CA - Number of QMEs Falls as Panel Requests Increase
10/20/2017 | 1170 | 0 | 0 min read
OAKLAND, California — The number of qualified medical evaluators in California’s workers’ comp system continues to decline, even as requests for QME panels have soared 87% over the last 10 years, according to a report unveiled Thursday.
Frank Neuhauser
And a provision of Senate Bill 863 that limits the number of locations at which QMEs can be registered has resulted in a more even distribution of QME panels among providers, according to the report, written by University of California, Berkeley, researcher Frank Neuhauser.
Neuhauser presented the QME report on T.
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Workers’ compensation regulators in Oregon have had enough of carriers and self-insured employers blowing off their reporting responsibilities, and are going to start posting information about violations and civil penalties online.
The Workers’ Compensation Division says it issued a record-high number of penalties against payers for not complying with reporting requirements in 2015, and while the numbers have been down since, they’re still above the historical average.
Now, the division will test whether public shaming will work to motivate insurance companies and self-insu.
An Indiana man injured while working on a farm cannot collect workers’ compensation benefits because, as in 11 other states, the Hoosier State excludes agricultural employees from its workers’ compensation scheme.
Jimmy Dean Austin’s argument that he should be classified as a commercial laborer because he drove a semi truck around the farm fell flat before the Indiana Court of Appeals.
The appellate court, which noted in its opinion that the semi trucks were licensed for farm use only, upheld the Workers’ Compensation Board’s classification of Austin as a farm e.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined an opportunity to weigh in on the application of the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act to a roofer who suffered injuries in a 2013 fall.
This act, which was passed in October 2010, established strict guidelines that severely limited the circumstances under which construction workers could be treated as independent contractors instead of employees.
In February of this year, the Commonwealth Court found Justin Hawbaker was properly treated as an independent contractor at the time of his accident.
Hawbaker had started working for.
A New York appellate court upheld a finding that a commercial general liability insurance carrier had an obligation to provide a defense to a roofing contractor who was sued by a subcontractor’s injured employee.
Case: Century Surety Co. v. All In One Roofing, Nos. 2015-12457, 2016-01297 and 2016-01720, 10/18/2017, published.
Facts: All In One Roofing entered into a contract with the McAlpine Construction Co. to install a roof on a building owned by 10 Leonard Street LLC and 10 Boulevard LLC.
All In One subcontracted the work to Vasyl Berezhanskyy, and Berezhanskyy hired Zde.
The state Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation has received a report on the workers’ comp qualified medical evaluator system.
Julius Young
The report, which delivered to the commission at its Thursday meeting in Oakland, is authored by Frank Neuhauser of UC Berkeley and has been posted online on the CHSWC.
The CHSWC site notes that the report could be subject to revision and replacement, so the final report could look somewhat different than what I’ll reference in this post.
The report is designed to update an earlier 2010 rev.
A New York appellate court revived part of an electrician’s Labor Law action for injuries he allegedly sustained at an art show.
Case: Honeyman v Curiosity Works, No. 2015-08642, 10/18/2017, published.
Facts and procedural history: Francis R. Honeyman suffered injuries while performing electrical work on the installation of an art show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center when two panels comprising the walls of an exhibition booth fell on him.
He filed a Labor Law claim against Metropolitan Exposition Services, the company allegedly supervising the installation.
Metrop.
Sulivan On Comp
The California Supreme Court will not be reviewing a self-represented worker’s challenge to an administrative determination that she had failed to timely file a petition to reopen her comp claim.
Edith Martin had suffered multiple injuries between 1995 and 2011 while working at a Nordstrom department store in Santa Ana. Her self-insured employer accepted her injuries as compensable.
Nordstrom paid Martin temporary disability benefits for an agreed-upon period, followed by payment of permanent disability benefits based on a 24% impairment rating.
Nordstrom also paid for Martin’s .
The civil claims filed by Hollywood actress Paz de la Huerta in connection with her alleged injuries from an on-set accident while filming the horror movie “Nurse 3D” will not be coming back from the dead.
Paz de la Huerta
(Wikipedia photo)
On Wednesday, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that her breach-of-contract action against Lions Gate Entertainment had been properly dismissed as a strategic lawsuit against public participation and because her workers’ compensation remedy was her exclusive recourse for her physical injuries.
An ambulance had clipped the actress.
Gov. Jerry Brown appointed George Parisotto as administrative director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
George Parisotto
Parisotto served as acting administrative director since February 2016, when Destie Overpeck left the agency for a position with the State Bar of California.
He joined the DWC in 1998 and has held positions including acting chief counsel and industrial relations counsel during his tenure.
Prior to joining the DWC, Parisotto was a workers’ compensation claims examiner for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Energy Employees Occupational I.
Employers will see workers' compensation rates decrease on Dec. 1, Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro announced in a statement released Wednesday.
Commissioner
Trinidad Navarro
Those purchasing workers' compensation insurance through the residual market will see an average rate decrease of 5.73%, while those obtaining plans through the voluntary market will see an average decrease of 3%.
Navarro reminded employers this week that they can "realize additional savings of up to 19% on their premiums" by enrolling in the state's workplace safety program.
Wisconsin has launched a premium-credit program for businesses that employ apprentices though the state’s Registered Apprenticeship Program, the commissioner of insurance and Department of Workforce Development announced Thursday.
Commissioner Ted Nickel
The Wisconsin Apprenticeship Credit Program will pay a credit of 2% of an employer’s workers’ compensation premium, up to $2,500, if the business employs an apprentice through Wisconsin’s Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards, according to a press release by the Workforce Development Department. The Wisconsin Comp.
The Law Offices of Ryan Soriano have opened their doors in Torrance, CA. The firm was fo.
Arkansas’ maximum total disability rate will increase 1.8% to $673 per week on Jan. 1 due to an increase in the state’s average weekly wage.
Benefit rates are set at 85% of the state’s average weekly wage, as reported by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, the Workers’ Compensation Commission said in a notice posted on its website.
The maximum permanent partial disability rate will also increase by 1.8%, to $505. PPD is paid at 75% of the maximum total disability rate. Workers with permanent partial disabilities who earned less than the state average weekly.
The cost of doing business with clerks for the Louisiana Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration will go up soon if rules proposed by the agency are approved.
The OWCA gave notice in today’s edition of the Louisiana Register that it intends to increase a few of the fees it charges for handling various documents. The fee structure would remain largely intact under current rules, with two exceptions:
The cost of service by certified mail is set at $8, up from $5.
Filing by facsimile or electronic transmission will cost $5 for the first five pages and $2.50 for any p.
The Nevada Division of Insurance will hold a hearing Oct. 25 on proposed rules relating to financial statements filed by third-party administrators.
Nevada law requires newly formed businesses to file a balance sheet with estimated income and expenses for the first year, and evidence that the third-party administrator can pay its obligations as they become due.
The proposed rules would require businesses to file a financial statement that has been reviewed by an independent certified public accountant.
The requirement that each application for a certificate of registration as an administrat.