Rules Panel Paves the Way for Debate over Hospital Fees

By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau ChiefThe North Carolina Rules Review Commission has set the stage for a fight over outpatient hospital fees by rejecting 28 rules proposed by the Industrial Commission, including a rule that establishes limits on medical fees in the workers' compensation system, interest groups on both sides of the issue said on Friday.The commission spent all day Thursday sifting through 153 rules proposed by the North Carolina Industrial Commission as part of the workers' compensation reform law passed in 2011 by the state General Assembly.House Bill 709, signed in...