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MONTANA SELF INSURERS' ASSOCIATION

MSIA Update / Leg. Week 16

  • MSIA Webinar – Avoiding AI & Automation Potholes - 5/21 @ 10a
  • Legislative UPDATE – Deals, Deals, Deals
  • National Council of Self Insurers Annual Conference – St Pete Beach, FLA 6/1-4
  • MSIA Webinar – Avoiding AI & Automation Potholes - 5/21 @ 10a

MSIA Webinar – Avoiding AI & Automation Potholes - 5/21 @ 10a 

Sponsored by Midland Claims Service & PACBLU 

The next MSIA CE Webinar - On the Winding Road of AI & Automation - It’s Best to Avoid the Potholes will be Presented by Cliff Belliveau, Chief Innovation Officer, MyMatrixx and will be held on May 21, 2025 at 10a MDT. MSIA members (if you receive this UPDATE) have access to unlimited seats at no additional charge, although advance registration is required. The link is currently under construction, but you can register by contacting MSIA by email, text or phone. CE credit for MT WC Claims Examiners has been approved, CE credit for MT Insurance Producer licenses has been applied for.

Cliff Belliveau is the Chief Innovation Officer for MyMatrixx will explore the impact of AI and automation on examiners – the one’s driving the car. Will the latest technologies lead to fewer examiners? Faster examiners? Specialized examiners? He will present how technology is helping examiners today, what’s next for tomorrow and, where to turn to avoid the potholes. Belliveau is recognized as a national leader and provides a great presentation – lively, entertaining and thought provoking about a topic he is passionate about – the application of AI to the workers’ compensation world. 

We will learn:

  • The history and an overview of AI
  • How to leverage automation to enhance decision-making capabilities without undermining professional expertise and judgment
  • The impact to accuracy and efficiency in claim processing to traditional methods
  • The ethical considerations of privacy, decision-making transparency and potential biases, and
  • The economic impact to employers of implementing AI and automation to processes. 

Join us on May 21 at 10a MDT for On the Winding Road of AI & Automation - It’s Best to Avoid the Potholes with Cliff Belliveau, Chief Innovation Officer, MyMatrixx. Contact MSIA to reserve your seats.

Legislative UPDATE – Deals, Deals, Deals

  • SB 345 – MSIA Bill to End Deference for Tx Physicians & Easier IMEs – Fails
  • SB 394 – PTSD for First Responders – On to Governor
  • HJ 68 – Study MSF – Passes Committee
  • SB 338 – Guardian ad Litem – Signed, Effective 4/16

This is the weeks of deals, deals, deals in the legislature. We’re nearing the end of the legislative session – you can feel it in every hallway, committee meeting room and in the galleries. We are officially on day 82 of the 90 day session. Almost no one expects the legislature to be here for the full 90 days, which would be Monday, May 5. Part of the reason I buy into the idea that they’ll go home early is based on the calendar. If they go into May, out of town legislators will have to pay for another months’ rent. 

The big deals are getting done – you can feel it – even if you can’t see it yet (one of our initiatives may be part of that – see the discussion on SB 394 below). The budget is getting final touches. Some details - - like property taxes - - have to be worked out, but the outlines of what’s going to happen seem to be falling into place. I also believe there will be no way this legislature goes home without addressing property taxes. Right now, it looks like a proposal to provide a $400 rebate this year, and a decrease starting next year for primary residences and long term rentals – with an increase in taxes on second homes, has the best chance of passing. However – don’t make any bets on it just yet. There are lots of Montanans who have a family cabin at the lake or in the woods who would see a pretty good sized increase on that property, that would likely outweigh the decrease in the primary residence tax amount. SB 90 – which would take tourism taxes from hotels & car rentals to subsidize property tax relief is also still hanging around. The appeal of that bill is that it does not offset primary home taxes with secondary home taxes. 

One of the watchwords for this session has been that income taxes would not be used to subsidize property tax relief. As a result, HB 337 – an income tax reduction bill from Speaker Brandon Ler (R-Savage) has passed and will go to the Governor. The bill reduces the top rate income tax and increases the lower rate income level so more people would qualify for the lower rates. 

