The Budget process began late yesterday with the printing of Budget bills, starting the final passage of the 2026-27 State Budget in NYS. We don’t expect printing and passage of all the Budget bills until later next week, though both houses printed the Public Protection Bill (S9005-C/ A10005-C) and the Education, Labor and Family Assistance Bill (S9006-C/ A10006-C). After reviewing, we wanted to provide an update on a proposal to allow any eligible health care provider to provide medical care to an injured worker, as long as they are not on the Workers’ Compensation Board’s exclusion list. This was included by Governor Hochul in the Executive budget and was accepted in the final agreement, with the following additions:
- Allowing a provider’s reports or records to be considered as evidence in support of a claim;
- Increasing the pre-authorization care limit from $1,000 to $1,500;
- Requiring trainings for providers to include the role of medical evidence in the Board’s determination of claims, the contents of medical reports, the process for seeking authorization for special services, diagnostic test networks, and permanency guidelines;
- Require the report, which the Board already annually provides, to also be shared with leaders in the Legislature and the chairs of the labor committees, and include each year the number of providers who rendered medical care or treatment under this chapter, the completion rate for provider training required by the Board, and an analysis of the degree to which new providers are successfully complying