Winter 2005

You Need to Know
By Jaelene Fayhee
Vice President of Public Affairs

Update your workers’ comp forms
On September 1, 2005, the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission (TWCC) became the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC). The DWC asks employers, insurance carriers, health care providers and other system participants to stop using forms that reference TWCC by January 1, 2006. When the DWC updates its forms, employers will be able to download them from the Employer Forms section.

Governor names new DWC commissioner
Gov. Rick Perry named Albert Betts Jr. commissioner of the DWC. Betts, whose term expires on February 1, 2007, formerly served as chief of staff and senior associate commissioner of operations at the Texas Department of Insurance.

DWC publishes rulemaking priorities
The DWC is working on rules relating to House Bill 7. DWC assigned the highest priority to the following types of rules:

• Rules that employers, health care providers and other system stakeholders designated as high priority
• Rules relating to medical care in and outside of certified networks
• Rules that carry statutory deadlines

For more information on rulemaking priorities and to see a list of rules under development, click here.

DWC adopts emergency rules
The DWC adopted emergency rules relating to medical billing, medical billing audits, and preauthorization. The rules add physical and occupational therapy to the list of services requiring preauthorization, with certain exceptions. For more information on the emergency rules, click here.

DWC posts educational conference materials
The DWC posted video and slide presentations from its annual educational conference on its website. To access the resources, click here.

COMPNEWS - WINTER 2005
Health Care Network Option Coming Soon
Five Reasons You Should Report Every Workplace Injury
Cleaning Up Workplace Substance Abuse
President's Message
You Need to Know
Fraud Corner

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