Submitted to Crain's Chicago Business.

Dear editor:

I am writing to take issue with some of the claims you make in your recent editorial regarding workers’ compensation (Quinn-backed workers comp bill must go further, 4/18).  Illinois’ business climate is indeed challenging.  Few people know this better than doctors, many of whom are small business owners themselves; medical practices are businesses, after all, complete with employees who sometimes suffer injuries on the job and file workers’ compensation claims.  In addition to these burdens that we share with the rest of the business community, we must also cope with the difficulties of practicing medicine in Illinois.  Our professional liability insurance premiums are far higher than all but a handful of states, and Illinois’ financial woes have forced many physicians to wait months for reimbursements.

All this would be bad enough even without cutting Illinois’ work comp reimbursement schedule by 30%.  This schedule is based on actual charges that reflect the cost of providing care and the value of services, and it is already discounted.  Those who argue that it should be cut further are essentially arguing that physician practices should deliver their services for significantly less than they are actually worth – hardly a “business-friendly” position to take.  Would any other business accept those terms?

The purpose of the work comp system is to provide quality medical care for injured workers.  Why, then, do some of our lawmakers also want to disrupt the physician-patient relationship by allowing employers strong influence over what physicians their employees visit?  Why do they want to determine disability using guidelines that were never intended for this purpose?  Why do they want to help some businesses at the expense of others, forcing medical practices to absorb the brunt of significant overhead costs and a byzantine bureaucracy associated with work comp, all for dramatically reduced reimbursements?

The Illinois State Medical Society looks forward to supporting a workers’ compensation system reform proposal that truly improves the fairness of the program to all concerned, rather than simply shifting the financial pain from one business to another.

Sincerely,

Wayne V. Polek, MD
President, Illinois State Medical Society