Texas Division of Workers’ Comp Reorganized into 4 Program Areas

Texas Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Albert Betts announced organizational changes at the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation effective immediately.

Major reforms of the Texas workers’ compensation system approved by the Legislature in House Bill 7 last year removed statutory divisions within the workers’ compensation system’s administration.

The new structure aligns the functions of the Division into four program areas overseen by four acting deputy commissioners who will report directly to Commissioner Betts.

“After careful consideration of our strategic mission and customer needs, I think the new organizational structure will allow the Division to better administer the workers’ compensation system and to better serve our customers,” Commissioner Betts stated in a news release. “It is my expectation that there will be no disruption in customer services as we make this transition.”

The four new Division program areas are: Compliance and Regulation (Teresa Carney, Acting Deputy Commissioner); Dispute Resolution (Heidi Jackson, Acting Deputy Commissioner); Field Services (Brent Hatch, Acting Deputy Commissioner); and Workplace and Medical Services (Allen McDonald, Acting Deputy Commissioner).

Under the new Division structure:

–Workers’ Health and Safety, Return to Work, and Medical Review’s rule and guideline development function will be part of the Workplace and Medical Services program.
–Field Operations and Records Archiving and Management will be part of the Field Services program.
–Income and Medical Dispute Resolution will be part of the Dispute Resolution program.
–Self-Insurance will be part of the Compliance and Regulation program.

The creation of the Division of Workers’ Compensation within TDI also created opportunities to consolidate certain functions. Commissioner Betts and TDI Commissioner Mike Geeslin have agreed to transfer the Division’s legal enforcement functions to TDI Legal and Compliance and to transfer responsibility for all workers’ compensation criminal fraud investigations to the TDI Fraud Unit.

Source: Texas DWC