Here’s the announcement today from the U.S. Department of Labor:

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs today issued a final rule to strengthen safeguards for the health of coal workers. The rule makes significant revisions to the regulations implementing the Black Lung Benefits Act that will give miners greater access to their health information, bolster the accuracy of claims decisions, and require coal mine companies to pay all disability or survivor’s benefits due in a claim before modification can challenge the award.

As readers know, this rule comes after Chris Hamby’s Pulitzer Prize-winning expose about how doctors and lawyers worked to keep miners from getting their benefits.

You can read the final rule here.