A three-member panel in Florida approved new reimbursement rates for medical providers, hospitals and ambulatory care centers that, if approved by the Florida Legislature, would add $144 million to the state’s workers’ comp costs. This approval is not a given considering that the legislation last accepted a panel’s recommendations in 2014, with rates then taking effect in 2015.

Doctors and outpatient services would see a reimbursement rate increase of 0.1 percent, which would translate to a $4 million increase in expenses across the state. The rate for ambulatory surgical centers would be increased by 1.5 percent, adding $66 million to the state’s costs. Hospital inpatient services would see a rate increase of 1.6 percent, or an additional $70 million.

Rates are intended to reflect trends in medical costs. Christine Sensenig, a Sarasota attorney, told the panel that there is nothing in place to dispute unreasonable charges, and that gets passed along to employers. She gave an example of the rate for a scheduled surgical procedure, which is 60 percent of the usual and customary charge.

“Sixty percent of an unreasonable charge is still an unreasonable number,” she said, and explained the impact of such a bill on a small company, who might receive one of these unreasonable bills and see their experience modification rate go up.

Peter Lohrengel, executive director of the Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgical Centers echoed those concerns and pointed to fee schedule allowances.

“The fee schedule has grown from about 23 usable procedures to over 80 in a couple of years,” he said. “The problem is, we can’t get the fee schedules always through the Legislature.”

Insurance Commissioner and chair of the panel David Altmaier agreed that there may be unreasonable bills in the system, especially if there is no mechanism in place that has been determining how much bills have been historically. The Division of Workers’ Compensation has allegedly been talking to carriers and providers on how to best address the problem.

Check out the meeting agenda and read more from FloridaPolitics.com