NATL. - Health Care Workers Drove Increase in Psych Claims During Pandemic, Data Shows
05/07/2021 | 0
Mental health claims increased 2.4% last year, and the rise was driven almost exclusively by an unusually sharp uptick in health care workers filing claims for anxiety and depression-related conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released by claims management company Sedgwick.
Health care workers in 2020 filed nearly 43% more mental health claims than in 2019, by far the biggest increase in any industry that researchers analyzed, said Andy Berg, associate vice president of workforce absence at Sedgwick.
“That’s an unprecedented increase and obviously a major c...
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Halving the length of time available for employers to accept claims and increasing employers’ liability for medical benefits while assessing liability could have unintended consequences, the California Workers’ Compensation Institute said Thursday.
Senate Bill 335, by Sen. Dan Cortese, D-San Jose, would require employers to accept or deny most claims within 45 days instead of the 90 days that they have now. Employers would have 30 days to accept claims from first responders for conditions that are presumed compensable under Labor Code sections 3212 through 3213.2, such as hea...
The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that an airline employee was not entitled to permanent total disability benefits for injuries to her fingers and psychological sequala.
Case: Drahozal v. Envoy Air Inc., No. 20-0027, 04/28/2021, published.
Facts: Rukhsana Drahozal worked for American Airlines at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids.
On Jan. 4, 2015, while Drahozal was de-icing planes, seepage from the de-icing solution soaked through her gloves onto her hands. Because her hands were already cold and partially numb, she did not realize the damage that had occurred.
Over the next few days,...
A Louisiana appellate court ruled that a welder was entitled to benefits for an injury that he belatedly reported to his employer, but he was not entitled to penalties and attorney fees.
Case: Headley v. Textron Systems, No. 2020 CA 1174, 04/26/2021, published.
Facts: Textron Systems hired Jackson Headley as a welder in June 2015. Toward the end of his shift on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017, Headley allegedly experienced a sharp, burning pain in his lower back as he stood up after completing a weld.
Headley did not report the incident to anyone at Textron and did not seek medical attention over the...
Please join LatinoComp for their first annual Northern California Golf Tournament at Tilden Park Golf Course with stunning views of the Bay and the Oakland & San Francisco skylines below, the drive to Tilden Park Golf Course gives the player a hint of what they will experience once they arrive at the course.
The event is on June 4th (Friday) Registration opens at 7:00 am, Tee Times beginning at 8:00 a...
Thursday was National Nurses Day. In celebration, I wanted to bring up a subject that I have seen overlooked in quite a few workers' comp files: field case managers.
I like to call them rehab nurses. A field case manager does not have to be an RN or LPN, but most seem to have a nursing background.
I have written a few articles on field case managers where I called them rehab nurses. They are great risk management assets who greatly assist the employees in recovery.
Field case managers are assigned by a workers'...
The Delaware Superior Court ruled that an injured worker provided enough evidence of willful or wanton misconduct by his employer’s insurance carrier to pursue punitive damages on his bad-faith claim.
Case: Moyer v. American Zurich Insurance Co., No. K19C-09-026 JJC, 04/28/2021, published.
Facts: Michael Moyer worked for CBRE. He suffered an electric shock while troubleshooting a heat pump on March 5, 2019.
CBRE submitted a claim to its workers’ compensation insurance carrier, the American Zurich Insurance Co., on the day of the accident. Zurich sent a letter to Moyer the next d...
The owner of a construction company in Fresno self-surrendered Thursday after a warrant was issued for her arrest on six felony counts of fraud, the California Department of Insurance announced.
Carolyn Plaza, 41, is accused of failing to report more than $3 million in payroll at a contracting business she co-owned, Absolute Urethane Inc. The Department of Insurance said Plaza over a five-year period illegally reduced her workers’ compensation premiums by $985,091 as a result of the alleged underreporting.
The Department of Insurance said its investigation uncovered that Plaza had...
