NU Online News Service, March 29, 11:26 a.m.EDT

The impact of the new federal health care law on workers'compensation insurance will be a mixed bag, with some positives forthe industry, a managed care expert predicts.

"We're going to see significant indirect impact–some good, somenot so good," forecast Joe Paduda, a principal in Health StrategyAssociates in Madison, Wis., in an interview.

Mr. Paduda said one impact will come in changes to Medicare'sreimbursement levels, which some states use to set price levels forworkers' comp injury treatment reimbursement.

When Medicare changes its reimbursement mechanism, states thatuse that figure for setting comp levels of reimbursement "mustfigure out how to deal with it. Do they grandfather [the existinglevel] in, or do they adopt a new Medicare hospital reimbursementmechanism?"

Mr. Paduda also contemplates that insurers will see some reducedclaim costs for workers who have a preexisting condition that theworkers' comp system must deal with in the course of treating aworkplace injury.

Currently, if a worker has a chronic medical condition that mustbe treated before they can have surgery to repair a job injury, theworker's comp system will pay for that treatment.

What will happen in the future, he said, is that with Medicaidinsuring more people, that patient will now have insurance, "so theinsurer won't have to pay those non-immediate ancillary medicalbills."

Mr. Paduda said the effects of the health care law may also meanthat "people long-term will be healthier. It will be easier to getthem back to work. It will help reduce comp costs long-term becauseworkers are going to be healthier."

Mr. Paduda also mentioned that Medicare would be changingreimbursement for hospitals to include more post-dischargeservices.

He said that based on his discussions with congressionallawmakers, he could dispel an "urban legend" that there is a desirefor the federal government take over the workers' comp system.

"There's no interest on Capitol Hill in doing anything onworkers' comp [concerning health care]," he related, adding that"one senator said to me, 'It's hard enough to get this [health carelegislation] as it is."