Bill Text: OR HB2743 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to podiatric physicians.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-05-19 - Chapter 117, (2011 Laws): Effective date January 1, 2012. [HB2743 Detail]

Download: Oregon-2011-HB2743-Introduced.html

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     76th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2011 Regular Session

NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .

LC 2045

                         House Bill 2743

Sponsored by Representative BOONE (at the request of Oregon
  Podiatric Medical Association) (Presession filed.)

                             SUMMARY

The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.

  Adds podiatric physician and surgeon to definition of '
attending physician' for purposes of workers' compensation law.

                        A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to podiatric physicians; amending ORS 656.005.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
  SECTION 1. ORS 656.005 is amended to read:
  656.005. (1) 'Average weekly wage' means the Oregon average
weekly wage in covered employment, as determined by the
Employment Department, for the last quarter of the calendar year
preceding the fiscal year in which the injury occurred.
  (2) 'Beneficiary' means an injured worker, and the husband,
wife, child or dependent of a worker, who is entitled to receive
payments under this chapter. 'Beneficiary' does not include:
  (a) A spouse of an injured worker living in a state of
abandonment for more than one year at the time of the injury or
subsequently. A spouse who has lived separate and apart from the
worker for a period of two years and who has not during that time
received or attempted by process of law to collect funds for
support or maintenance is considered living in a state of
abandonment.
  (b) A person who intentionally causes the compensable injury to
or death of an injured worker.
  (3) 'Board' means the Workers' Compensation Board.
  (4) 'Carrier-insured employer' means an employer who provides
workers' compensation coverage with the State Accident Insurance
Fund Corporation or an insurer authorized under ORS chapter 731
to transact workers' compensation insurance in this state.
  (5) 'Child' includes a posthumous child, a child legally
adopted prior to the injury, a child toward whom the worker
stands in loco parentis, a child born out of wedlock and a
stepchild, if such stepchild was, at the time of the injury, a
member of the worker's family and substantially dependent upon
the worker for support. A dependent child who is an invalid is a
child, for purposes of benefits, regardless of age, so long as
the child was an invalid at the time of the accident and
thereafter remains an invalid substantially dependent on the
worker for support. For purposes of this chapter, a dependent
child who is an invalid is considered to be a child under 18
years of age.
  (6) 'Claim' means a written request for compensation from a
subject worker or someone on the worker's behalf, or any
compensable injury of which a subject employer has notice or
knowledge.
  (7)(a) A 'compensable injury' is an accidental injury, or
accidental injury to prosthetic appliances, arising out of and in
the course of employment requiring medical services or resulting
in disability or death; an injury is accidental if the result is
an accident, whether or not due to accidental means, if it is
established by medical evidence supported by objective findings,
subject to the following limitations:
  (A) No injury or disease is compensable as a consequence of a
compensable injury unless the compensable injury is the major
contributing cause of the consequential condition.
  (B) If an otherwise compensable injury combines at any time
with a preexisting condition to cause or prolong disability or a
need for treatment, the combined condition is compensable only
if, so long as and to the extent that the otherwise compensable
injury is the major contributing cause of the disability of the
combined condition or the major contributing cause of the need
for treatment of the combined condition.
  (b) 'Compensable injury' does not include:
  (A) Injury to any active participant in assaults or combats
which are not connected to the job assignment and which amount to
a deviation from customary duties;
  (B) Injury incurred while engaging in or performing, or as the
result of engaging in or performing, any recreational or social
activities primarily for the worker's personal pleasure; or
  (C) Injury the major contributing cause of which is
demonstrated to be by a preponderance of the evidence the injured
worker's consumption of alcoholic beverages or the unlawful
consumption of any controlled substance, unless the employer
permitted, encouraged or had actual knowledge of such
consumption.
  (c) A 'disabling compensable injury' is an injury which
entitles the worker to compensation for disability or death. An
injury is not disabling if no temporary benefits are due and
payable, unless there is a reasonable expectation that permanent
disability will result from the injury.
  (d) A 'nondisabling compensable injury' is any injury which
requires medical services only.
  (8) 'Compensation' includes all benefits, including medical
services, provided for a compensable injury to a subject worker
or the worker's beneficiaries by an insurer or self-insured
employer pursuant to this chapter.
  (9) 'Department' means the Department of Consumer and Business
Services.
  (10) 'Dependent' means any of the following-named relatives of
a worker whose death results from any injury: Father, mother,
grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, grandson,
granddaughter, brother, sister, half sister, half brother, niece
or nephew, who at the time of the accident, are dependent in
whole or in part for their support upon the earnings of the
worker.  Unless otherwise provided by treaty, aliens not residing
within the United States at the time of the accident other than
father, mother, husband, wife or children are not included within
the term ' dependent.  '
  (11) 'Director' means the Director of the Department of
Consumer and Business Services.
  (12)(a) 'Doctor' or 'physician' means a person duly licensed to
practice one or more of the healing arts in any country or in any
state, territory or possession of the United States within the
limits of the license of the licentiate.
  (b) Except as otherwise provided for workers subject to a
managed care contract, 'attending physician' means a doctor,

