Regulators working to integrate law on nurses in comp

Workers compensation regulators in Texas are now working to implement new rules permitting nurse practitioners to help guide the treatment of injured workers, a new regulation made possible with a law that went into effect in September, the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation reported in a memo Thursday.

H.B. 387 amended the state’s workers comp code to include “licensed advanced practice registered nurses as the persons to whom a treating doctor may delegate the authority to complete, sign and file a work status report” for injured workers, according to the memo.

By law, the Texas Department of Insurance has to amend its own rules to proceed and is now gathering public comments. In addition to conforming to the new state law, it is proposing that the delegating treating doctor is responsible for the acts of the licensed advanced practice registered nurse.