I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2561 
To amend the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act to cover services pro-
vided to injured Federal workers by physician assistants and nurse prac-
titioners, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 24, 2005 
Mr. NORWOOD (for himself and Mr. ANDREWS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act to cover 
services provided to injured Federal workers by physician 
assistants and nurse practitioners, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Access to 
Workers’ Compensation for Injured Federal Workers 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following:
(1) Medical services and supplies provided by 
physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners 
(NPs) are not included in the definition of ‘‘medical, 
surgical, and hospital services and supplies,’’ in the 
Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (5 U.S.C. 
8101 et seq.), PAs and NPs are not included in the 
definition of ‘‘physician’’ in such Act, and claims 
signed by PAs and NPs have been denied by the Of-
fice of Workers’ Compensation Programs of the De-
partment of Labor. 
(2) In some rural areas where PAs and NPs 
are the only full-time providers of care, injured Fed-
eral workers may have to travel more than 100 miles 
to receive care that is reimbursable. 
(3) In some cases, Federal workers have been 
advised to use hospital emergency rooms for non- 
emergency care, rather than receiving care after- 
hours at local clinics where PAs or NPs are the only 
health care professionals on-site. 
(4) PAs and NPs are legally regulated in all 
fifty States, the District of Columbia, and Guam. 
Forty-eight States, the District of Columbia, and 
Guam authorize physicians to delegate prescriptive 
privileges to the PAs they supervise, and forty-nine 
States, the District of Columbia, and Guam author-
ize NPs to prescribe medications under their own 
signature. 
(5) PAs and NPs work in virtually every area 
of medicine and surgery and are covered providers 
within Medicare, Tri-Care, and most private insur-
ance plans. PAs and NPs are also employed by the 
Federal Government to provide medical care, includ-
ing by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the De-
partment of Defense, and the Public and Indian 
Health Services. 
(6) Amending the Federal Employees’ Com-
pensation Act to recognize PAs and NPs as covered 
providers will bring this Act in line with the over-
whelming majority of State workers’ compensation 
programs, which recognize PAs and NPs as covered 
providers. 
(7) The exclusion of PAs and NPs from the 
category of covered providers under the Federal Em-
ployees’ Compensation Act limits patients’ access to 
medical care, services, and supplies, disrupts con-
tinuity of care, and creates unnecessary costs for the 
Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs.
SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS AND NURSE 
PRACTITIONERS IN FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ 
COMPENSATION ACT. 
(a) INCLUSION.—Section 8101 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2), by inserting after ‘‘chiro-
practors,’’ the following: ‘‘physician assistants, nurse 
practitioners,’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (3), by inserting after ‘‘chiro-
practors,’’ the following: ‘‘physician assistants, nurse 
practitioners,’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall apply beginning on the first day of the 
first Federal fiscal year quarter that begins on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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