physician or physician assistant who is primarily responsible for
the treatment of a worker's compensable injury and who is:
  (A) A medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy licensed under ORS
677.100 to 677.228 by the Oregon Medical Board { + , + } or
 { + a podiatric physician and surgeon licensed under ORS 677.805
to 677.840 by the Oregon Medical Board, + } an oral and
maxillofacial surgeon licensed by the Oregon Board of Dentistry
or a similarly licensed doctor in any country or in any state,
territory or possession of the United States; or
  (B) For a cumulative total of 60 days from the first visit on
the initial claim or for a cumulative total of 18 visits,
whichever occurs first, to any of the medical service providers
listed in this subparagraph, a:
  (i) Doctor or physician licensed by the State Board of
Chiropractic Examiners for the State of Oregon under ORS chapter
684 or a similarly licensed doctor or physician in any country or
in any state, territory or possession of the United States;
    { - (ii) Podiatric physician and surgeon licensed by the
Oregon Medical Board under ORS 677.805 to 677.840 or a similarly
licensed doctor or physician in any country or in any state,
territory or possession of the United States; - }
    { - (iii) - }   { + (ii) + } Physician assistant licensed by
the Oregon Medical Board in accordance with ORS 677.505 to
677.525 or a similarly licensed physician assistant in any
country or in any state, territory or possession of the United
States; or
    { - (iv) - }   { + (iii) + } Doctor of naturopathy or
naturopathic physician licensed by the Oregon Board of
Naturopathic Medicine under ORS chapter 685 or a similarly
licensed doctor or physician in any country or in any state,
territory or possession of the United States.
  (c) Except as otherwise provided for workers subject to a
managed care contract, 'attending physician' does not include a
physician who provides care in a hospital emergency room and
refers the injured worker to a primary care physician for
follow-up care and treatment.
  (d) 'Consulting physician' means a doctor or physician who
examines a worker or the worker's medical record to advise the
attending physician or nurse practitioner authorized to provide
compensable medical services under ORS 656.245 regarding
treatment of a worker's compensable injury.
  (13)(a) 'Employer' means any person, including receiver,
administrator, executor or trustee, and the state, state
agencies, counties, municipal corporations, school districts and
other public corporations or political subdivisions, who
contracts to pay a remuneration for and secures the right to
direct and control the services of any person.
  (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, for
purposes of this chapter, the client of a temporary service
provider is not the employer of temporary workers provided by the
temporary service provider.
  (c) As used in paragraph (b) of this subsection, 'temporary
service provider' has the meaning for that term provided in ORS
656.850.
  (14) 'Insurer' means the State Accident Insurance Fund
Corporation or an insurer authorized under ORS chapter 731 to
transact workers' compensation insurance in this state or an
assigned claims agent selected by the director under ORS 656.054.
  (15) 'Consumer and Business Services Fund' means the fund
created by ORS 705.145.
  (16) 'Invalid' means one who is physically or mentally
incapacitated from earning a livelihood.
  (17) 'Medically stationary' means that no further material
improvement would reasonably be expected from medical treatment,
or the passage of time.

