S. 3296, Improving Access to Workers’ Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act of 2025

S. 3296 would allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to diagnose, treat, and certify an injury and extent of disability for the purposes 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 2037 under current law could be paid in 2036. 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 expects that those effects would roughly offset each other. Thus, CBO estimates that enacting S. 3296 would affect net direct spending by less than $500,000.

FECA payments are mandatory; the costs are charged back to a claimant’s employing agency and those amounts are paid from the agency’s salaries and expense accounts, which are typically subject to appropriation. Any effect on such spending would be subject to future appropriation actions.

Previous CBO Estimate

On August 5, 2025, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 3170, Improving Access to Workers’ Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Education and Workforce on June 25, 2025. The two bills are similar, and CBO’s estimates of the costs to implement them are the same.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Kristin Kharrat. The estimate was reviewed by Christina Hawley Anthony, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.