La. R.S. § 23:1203.1 Definitions; Medical Treatment Schedule; Medical Advisory Council

• Library: Louisiana Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current with changes from the 2023 Legislative Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: La. R.S. § 23:1203.1

A. For use in this Section, the following terms have the following meanings, unless clearly indicated otherwise by the context:

(1) "Assistant secretary" means an assistant secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission responsible for the functions of the office of workers' compensation administration.

(2) "Associate medical director" means a physician who is licensed to practice medicine in the state of Louisiana and has been chosen by the assistant secretary pursuant to R.S. 23:1203.1.1.

(3) "Council" means the medical advisory council appointed by the assistant secretary.

(4) "Medical director" means a physician who is licensed to practice medicine in the state of Louisiana and has been chosen by the assistant secretary pursuant to R.S. 23:1203.1.1.

(5) "Office" means the office of workers' compensation administration of the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

(6) "Schedule" means the medical treatment schedule to be developed by the council and promulgated by the office and the assistant secretary.

B. The assistant secretary shall, through the office of workers' compensation administration, promulgate rules in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, R.S. 49:950 et seq., to establish a medical treatment schedule.

(1) Such rules shall be promulgated no later than January 1, 2011.

(2) The medical treatment schedule shall meet the criteria established in this Section and shall be organized in an interdisciplinary manner by particular regions of the body and organ systems.

C. The schedule shall be developed by the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients, integrating clinical expertise, which is the proficiency and judgment that clinicians acquire through clinical experience and clinical practice, with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.

D. The medical treatment schedule shall be based on guidelines which shall meet all of the following criteria:

(1) Rely on specified, comprehensive, and ongoing systematic medical literature review.

(2) Contain published criteria for rating studies and for determining the overall strength of the medical evidence, including the size of the sample, whether the authors and researchers had any financial interest in the product or service being studied, the design of the study and identification of any bias, and the statistical significance of the study.