  (18) 'Noncomplying employer' means a subject employer who has
failed to comply with ORS 656.017.
  (19) 'Objective findings' in support of medical evidence are
verifiable indications of injury or disease that may include, but
are not limited to, range of motion, atrophy, muscle strength and
palpable muscle spasm. 'Objective findings' does not include
physical findings or subjective responses to physical
examinations that are not reproducible, measurable or observable.
  (20) 'Palliative care' means medical service rendered to reduce
or moderate temporarily the intensity of an otherwise stable
medical condition, but does not include those medical services
rendered to diagnose, heal or permanently alleviate or eliminate
a medical condition.
  (21) 'Party' means a claimant for compensation, the employer of
the injured worker at the time of injury and the insurer, if any,
of such employer.
  (22) 'Payroll' means a record of wages payable to workers for
their services and includes commissions, value of exchange labor
and the reasonable value of board, rent, housing, lodging or
similar advantage received from the employer. However, 'payroll '
does not include overtime pay, vacation pay, bonus pay, tips,
amounts payable under profit-sharing agreements or bonus payments
to reward workers for safe working practices. Bonus pay is
limited to payments which are not anticipated under the contract
of employment and which are paid at the sole discretion of the
employer. The exclusion from payroll of bonus payments to reward
workers for safe working practices is only for the purpose of
calculations based on payroll to determine premium for workers'
compensation insurance, and does not affect any other calculation
or determination based on payroll for the purposes of this
chapter.
  (23) 'Person' includes partnership, joint venture, association,
limited liability company and corporation.
  (24)(a) 'Preexisting condition' means, for all industrial
injury claims, any injury, disease, congenital abnormality,
personality disorder or similar condition that contributes to
disability or need for treatment, provided that:
  (A) Except for claims in which a preexisting condition is
arthritis or an arthritic condition, the worker has been
diagnosed with such condition, or has obtained medical services
for the symptoms of the condition regardless of diagnosis; and
  (B)(i) In claims for an initial injury or omitted condition,
the diagnosis or treatment precedes the initial injury;
  (ii) In claims for a new medical condition, the diagnosis or
treatment precedes the onset of the new medical condition; or
  (iii) In claims for a worsening pursuant to ORS 656.273 or
656.278, the diagnosis or treatment precedes the onset of the
worsened condition.
  (b) 'Preexisting condition' means, for all occupational disease
claims, any injury, disease, congenital abnormality, personality
disorder or similar condition that contributes to disability or
need for treatment and that precedes the onset of the claimed
occupational disease, or precedes a claim for worsening in such
claims pursuant to ORS 656.273 or 656.278.
  (c) For the purposes of industrial injury claims, a condition
does not contribute to disability or need for treatment if the
condition merely renders the worker more susceptible to the
injury.
  (25) 'Self-insured employer' means an employer or group of
employers certified under ORS 656.430 as meeting the
qualifications set out by ORS 656.407.
  (26) 'State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation' and '
corporation' mean the State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation
created under ORS 656.752.
  (27) 'Subject employer' means an employer who is subject to
this chapter as provided by ORS 656.023.
  (28) 'Subject worker' means a worker who is subject to this
chapter as provided by ORS 656.027.
  (29) 'Wages' means the money rate at which the service rendered
is recompensed under the contract of hiring in force at the time
of the accident, including reasonable value of board, rent,
housing, lodging or similar advantage received from the employer,
and includes the amount of tips required to be reported by the
employer pursuant to section 6053 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1954, as amended, and the regulations promulgated pursuant
thereto, or the amount of actual tips reported, whichever amount
is greater. The State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation may
establish assumed minimum and maximum wages, in conformity with
recognized insurance principles, at which any worker shall be
carried upon the payroll of the employer for the purpose of
determining the premium of the employer.
  (30) 'Worker' means any person, including a minor whether
lawfully or unlawfully employed, who engages to furnish services
for a remuneration, subject to the direction and control of an
employer and includes salaried, elected and appointed officials
of the state, state agencies, counties, cities, school districts
and other public corporations, but does not include any person
whose services are performed as an inmate or ward of a state
institution or as part of the eligibility requirements for a
general or public assistance grant. For the purpose of
determining entitlement to temporary disability benefits or
permanent total disability benefits under this chapter, 'worker'
does not include a person who has withdrawn from the workforce
during the period for which such benefits are sought.
  (31) 'Independent contractor' has the meaning for that term
provided in ORS 670.600.
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