adopted.

“As in prior years, medical cost containment was the top theme of the regulations adopted, including medical fee schedules and treatment guidelines, while several of the adopted regulations addressed claims reporting requirements, surcharges, and assessment,” said Laura Kersey, executive director, regulatory & legislative analysis For NCCI.

1) COVID-19

NCCI followed more than 118 bills related to COVID-19 and insurance this year.

Laura Kersey, executive director, regulatory & legislative analysis, NCCI.

“This year we continued to see states focused on COVID-19 legislation, including COVID-19 workers’ compensation presumptions,” Kersey said.

The report found that during 2020 and 2021, 18 states established COVID-19 presumptions through legislation, directives, and/or emergency rules.

Generally, these are presumptions that an employee’s exposure to, or contraction of, COVID-19 is work-related or is a compensable injury or disease.

Most of these presumptions contained expiration dates or sunset provisions tied to the end of the state of emergency or another specified date.

The report noted that several states proposed legislation this year to extend the expiration dates for COVID-19 workers’ compensation presumptions, while some states considered legislation to establish new COVID-19 presumptions.

In addition, several states considered legislation to establish a broader infectious disease workers’ compensation presumption that could be applicable beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

2) COVID-19 Vaccines

A new trend emerging in 2021 and the beginning of 2022 involved workers’ compensation and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Several states proposed legislation that would either establish a workers’ compensation presumption for an employee’s adverse effects from an employer-mandated COVID-19 vaccination or would specify that injuries from required COVID-19 vaccinations should be compensable under the workers’ compensation law.

In addition, a few states proposed legislation that would create a…