The owner of a large Bay Area construction firm admitted to committing felony workers’ compensation insurance fraud after years of firing employees when they requested medical treatment for work-related injuries, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Between 2016 and 2019, Man Tat Szeto, 71, of San Ramon, avoided approximately $86,000 in premium payments to his insurer by underreporting employees and injuries. To further his scheme, Szeto used the banking system to launder $165,000 to pay employees “off the books,” prosecutors said.
Szeto was al...
LatinoComp is hosting a LIVE Webinar on May 20, 2021, starting at 11:30 AM PT - 1:00 PM PT. While COVID-19 may have disrupted our ability to convene for in-person CLE, LatinoComp is still able to serve as your local resource for professional and top-rated workers compensation CLE education, now available LIVE Online.&nbs...
A generic pregabalin extended-release tablet that hit the market in April will likely lower costs on claims that include Lyrica CR as part of the medication regimen, according to Optum Workers’ Comp and Auto No-Fault.
Although Lyrica CR is not commonly seen in workers’ compensation Medicare Set-Asides, Optum said it expects that the newly released generic will be about 40% cheaper.
The generic extended-release pregabalin formulation is approved only to manage pain caused by damaged nerves related to diabetes and shingles. Unlike the immediate-release formulation, it is not a...
Workers’ compensation systems could see impacts from recently enacted federal health care changes, including a new rule that will remove more than 1,700 procedures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ inpatient-only list by 2023, a comp and legislative expert said.
“What do we see in workers’ comp? Orthopedic injuries or orthopedic surgeries,” said Lisa Anne Bickford, director of government relations for claims management company Coventry. “So, this will have a disproportionate impact on comp relative to, perhaps, other payers.&rdqu...
A federal appellate court ruled that an injured worker was entitled to damages for wrongful termination in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim, but the award had to be reduced to account for the period in which he was an unauthorized alien employee.
Case: Torres v. Precision Industries Inc., No. 20-5492, 04/22/2021, published.
Facts: Ricardo Torres worked for Precision Industries Inc. from January 2011 until he was fired in September 2012. He was not legally authorized to work in the United States during this period and had used a fake Social Security number ...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that a worker was entitled to the modification of his partial disability status following the invalidation of the state’s impairment rating evaluation process.
Case: County of Allegheny v. WCAB (Butkus), No. 486 C.D. 2020, 04/29/2021, published.
Facts and procedural history: Stanley Butkus suffered injuries in the course of his employment with the County of Allegheny in September 2006. The county accepted liability for medical benefits only.
In May 2009, a workers’ compensation law judge ruled that Butkus’ foot and ankle injurie...
The Illinois Appellate Court ruled that a worker was not entitled to benefits for her injuries in a fall from hopping over a chain barrier to turn in her time card.
Case: Purcell v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (University of Illinois), No. 4-20-0359WC, 04/27/2021, published.
Facts: Emily Purcell worked as an administrative assistant for the University of Illinois on a temporary basis. Her regular work hours were 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and she was paid for 7.5 hours per day.
Purcell’s job required her to leave her office in the und...
A federal administrative law judge determined that a behavioral health care center and its management company exposed workers to more than 50 attacks in a two-and-a-half-year period and deserve to be sanctioned for destroying surveillance videos showing workplace violence.
In a 170-page decision, U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Law Judge Dennis Phillips found hospital management company UHS of Delaware Inc. and Premier Behavioral Health Solutions of Florida Inc. exposed employees to workplace violence and acted in bad faith by allowing the destruction of videos that sho...
A recent Contractors State License Board sting conducted with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, Clovis Police Department and California Department of Insurance led to three stop orders for failure to carry workers’ compensation coverage.
CSLB said that in all, it cited 12 for suspected unlicensed contracting after they gave bids for home improvement jobs.
Three of the contractors are facing additional charges for not having workers’ compensation insurance.
“Consumers need to use caution when hiring a licensed contractor and make sure the contrac...