And, finally on the financial front – and this may be the biggest deal – HB 924 by Llew Jones (R-Conrad) is bouncing along. Jones is widely seen as the guru of state finances and budgets – having led the legislature for most of his time in dealing with those issues. Typically, if Llew likes the idea, it has legs. If he does not, forget it. The Governor – regardless of who it is, has worked with Jones to make sure the budget passed. HB 924 is creative in that it takes the majority of the current budget surplus and puts it into a “Growth & Opportunity Trust Fund” to help fund future initiatives with the expected interest income. The GO Fund would start with $927 million and the earned income would fund all sorts of things – property tax relief, school funding, etc. The conservative Republicans don’t like it because they want the money returned to Montana taxpayers now – however, the moderate Republicans and the Democrats like it (sound familiar this session?). Putting this together is no small feat and has the potential of impacting Montana finances for decades to come. 

What does it take to put this kind of thing together? Legislatures typically are not places where long term goals with are funded – to pull it off takes a unique legislative session and unique funding. We have talked about how what’s going on in the Senate is unlike anything I have seen in my time. As well, the last few legislative sessions have seen budget surpluses. Among the biggest fights have been how to spend those surpluses – with the result of kicking at least some of the surplus down the road. That’s where our issue with SB 394 comes in.   

SB 394 allows for PTSD claims to be made by first responders. It has been one of the hardest fought bills this session – certainly the hardest fought WC bill. It is a labor and Democratic priority. In fairness, in its current form, it is better than when first introduced this year, and better than prior versions in that it does not create a presumption of coverage. MSIA has been the lead opponent from the start and has been consistent in our message. The bill started in the House as HB 552, which was killed on the floor. A parallel bill, SB 394 has survived. This past week, it was heard on the House floor and passed. Since it required some state funding (mostly through MSF coverage of state employee first responders) it was re-referred to House Appropriations, chaired by Representative Llew Jones. Typically, House Appropriations is where bills go to die. In fact, HB 552 was first stopped there in February. This is not a bill House Approps would otherwise be expected to support – however, Jones and moderate Rs voted in favor of the bill to get it back to the House floor, where it passed final reading today. Looking at the votes in favor, it looks like this bill was part of a deal. What deal – at this point we can only speculate – but the vote distribution leads us to that speculation. We have understood the Governor does not oppose the bill almost from the start – that doesn’t mean he supports it, but it can make getting a veto difficult. And, if indeed this is part of a larger deal…

MSIA will be asking for your help in urging the Governor to veto SB 394. 

For a full list of legislation we are following – and the bills that are currently dead, see the attached spreadsheet for more details and access to links to the language, fiscal notes or amendments.  


SB 345 / Hertz (R-Polson)

This is a MSIA requested bill to end the deference to treating physicians in litigated cases and ask the Judge to provide credibility on testimony and experience, make it easier to secure an IME and provide some ancillary benefits to support an IME when travel is involved. This bill was the subject of significant grass-roots efforts by MSIA, business groups, as well as labor and plaintiff attorneys. The bill failed to pass the House on Wednesday 4/23, by a vote of 43-55. To overturn that we would have had to move at least 6 members, who we had an outside shot of convincing. The effort went bust, when HJ 68 – a proposal to study MSF during the interim was passed in House Bus & Labor 11-9 on 4/24. MSF has been a key member of the coalition supporting our efforts on SB 345 – but now has to focus their efforts on this last minute study proposal. MSIA members made a significant difference in moving commitments from individual legislators. Thank you. This bill is now DEAD (for this session).


SB 394 / Neumann (D-BZN)

