SMITH, Judge.
Bellefonte Area School District (Employer) petitions for review of the order of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Board) which affirmed the referee's order directing Employer's insurance carrier, Hartford Insurance Company, to pay Leona B. Morgan (Claimant) reasonable medical expenses arising out of her work-related injury and its recurrence. The issue raised on appeal is whether Claimant's claim petition for medical expenses filed more than three years after the work-related injury is barred under Section 315 of The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act (Act), Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P. S. § 602.
This case was reassigned to the authoring judge on November 17, 1992.
The referee's findings of fact are not in dispute in this appeal. Claimant was employed as a teacher by Employer. On October 25, 1979, while helping her class empty cafeteria trays, Claimant sustained a work-related injury to her right knee when a child ran into her. As a result of this injury, she was unable to work for four or five days. Employer's insurance carrier paid medical expenses incurred by Claimant for the injury. On April 10, 1987, Claimant again sustained an injury to her right knee when she fell in the hallway on Employer's premises. On July 5, 1988, Claimant filed a claim petition for compensation, alleging that she sustained two work-related injuries on October 25, 1979 and on April 17, 1987.
Claimant later amended her petition to change the date of the alleged second injury from April 17, 1987 to April 10, 1987.
After hearings on Claimant's claim petition, the referee found that on April 10, 1987, Claimant suffered a recurrence of her 1979 work-related injury. The referee concluded that Claimant is not entitled to payment for any weekly disability compensation for the 1987 recurrence of her 1979 injury. The referee, however, ordered Employer's insurance carrier to pay any and all reasonable medical expenses causally related to Claimant's 1979 work-related injury, including those resulting from the 1987 recurrence, on the basis that the three-year statute of limitations is inapplicable to the payment of Claimant's medical expenses. On Employer's appeal, the Board affirmed the referee's decision concluding that payments of medical expenses are not "compensation" under Section 315 of the Act.
I
Section 315 of the Act sets forth a time limitation for filing claims for compensation:
In cases of personal injury all claims for compensation shall be forever barred, unless, within three years after the injury, the parties shall have agreed upon the compensation payable under this article [Article III: Liability and Compensation, Sections 301-321]; or unless within three years
after the injury, one of the parties shall have filed a petition as provided in article four hereof [Procedure, Sections 401-447].
It is well established that Section 315 is not a statute of limitations but rather strictly a statute of repose which completely extinguishes a claimant's rights created by the Act. Berisford v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Jessop Steel Co.), 142 Pa. Commw. 83, 596 A.2d 1237 (1991); McDevitt v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Ron Davidson Chevrolet), 106 Pa. Commw. 207, 525 A.2d 1252 (1987), appeal dismissed, 520 Pa. 119, 552 A.2d 1048 (1989). Thus, under Section 315, a claimant's rights for compensation under the Act are extinguished unless within three years after an injury the parties agree upon the compensation payable or one of the parties files any petition provided for in the procedure sections of the Act. Since the parties do not dispute that neither condition was met, the sole question becomes whether Section 315 of the Act is applicable to the payment of medical expenses.
This Court's scope of review is limited to determining whether necessary findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence, whether an error of law was committed, or whether the Claimant's constitutional rights were violated. Russell v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Volkswagen of America), 121 Pa. Commw. 436, 550 A.2d 1364 (1988).
The Board relied upon this Court's decision in Fuhrman v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Clemens Supermarket), 100 Pa. Commw. 577, 515 A.2d 331 (1986), appeal dismissed, 518 Pa. 59, 540 A.2d 267 (1988), to conclude that the term "compensation" in Section 315 of the Act does not include medical expenses and therefore no time limitation exists for filing a claim for medical expenses. Employer contends that Fuhrman is inapplicable to the matter sub judice and urges reexamination of this Court's recent decision in Berwick Industries v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Spaid), 146 Pa. Commw. 288, 605 A.2d 463, appeal granted, 532 Pa. 647, 614 A.2d 1143 (1992), which held that since Section 315 does not establish either a statute of limitations or a statute of repose applicable to medical expenses, the three-year limitations period does not apply to those expenses.
Prior to the Berwick decision, case law permitted an employer to voluntarily pay medical and hospital expenses of an injured employee in the absence of an agreement during the statutory period for filing claims, and did not impose upon the employer a continuing duty to pay benefits where liability has neither been admitted by the employer nor legally determined through the judicial process. Dennis v. E.J. Lavino Co., 203 Pa. Super. 357, 201 A.2d 276 (1964); see also Artman v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (St. Paul's Home for the Aging), 107 Pa. Commw. 341, 528 A.2d 684 (1987), appeal denied, 517 Pa. 619, 538 A.2d 501 (1988). The Berwick decision concluded that "the ongoing legislative liberalization of Section 306(f)," as found in Fuhrman, indicates the legislative intent to broaden a claimant's ability to obtain medical expenses for injuries. Berwick, 146 Pa. Commw. at 292, 605 A.2d at 465. However, after a reexamination of the question presented and review of relevant sections of the Act and case law, this Court concludes that Berwick must be overruled.
