27-14-616. Medical commission; hearing panels; creation; membership; duties; rulemaking.

(a) The medical commission is created to consist of eleven (11) health care providers appointed by the governor as follows:

(i) Seven (7) licensed physicians appointed from a list of not less than fourteen (14) nominees submitted by the Wyoming Medical Society;

(ii) Four (4) health care providers appointed from a list of not less than eight (8) nominees developed and submitted by appropriate health care provider groups selected by the director.

(b) One (1) member shall be elected by commission members as chairman and one (1) as vice-chairman. The division shall designate an employee to serve as executive secretary of the commission or contract with an individual to provide executive secretary services to the commission. The governor may appoint no more than eleven (11) additional health care providers as associate members of the commission whose function is limited to serving as members of individual medical hearing panels. Except for initial members, the terms of commission members and associate members shall be three (3) years. Three (3) members of the initial commission and three (3) initial associate members shall be appointed to a one (1) year term and four (4) initial commission members and four (4) initial associate members shall be appointed to a two (2) year term. The duties of the commission shall be:

(i) To promulgate rules and regulations, with the approval of the director of the department, declaring particular medical, hospital or other health care procedures either acceptable or not necessary in the treatment of injuries or particular classes of injuries and therefore either compensable or not compensable under this act or expanding or limiting the compensability of such procedures under this act;

(ii) To promulgate rules and regulations, with the approval of the director of the department, establishing criteria for certification of temporary total disability by health care providers and setting forth the types of injuries for which particular health care providers may certify temporary total disability pursuant to W.S. 27-14-404(g);

(iii) To advise the division, upon request, on the usefulness of medical cost containment measures;

(iv) To furnish three (3) members of the commission to serve as a medical hearing panel to hear cases referred for hearing. The division shall refer medically contested cases to the commission for hearing by a medical hearing panel. The decision to refer a contested case to the office of administrative hearings or a medical hearing panel established under this section shall not be subject to further administrative review. Following referral by the division, the hearing examiner or medical hearing panel shall have jurisdiction to hear and decide all issues related to the written notice of objection filed pursuant to W.S. 27-14-601(k). Different medical hearing panels with different membership may be selected to hear different cases, but a panel may hear more than one (1) case. Individual medical hearing panels shall be selected by the executive secretary under the supervision and guidance of the chairman of the medical commission. At least one (1) member of each panel shall be a physician. One (1) member shall be designated by the executive secretary to serve as chairman of the panel. When hearing a medically contested case, the panel shall serve as the hearing examiner and shall have exclusive jurisdiction to make the final administrative determination of the validity and amount of compensation payable under this act. For cases referred to the medical commission as small claims hearings under W.S. 27-14-602(b), the medical hearing panel may consist of one (1) physician who shall serve as the hearing examiner and shall have exclusive jurisdiction to make the final administrative determination of the validity and amount of compensation payable under this act; and

(v) To advise the division regarding any suspected substandard or inappropriate medical or health care provided to an injured worker by a health care provider or health care facility;

(vi) To establish by rule and regulation procedures for decisions pursuant to W.S. 27-15-102(h) and for rebuttals pursuant to W.S. 27-15-103 and to adopt other rules as necessary to implement W.S. 27-15-101 through 27-15-103.

(c) The members of the commission and of medical hearing panels and any health care provider providing peer reviews or independent medical evaluations, reviews or opinions, when serving shall be deemed public employees for purposes of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, and shall be immune from liability pursuant to W.S. 1-39-104.

(d) The division shall establish a fee schedule for the compensation of members of the medical commission and medical hearing panels for their professional services to be paid from the worker's compensation account.

(e) Upon agreement of all parties to a case, the hearing examiner in a contested case under this chapter may transfer a medically contested case to a medical hearing panel or may seek the advice of the medical commission on specified medical issues in the contested case. The advice shall be in writing and shall become part of the record of the case.

(f) Any member of the commission who knows or has reasonable cause to believe or suspect that a health care provider or health care facility has provided substandard or inappropriate medical or health care shall immediately report it to the appropriate professional or facility licensing authority and to the division.