Michigan Administrative Code
Department - Labor and Economic Opportunity
Workers Compensation Agency
Workers' Compensation Health Care Services Rules
Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section R. 418.10109 - Definitions; M to U

(a) "Maximum allowable payment" means the maximum fee for a procedure that is established by these rules, a reasonable amount for a "by report" procedure, or a provider's usual and customary charge, whichever is less.

(b) "Medical only case" means a case that does not involve wage loss compensation.

(c) "Medical rehabilitation" means, to the extent possible, the interruption, control, correction, or amelioration of a medical or a physical problem that causes incapacity through the use of appropriate treatment disciplines and modalities that are designed to achieve the highest possible level of post-injury function and a return to gainful employment.

(d) "Medically accepted standards" means a measure that is set by a competent authority as the rule for evaluating quantity or quality of health care or health care services ensuring that the health care is suitable for a particular person, condition, occasion, or place.

(e) "Morbidity" means the extent of illness, injury, or disability.

(f) "Mortality" means the likelihood of death.

(g) "New patient" means a patient who is new to the provider for a particular covered injury or illness and who needs to have medical and administrative records established.

(h) "Nursing home" means a nursing care facility, including a county medical care facility, created pursuant to section 20109 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.20109.

(i) "Opioid drugs" as used in these rules, refers to opiate analgesics, narcotic analgesics, or any other Schedule C (II-III) controlled substance as identified in United States Code Controlled Substances Act of 1970, 21. U.S.C. §812. Opioid analgesics are the class of drugs, such as morphine, codeine, and methadone, that have the primary indication for the relief of pain.

(j) "Orthotic equipment" means an orthopedic apparatus that is designed to support, align, prevent, or correct deformities of, or improve the function of, a movable body part.

(k) "Pharmacy" means the place where the science, art, and practice of preparing, preserving, compounding, dispensing, and giving appropriate instruction in the use of drugs is practiced.

(l) "Practitioner" means an individual who is licensed, registered, or certified as used in the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.1101 to 333.25211.

(m) "Primary procedure" means the therapeutic procedure that is most closely related to the principal diagnosis and has the highest assigned relative value unit (RVU).

(n) "Properly submitted bill" means a request by a provider for payment of health care services that is submitted to a carrier on the appropriate completed claim form with attachments as required by these rules.

(o) "Prosthesis" means an artificial substitute for a missing body part. A prosthesis is constructed by a "prosthetist", a person who is skilled in the construction and application of a prosthesis.

(p) "Provider" means a facility, health care organization, or a practitioner.

(q) "Reasonable amount" means a payment based upon the amount generally paid in the state for a particular procedure code using data available from the provider, the carrier, or the workers' compensation agency, health care services division.

(r) "Restorative" means that the patient's function will demonstrate measurable improvement in a reasonable and generally predictable period of time and includes appropriate periodic care to maintain the level of function.

(s) "Secondary procedure" means a surgical procedure that is performed to ameliorate conditions that are found to exist during the performance of a primary surgery and is considered an independent procedure that may not be performed as a part of the primary surgery or for the existing condition.

(t) "Separate procedure" means procedures or services listed in the CPT code set that are commonly carried out as an integral component of a total service or procedure have been identified by the inclusion of a term "separate procedure."

(u) "Specialist" means any of the following entities that are board-certified, board-eligible, or otherwise considered an expert in a particular field of health care by virtue of education, training, and experience generally accepted in that particular field:

(v) "Subrogation" means substituting 1 creditor for another. An example of subrogation in workers' compensation is when a case is determined to be workers' compensation and the health benefits plan has already paid for the service and is requesting the workers' compensation carrier or the provider to refund the money that the plan paid on behalf of the worker.

(w) "Technical surgical assist" means that additional payment for an assistant surgeon, referenced in R 418.10416, is allowed for certain designated surgical procedures.

(x) "Telemedicine" means the use of an electronic media to link patients with health care professionals in different locations. To be considered telemedicine, the health care professional must be able to examine the patient via a real-time, interactive audio and video telecommunications system, and the patient must be able to interact with the off-site health care professional at the time the services are provided.

(y) "Treatment plan" means a plan of care for restorative physical treatment services that indicates the diagnosis and anticipated goals.

(z) "Usual and customary charge" means a particular provider's average charge for a procedure to all payment sources, and includes itemized charges which were previously billed separately and which are included in the package for that procedure as defined by these rules. A usual and customary charge for a procedure shall be calculated based on data beginning January 1, 2000.

(aa) "Utilization review" means the initial evaluation by a carrier of the appropriateness in terms of both the level and the quality of health care and health services provided an injured employee, based on medically accepted standards.