S. 131 would allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to diagnose, treat, and certify injuries for workers’ compensation under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act. 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 change significantly. Under the bill, some people may receive treatment more quickly than they otherwise would, 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. If injured workers receive faster treatment, some may return to work more quickly, which could reduce costs. CBO has no basis on which to estimate which effect would predominate, but we expect that over time, those effects would roughly offset each other. Therefore, CBO estimates that enacting S. 131 would have an insignificant effect on direct spending. CBO estimates that enacting the bill would have no effect on revenues. CBO has not estimated the effects of S. 131 on spending subject to appropriation. The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
