The Indiana General Assembly has passed legislation that adopts a drug formulary for the state’s workers’ compensation system.
The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) is urging Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to sign the bill, SB 369.
“Evidence-based pharmaceutical formularies such as included in SB 369 can help to ensure timely delivery of appropriate medical care to injured workers to achieve optimum health and return-to-work outcomes,” Hilary Segura, counsel for PCI, said in the insurance trade group’s announcement. “In 2011, Texas was the first state to implement an evidence-based workers compensation pharmaceutical formulary and it has proven to be very effective in providing injured workers with access to the most appropriate medications, while protecting them from non-recommended medicine including high-dosage opioids and benzodiazepines. These drugs have driven the national opioid crisis.”
Under SB 369, Indiana will prohibit workers’ compensation and occupational disease compensation reimbursement for drugs specified as “not recommended” (N) in the Official Disability Guidelines (ODG) Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary.
The bill states, however, that a prescribing physician may request to prescribe an “N” drug and if the employer approves the request, the “N” drug may be prescribed.
PCI members write $220 billion in annual premium, 37 percent of the nation’s property casualty insurance.
Topics Workers' Compensation
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