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REFERENCE TITLE: workers' compensation; pharmacy; patient choice |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-first Legislature Second Regular Session 2014
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HB 2040 |
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Introduced by Representatives Allen: Gray, Livingston, Townsend, Senator McComish
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AN ACT
amending section 23‑1062, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to workers' compensation.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 23-1062, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
23-1062. Medical, surgical, hospital benefits; pharmacy or pharmacist choice; commencement of compensation; method of compensation
A. Promptly, on notice to the employer, every injured employee shall receive medical, surgical and hospital benefits or other treatment, nursing, medicine, surgical supplies, crutches and other apparatus, including artificial members, reasonably required at the time of the injury, and during the period of disability. Such These benefits shall be termed "medical, surgical and hospital benefits." Except for an employee of a self-insured employer or an employer that is part of a self-insurance pool, an injured employee has the right to select the pharmacy or pharmacist for dispensing and filling prescriptions for medicines required under this section subject to the schedule of fees prescribed by section 23-908.
B. The first installment of compensation is to be paid no later than the twenty‑first day after written notification by the commission to the carrier of the filing of a claim except where the right to compensation is denied. Thereafter, compensation shall be paid at least once each two weeks during the period of temporary total disability and at least monthly thereafter. Compensation shall not be paid for the first seven days after the injury. If the incapacity extends beyond the period of seven days, compensation shall begin on the eighth day after the injury, but if the disability continues for one week beyond such the seven days, compensation shall be computed from the date of the injury.
C. Compensation shall be made by negotiable instrument, payable immediately on demand or, at the election of the employee and if offered by the employer or carrier, by another commonly accepted method for transferring money by banking institutions, including electronic fund transfers to the employee's account or a prepaid debit card account that is established for the purpose of making direct electronic payment to the employee.