Pursuant to the Department of Labor’s website, new regulations for the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (“FECA”) go into effect today. A copy of the regulations can be found here. These regulations also effect the War Hazards Compensation Act (“WHCA”), including the direct payment regulation, 20 C.F.R. § 61.105. When a case is accepted for direct payment, the Division of Federal Employees’ Compensation furnishes medical care in accordance with FECA. Although no changes were made to the WHCA’s regulations, any changes to FECA’s medical care regulations will have a ripple effect on the WHCA’s direct payment regulation. The good news is that the regulations were amended to bring them up to speed with organizational changes at the Office of Workers’ Compensation programs, and to account for advancing medical billing technologies.
(Note: I originally published this post on Navigable Waters: A Maritime, Longshore and Defense Base Act Blog.)
