If you are practicing law and handle Maryland Workers Compensation Cases, you may want to follow what happens with the proposed regulations regarding settlements in Maryland cases. The Maryland Workers Compensation Commission has released proposed regulations that will help protect Medicare's interest with regards to Settlements which involve settlement of future medical treatment. The proposed regulations are published in the Maryland Register. These proposals may be modified before they are enacted. You can expect some type of additional regulations to be enacted along the lines of what has been proposed. The objective behind these additional regulations is to help protect Medicare's interests with regards to settlements and specifically settlements of future claims for medical treatment. These proposed regulations, if enacted, will require PRIOR approval by CMS/Medicare for cases that fall within the Medicare threshold before the Maryland Workers Compensation Commission will approve the settlement agreement. Further, settlements that do not fall within the threshhold would need to have additional language in the agreements that support the fact that Medicare's interests have been considered and further identify the amount of the proposed settlement including apportioned future medical treatment or a formal set aside allocation. These regulations also set forth additional evidentiary documents that must be submitted as part fo the settlement agreement which include medical evidence or an opinion that supports the amount to be set aside. With the passage of any additional regulations it may become harder (for the Attorneys, Claimant's and Insurance Companies)to reach settlements that fall within the regulations.
