Sept. 9 - Sacraments - After a month of meetings, and with employers demanding relief from rising insurance premiums, SB 228 was amended to eliminate the Industrial Medical Council, and to leave most decisions to the Adminstrative Director of the Workers Compensation Division.

Democratic Senators and Assemblypersons apointed to the Joint Legislative Conference Committee on Workers Compensation voted 4-0 to amend SB 228 to carry the language of the proposed revisions to Workers Compensation. Senators Alarcon and Burton; Assembly Members Nunez and Vargas voted in favor, while Republican Senator Poochigian and Assemblyman Maddox abstained.

The recommended version of Workers Compensation reform contained a surprise by eliminating the twenty-member multi-disciplinary Industrial Medical Council. None of the fifty-plus bills had proposed making such a change. Additionally, acupuncture services were directly referenced as one of the services not covered by MediCare fee schedule.

SB 228 now states that Section 5307.1(e) is added to the Labor Code, to read:

"(e) Prior to the adoption by the administrative director of a medical fee schedule pursuant to this section, for any treatment, facility use, product, or service not covered by a Medicare payment system, including acupuncture services, or, with regard to pharmacy services and drugs, for a pharmacy service or drug that is not covered by a Medi-Cal payment system, the maximum reasonable fee paid shall not exceed the fee specified in the official medical fee schedule in effect on December 31, 2003."