Article ID: f44c201d2595745d973b4a38f27479997e6c5b4e679f2909d467d42e52e2c544
Source ID: secondary:businessinsurance.com
Published At: -
Extraction Method: bs4_heuristic
Body Text
Washington Senate votes to send medical treatment bill to governor - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Washington Senate votes to send medical treatment bill to governor by Work Comp Central Workers Comp Coverage Mar 13, 2026 The Washington Senate approved amendments to a bill addressing medical treatment, voting to allow the measure to be transmitted to the governor. The Senate on Tuesday voted 30-19 to concur with amendments made to S.B. 5847 while the measure was in the state House of Representatives. The amended bill would allow network providers to deviate from coverage decisions issued by the Department of Labor and Industries, as well as the agency’s medical treatment guidelines and medical policies, “when medically appropriate.” The bill would also allow network providers to eschew national treatment guidelines, again “when medically appropriate.” The bill would require employers to inform injured workers that they have the right to seek initial treatment or emergency treatment with a provider of their own choice and can seek further treatment through a provider of their choice who is in the network administered by L&I. It would also allow injured workers who are unable to find a network provider within a specified distance to seek treatment from an out-of-network provider. The bill would also address staffing issues at L&I. It would authorize the agency to hire as many claims managers as necessary to result in an average caseload of 141 per manager. Starting July 1, 2031, L&I or a third party would be required to perform a study every five years to determine the national average caseload per claims manager. The bill would allow the agency to hire additional claims managers as necessary to achieve a caseload consistent with the national average. The bill would require L&I to start providing quarterly reports to the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Committee in December, summarizing progress on average claim costs, the duration of temporary total disability benefits, claims management timeliness and operational efficiency, and other measures related to the impact of the additional claims managers hired. L&I would be required to provide a report to the Legislature by June 2029 summarizing the impact of additional claims managers on trends in average claim costs, the average duration of temporary total disability benefits, and standard measures of claim management timeliness and operational efficiency. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee would be required to report to lawmakers by December 2032 whether hiring additional claims managers has improved handling timelines, access to medical treatment and claim costs. The bill was delivered Thursday to Gov. Bob Ferguson, who can sign it, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. WorkCompCentral is a sister publication of Business Insurance. More stories here . Related News The BI Top 10 for the week of March 9, 2026 March 13, 2026 Naval escort uncertainty clouds U.S.-backed Gulf facility March 13, 2026 Generali posts record operating result March 13, 2026 Qatar helium outage threatens South Korea chip sector March 13, 2026 Vienna Insurance Group’s profit jumps 32% March 13, 2026 Iran conflict raises risk for Gulf specialty insurers: Moody’s March 13, 2026 Asia-Pacific leads $5B insurance mega deals March 13, 2026 Cyclone Alfred losses near $1.3B: Perils March 13, 2026 Oman’s insurance premiums top $1.5B in 2025 March 13, 2026 Facebook-f X-twitter Linkedin-in Business Insurance is a singular, authoritative news and information source for executives focused upon risk management, risk transfer and risk financing. Never miss important news: Become a Business Insurance Online subscriber today Subscribe Now Information About Us Contact Advertise Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Copyright 2026. BUSINESS INSURANCE HOLDINGS Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
Metadata (JSON)
{
"score": 14.866666666666667
}