Public Hearing Set on New Designated Doctor Rules

Tuesday, June 12, 2018 | 1

The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation will hold a public hearing Monday on new rules that will affect who can serve as designated doctors in injury disputes, and how they get paid.

The proposed rules would exclude chiropractors from some exams and would allow medical doctors to see several patients in a geographic area in a single day, making trips more cost-effective. The changes are needed, division officials have said, because the workers' compensation system has faced a shortage of medical doctors willing to serve as designated physicians. 

As of September 2017, the division had 344 designated doctors licensed as doctors of chiropractic, 157 licensed as doctors of medicine, and 20 as doctors of osteopathy. That's almost a mirror image of the makeup in 2012, when 75% of designated doctors were medical doctors.

The hearing on the rule changes will begin at 10 a.m. in the Tippy Foster Room at the division's office, 7551 Metro Center Drive, Suite 100, in Austin.

Streaming audio of the proceedings will be available at http://tdimss.tdi.texas.gov/tdi/tdi.asx. The public comment period closes at 5 p.m. Monday.