H.R. 618 would allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to diagnose, prescribe treatment, and certify an injury and the extent of disability for the purpose of compensating federal workers under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA). Using information from the Department of Labor, CBO expects that nonphysician providers would be compensated at the same rate as physicians and that total benefits provided to injured federal workers would not significantly change. Some people may receive treatment more quickly under the bill, which could increase costs over the 10-year period because some payments to medical providers that would have occurred in 2035 under current law could be paid in 2034. On the other hand, if injured workers receive treatment faster, some may return to work more quickly, which could reduce costs. CBO has no basis to estimate which effect would predominate, but we expect that those effects would roughly offset each other. Thus, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 618 would affect net direct spending by an insignificant amount.
