On March 30, Louisiana introduced a bill (HB 1047) that would remove prescribed drugs from the Medical Treatment Schedule (MTS) authorization timelines and Medical Director appeal process under the workers’ compensation law. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations and was introduced amid broader legislative activity related to workers’ compensation reforms. 

Under current law, MTS authorization requests are subject to defined response and appeal timelines and Medical Director review, which currently apply to both medical services and medications. If enacted, HB 1047 would exclude medications from this statutory framework. The bill does not establish a replacement process or alter other utilization controls; however, it could affect how prescription drug disputes are resolved in the future. 

Another notable bill, HB 357, cleared the House April 1 and is advancing to the Senate. The bill would require the state to adopt a new regionally competitive reimbursement guideline for its medical fee schedule. The bill has a fiscal note attached which could have implications to its final disposition.

Healthesystems is actively monitoring these two developments and will provide updates as the bills progress.