(1) Payments from the medical disaster insurance fund shall be awarded by the director only after an application therefor has been filed by a claimant employee, the claimant's employer, or such employer's insurance carrier, or one on their behalf, and approved by the director for admission to the fund, in any case where the limits of liability provided under section 8-42-101 have been exhausted.
The director shall, in every case where an application for payments from the medicaldisaster insurance fund is filed, immediately, after receipt of such application, appoint a medical panel of three medical experts to see and examine the applicant, each of whom shall render a report to the director, advising whether or not the expenditure of further sums of money will promote recovery, alleviate pain, or reduce disability, suggesting the form and manner of further treatment or services and suggesting the reasonable cost thereof.
The director, upon receipt of reports from each of the medical experts appointed inaccordance with subsection (2) of this section, shall either deny the application or award payments from the medical disaster insurance fund, based upon such reports and as nearly as possible in accordance with the majority opinion and suggestions of the medical panel.
In making payment awards from the medical disaster insurance fund, the directorshall be limited in any one case to the sum of fifty-five thousand dollars, less any amounts of money expended by the employer or the employer's insurance carrier for medical, surgical, or hospital services and the costs of any prosthetic devices, or the reasonable value of any such services or devices furnished by the employer or the employer's insurance carrier.
The director shall award, and the state treasurer shall pay from the medical disasterinsurance fund, the reasonable fees and expenses of the appointed members of the medical panel.
Source: L. 90: Entire article R&RE, p. 550, § 1, effective July 1.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 8-65-106 as it existed prior to 1990.