The Workers’ Compensation Act has always provided for the payment of reasonable surgical and medical services, treatment rendered by physicians or other health care providers as well as medicines and supplies. Nothing short of a termination of benefits due to full recovery, or a compromise and release agreement, could finally end an injured worker’s right to seek and receive medical treatment.
At issue in the recent Commonwealth Court case of Keystone Coal Mining Corp. v. W.C.A.B. (Fink) was a claimant’s very entitlement to medical benefits as provided by the act after the expiration of the 500-week period for partial disability benefits provided by Section 306(b)(1), even in the absence of a full recovery. The employer presented the very aggressive and novel issue of whether an employer is responsible for the payment of medical expenses after its liability for payment of partial disability benefits had ceased due to the exhaustion of the 500-week period.
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