This bill provides for PTSD claim opportunities for first responders. Rather than provide a presumption, the language requires claims to go through the WC process for compensability determination. However, it provides a carve out from the existing prohibition on ‘mental-mental’ claims. There are only 12 states which continue to exclude mental-mental claims in their WC systems. And the trend across the country has been to provide presumptive PTSD coverage for first responders. MSIA was the lead opponent to the bill, as were MSIA members MCCF and MSGIA. MSIA offered what may be a unique program in Georgia, which may be a better approach to addressing the issue by creating a special program within municipalities’ health care programs for PTSD for first responders. MSIA organized businesses and authored a letter in opposition from a broader business community, including MSIA members MCCF. MSBGIA, MT Electric Co-Ops’ Assoc, MMIA, the APCIA – the Plan 2 carriers - the MT Chamber of Commerce, the MCA and the Helena Chamber of Commerce and distributed the letter to each Senate and House desk and handed them out in the hall. Despite our efforts, the bill is on its’ way to the Governor for his decision (See discussion in Legislative UPDATE above). The Governor’s office does not oppose this bill.  MSIA will be encouraging the Governor to veto the bill – and work towards a different solution to the problem, rather than laying off these costs to employers alone. MSIA will be asking for your help in talking with the Governor on this issue. This is a big problem in our society and needs a bigger solution than this bill. 

 

HJ 68 /  Schomer (R-BIL)

This proposal is to approve an Interim Study of Motana State Fund and was originally requested by Rep. Nelly Nicol (R-BIL) and she may have a conflict of interest as her employer is Victory Insurance Co. Rep Schomer a freshman Republican from a union-oriented district in Billings agreed to carry this proposal. As originally drafted it accused MSF of being subject to numerous lawsuits alleging impropriety, conflicts of interest and mishandling policyholder funds as the basis of the study. In that form, the proposal was defeated in House Bus & Labor Committee. It was reconsidered, with deletion of the accusations to become a generic study request and passed the Committee. If passed, it is not guaranteed to be approved, as not all proposed studies are assigned for work. This proposal may be a good example of how many moving parts there are to any legislative proposal. MSIA wa working behind the scenes with businesses and MSF to reconsider SB 394 (see above). With this proposal passing Committee, MSF had to divert its’ focus to this, rather than SB 394 and effectively, the reconsideration effort on that bill was not able to pull together enough support to be successful. MSIA did not take a position on this proposal. 

 

SB 338 / Hertz (R-Polson)

This bill provides the WC Court Judge with the authority to appoint, or terminate an Guardian ad Litem. The WC Court Judge was asked to appoint a new Guardian ad Litem and he ruled he could not, as the statutory language does not provide him that ability. Although this has been done for the 100 years or so of the WC system in Montana, the statutory language to support it was not there. The Governor signed this bill it became law effective with his signature on 4/16. MSIA supports this bill.

 

For a full list of legislation we are following – and the bills that are currently dead, see the attached spreadsheet for more details and access to links to the language, fiscal notes or amendments.  


National Council of Self Insurers Annual Conference – St Pete Beach, FLA 6/1-4

MSIA Membership Discount Registration

The National Council of Self Insurers is hosting their next Annual Conference at the incredible Don CeSar Hotel on St Petersburg Beach, FLA June 1 – 4. Register here: National Council 2025 Annual Conference.  

This Annual Conference is one of the better conferences to learn what new approaches and programs are working in the workers’ compensation space - - and why. The conference focuses on Employers talking with Employers about what they are doing, how it is working and what they have learned. The Conference itself is relatively intimate – limited to about 250 people and is rich with Employer attendees. The employers who attend, tend to be the national names you know – Walmart, Walt Disney, Marriott, Ashley Furniture, JM Smucker, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, Food Lion (Ahold Delhize), Fanatics, City of San Diego and more. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, since MSIA members are the industry leaders and experts, the Conference will also feature:

  • Ciara Koba of Allan Koba Compliance Solutions will be talking about MSAs and the changes CMS has instituted,
  • Amy Rolando of Minworx Health will be talking about their program regarding carpal tunnel and trigger finger,
  • Ron Carter of RxBridge will be talking about value from your TPA arrangement,
  • Cliff Belliveau of MyMatrixx by Evernorth will be talking about avoiding the potholes on the road to AI innovation,
  • Zebra Jahnke of EK Health will be talking about more effectively leveraging your manage care arrangements, 

Friends of MSIA Bob Wilson, President of WorkCompCollege.com and Yvonne Guibert, VP of the Institutes of Health will be speaking as well. Early bird registration is available until May 1 – AND – MSIA has access to some members only price registrations. Please contact us to secure those registrations. Otherwise sign up here – and we’ll see you in St Pete! National Council 2025 Annual Conference. I am looking forward to what I can learn. Why don’t you join me – at the MSIA discounted rate?