The Fuhrman decision relied upon in Berwick is clearly distinguishable in one very important way: it involved interpretation of the statute of limitations contained in Section 434 of the Act, 77 P. S. § 1001, where, unlike the claimants in Berwick and this case, the claimant signed a final receipt and any question as to the threshold determination of liability had already been resolved during the requisite statutory time period. The claimant accrued medical expenses after executing a final receipt which the employer's insurer paid for three years. The claimant filed a claim petition for further medical expenses which was treated as a petition to set aside the final receipt filed under Section 434 of the Act. This Court held that the three-year limitation set forth in Section 434, within which the referee may set aside a final receipt, is wholly inapplicable to a claim for further medical expenses after an injury is no longer "disabling" since it is not necessary for an employee to sustain a loss of earning to qualify for reimbursement of medical expenses pursuant to a work-related injury.
Moreover, as the Fuhrman Court stated, a determination of whether the term "compensation" includes medical payments must be made on a section-by-section basis. This Court in Insurance Co. of North America v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Kline Packard Press), 137 Pa. Commw. 393, 586 A.2d 500 (1991), aff'd, 533 Pa. 112, 619 A.2d 1356 (1993), concluded that the term "compensation" in Section 443 of the Act, 77 P. S. § 999, governing supersedeas fund reimbursements includes medical expenses; and in Glinka v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Sears, Roebuck Co.), 75 Pa. Commw. 504, 462 A.2d 909 (1983), this Court decided that medical expenses the employer was required to pay are considered compensation for the purpose of imposing interest under Section 406.1, added by Section 3 of the Act of February 8, 1972, P.L. 25, 77 P. S. § 717.1. Notably, this Court expressed the belief in Insurance Co. of North America that a common sense approach must be taken in deciding questions of statutory interpretation, commenting upon the Superior Court's decision in Haley to Use v. Matthews, 104 Pa. Super. 313, 158 A. 645 (1932), which concluded that compensation included medical expenses for subrogation purposes of Section 319, 77 P. S. § 671.
II
The purposes underlying time limitations in the Act are to stimulate the prompt pursuit of legal rights and avoidance of the inconvenience and prejudice resulting from deciding stale cases on stale evidence. Dudley v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Township of Marple), 80 Pa. Commw. 233, 471 A.2d 169 (1984), aff'd per curiam, 510 Pa. 283, 507 A.2d 388 (1986). In construing Section 315 to include medical expenses, this Court is guided by the rule of statutory construction that to ascertain the legislative intent, provisions of a statute are to be interpreted in the context in which they appear and with reference to other pertinent provisions. Consulting Engineers Council of Pennsylvania v. State Architects Licensure Board, 522 Pa. 204, 560 A.2d 1375 (1989); Cooley v. East Norriton Township, 78 Pa. Commw. 11, 466 A.2d 765 (1983).
Article III, Section 306 establishes a "schedule of compensation" for wage loss and medical payments resulting from total and partial disability and specific loss. Section 306(f)(1), 77 P. S. § 531(1), provides for payments of reasonable surgical and medical services as part of the schedule of compensation. Article III, Section 315 bars all claims for compensation in the absence of the parties' agreement on the compensation payable under Article III or an appropriate petition filed under Article IV. In construing these sections of the Act, this Court may not disregard language which is clear and free from doubt. Zimmerman v. O'Bannon, 497 Pa. 551, 442 A.2d 674 (1982). If the legislature intended to exclude medical benefits from "compensation" in Section 315, it would have expressly stated so. Under the circumstances, it is clear that the legislature intended that "compensation" in Section 315 should include medical payments listed in Section 306(f)(1).
The Act contemplates time periods in which parties must act. Uselton v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Brockway, Inc.), 138 Pa. Commw. 497, 588 A.2d 595 (1991). Claimant's position and the Berwick holding are simply contrary to the Act's statutory scheme which does not allow a claimant to keep an employer in limbo forever, Uselton, and would result in prejudice to employers where medical expense claims are filed many years beyond an employer's voluntary payment of an injured employee's medical expenses as in the case sub judice. Therefore, although no time limitation appears in Section 306(f)(1) for filing medical claims, the term "compensation" in Section 315 must be construed to include medical payments, thereby allowing an injured employee to gain access to rights afforded by the Act only through that section. Of course, once access to substantive rights under the Act is accomplished, all provisions of the Act must be liberally construed in favor of the injured employee. Reed v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 499 Pa. 177, 452 A.2d 997 (1981).
The conclusion reached today would encourage employers' continuing practice to voluntarily pay medical expenses to injured employees without fear of later penalty for those payments. As the Superior Court stated in Dennis:
Since the early days of workmen's compensation, the insurance carriers have been liberal in paying medical and hospital bills beyond those required by the statute. . . . The insurers pay for this treatment to help the injured employees regain their health, which minimizes their future disability and reduces the liability of the insurance carrier for future compensation payments. Even if the reason for the insurance carriers' desire to reduce or prevent future disability of injured employees is to save the carriers money, the injured employees are the chief beneficiaries of the practice. Condemning or penalizing the insurance carriers for voluntarily paying these medical and hospital bills would discourage their continuing the practice. Injured employees would suffer most from the abandonment of the practice.
Id., 203 Pa. Super. at 362-63, 201 A.2d at 279. Consequently, the Board's conclusion that Claimant's claim for medical expenses should be allowed beyond the three-year limitations period is contrary to policies of the Act and would force employers to abandon a long-established practice of voluntarily paying medical and hospital expenses of injured employees beyond those required by statute, among other things, to assist those employees in regaining their health. Accordingly, the order of the Board is reversed.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 18th day of June, 1993, the order of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board is hereby reversed.