I’m grateful that my social media consultant knows only what she’s read in my blog posts about the Nevada workers’ compensation system, because she reminds me that my intended readers, like her, may know little about the system. After reading my last blog post about DIR complaints, she saw that I didn’t give the full name of the Nevada state agency. Sorry about that. Here is more information about DIR, which is the Division of Industrial Relations, a sub-agency of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry.
Below is a brief description and web site link to the four main Nevada state agencies responsible for our present workers’ compensation system in Nevada:
1. Department of Business and Industry- a large state agency that has within it the
Division of Industrial Relations, Workers’ Compensation Section (DIR)
- Regulates insurers, self-insured employers, medical providers, and third-party administrators,
- Proposes and holds hearings on regulations (NAC 616),
- investigates complaints that an insurer or TPA has violated the law, and may impose fines and penalties for violations of the law,
- Funds and oversees the Nevada Attorney for Injured Workers, the state attorneys who provide free legal representation to injured workers at the appeals officer level of hearings.
- Controls the list of rating doctors who do impairment evaluations on injured workers’ for possible awards for permanent impairments due to work injuries or occupational illnesses,
- Verifies that a particular employer has workers’ comp coverage so that doctors, clinics, and hospitals can file claim forms of injured workers,
- Investigates cases where the employer doesn’t have a workers’ comp policy so that the injured worker can have the claim paid from the Uninsured Employers’ Claim Fund,
- Provides educational seminars to the public, training for claims adjusters and vocational rehabilitation counselors, and brochures to medical providers, employers, and injured workers
- Posts the current statutes (laws) and regulations and approved claim forms on its web site, www.dirweb.state.nv.us./wcs
2. Department of Insurance
- Reviews insurance rates and licenses self-insured employers, third-party administrators,
- A list of all licensed work comp insurers and TPA’s in Nevada are at www.doi.state.nv.us.
3. Department of Administration
- Operates the Hearings and Appeals Divisions which decide contested injured workers’ appeals of adverse determinations by insurers or their TPA’s
4. Office of the Attorney General
- Has a fraud unit that investigates possible workers’ compensation fraud by injured workers, employers, or medical providers, and brings criminal charges.
5. Office of the Governor
- Consumer Affairs has an ombudsman that can look into complaints by injured workers, but the ombudsman has no authority to order benefits or medical care.
Names of the supervisory employees and department heads of the above agencies are on the various agencies’ web sites
