SF1293 Summary

• Expands occupational disease coverage for emergency responders (police, firefighters, paramedics, nurses) who contract infectious diseases during employment outside hospitals, with presumption of work-related causation rebuttable by employer evidence.

• Establishes mental impairment (post-traumatic stress disorder) as compensable occupational disease for specified emergency personnel and public safety dispatchers, with presumption of work-relatedness rebutted only by disciplinary actions taken in good faith.

• Creates forbearance program requiring workers' compensation insurers and self-insured employers to recalculate and pay permanent total disability benefits without reducing them by retirement benefits, with payment deadlines of 150-270 days and potential penalties up to 25% for non-compliance.

• Modifies hospital inpatient reimbursement to use Medicare PC-Pricer program posted annually by Department of Labor and Industry, with payments set at 200% of Medicare rates and catastrophic cases at 75% of usual and customary charges above $175,000 threshold.

• Streamlines intervention procedures allowing partial settlements that reserve intervenor claims for hearing; requires designated contact persons and training for payers, hospitals, and clearinghouses on medical billing submission and payment.