Lawmakers Shift Hospital Fees to Medicare En Route to Adjournment

By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau ChiefThe North Carolina General Assembly ended a busy session on Friday that included last-minute approval of bills that will shift the workers' compensation hospital fee schedule to the formula used by Medicare and strip the state's 20 workers' compensation judges of job protections provided by the State Personnel Act.Groups representing both employers and attorneys on both sides of the bar on Friday were still sifting through a flurry of bills passed during the final days of the 2013 session. They said most of the bills addressing workers' ...