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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 5:51 p.m., Thursday, November 16, 2006

State raising doctors' pay for workers' comp patients

Advertiser Staff

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said it will raise how much doctors and others get paid for treating most workers' compensation patients, addressing a concern that medical providers weren't being adequately renumerated.

The new levels will take effect on Jan. 1 and bring most rates up to levels paid by commercial insurers for similar work provided to non-workers' compensation patients.

The Labor Department said it completed earlier this year its first comprehensive review since 1995 of what's paid to doctors and others for workers' compensation treatments. It decided to adjust fees for most services and held public hearing on the proposals, with Gov. Linda Lingle signing the increases into law last month.

Among the changes are increasing some surgical procedures by 29 percent over prevailing rates and evaluation and management services by almost 21 percent. Some radiology work will decline by an average of 8.6 percent.