Indiana

Judges rule on workers comp billing issues

Employers or their insurers - not health care providers - must prove when medical expenses for injured employees might be considered higher than what's allowed under the state's workers' compensation statute, according to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

In a series of rulings today that deal with injured firefighters and city workers in multiple Hoosier communities, a three-judge appellate panel interpreted the Indiana Workers' Compensation Act and how it applies to state statutes about medical billing disputes.

"This case requires us to review several statutes under the Act that balance the right of medical service providers to seek payment for medical care to injured workers, against the right of employers to demand that such payments not be excessive," the unanimous panel wrote, turning to its own Indiana precedent as well as rulings from other state and federal courts.

The cases are Washington Township Fire Department v. Beltway Surgery Center, No. 93A02-0811-EX-01006; City of Michigan City v. Memorial Hospital, No. 93A02-0811-EX-01010; and Onward Fire Department v. Clarian Health Partners, No. 93A02-0811-EX-01007. Three other suits on identical issues, filed the same day in November and assigned to the same writing panel of judges, have not been ruled on.