An Oregon legislator introduced bills to require timely reporting of injuries by employers and to permit physician assistants to treat injured workers in comp cases.

House Bill 3467, filed Tuesday by Rep. Dacia Grayber, D-Tigard, would require employers to report to their insurers any workplace injuries that may result in the filing of workers' comp claims within five days of learning about the injury.

Failure to do so could result in employers having to reimburse insurers for any penalties related to the delay.

There would be a reporting exception in cases where workers require no medical treatment or if they only require first aid that does not result in further evaluation.

House Bill 3412, also by Grayber, would add physician assistants to the list of medical professionals who are permitted to treat injured employees in workers' compensation cases.

Both bills await committee assignment.

The Management-Labor Advisory Committee created as part of the reforms in the 1990s to apprise lawmakers on what system users think of pending comp legislation is scheduled to discuss the measures during a meeting Friday.

More information about the MLAC meeting is here.

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