Industry Insights
| Oppose Proposed Workers' Comp Reform Bill | 08/21/2012 | ||
| By: Dr. Robert L. Weinmann | |||
| State: CA | Segment: | 0 | Popular with Legal | |||
| We previously opposed Senate Bill 923 because it would shove the Medicare Resource Based Relative Value Scale down the throats of injured workers and their treating doctors. The idea of this bill was to replace the low pay Official Medical Fee Schedule (OMFS) with the still lower paying Medicare RBR...Read More | |||
| Oral Arguments Heard by 11th Circuit in U.S. v. Stricker | 08/07/2012 | ||
| By: Shawn Deane | |||
| State: NA | Segment: | 0 | |||
| On July 26, oral arguments were heard before the United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) in Atlanta regarding the federal government’s appeal in the case of United States v. Stricker, et al. This matter was heard before a three judge panel consisting of Judges Adalberto Jorda...Read More | |||
| Okla. Workers' Comp Option Rejected | 05/02/2012 | ||
| State: OK | Segment: | 0 | |||
| The Oklahoma House of Representatives has voted 50-42 against allowing employers the option of establishing their own injury benefit plans outside of the Oklahoma workers’ compensation system. This decision will not be reconsidered, so the initiative is finished for the 2012 legislative Sessio...Read More | |||
| Opinions Differ on whether AB 378 Limits Self-Referral | 02/09/2012 | ||
| State: CA | Segment: | 0 | Popular with Legal | |||
| There's a new fight brewing in California and I suspect it will provide good entertainment, and an abject lesson in legislative drafting, to workers' compensation observers.The fight is about physician self-referral of pharmacy goods.Assembly Bill 378, which took effe...Read More | |||
| Our News Flash on PPPs Turns into a Dud | 01/11/2012 | ||
| By: Eugene Keefe | |||
| State: IL | Segment: | 0 | |||
| This past Tuesday, letters from the Illinois Department of Insurance sent on Dec. 30 were received by three approved workers' compensation preferred provider program providers confirming they were "finally approved."We assumed final approval meant rock-and-roll, good-to-go, hasta-la-...Read More | |||
| Overdosing on Drugs: Compensable in Tenn., Denied in Ohio | 12/20/2011 | ||
| State: NA | Segment: | 0 | |||
| Today we examine two court cases that trouble the dreams of claims adjusters: workers with severe injuries whose use of pain medication leads to their deaths. In one case, the accidental overdose is deemed compensable; in the other, the claim is denied. The devil, of course, is in the details....Read More | |||
| Opioid Abuse in Florida: Who Controls Controlled Substances? | 12/16/2011 | ||
| State: FL | Segment: | 0 | |||
| Florida is famous for at least three things: citrus fruit, sunshine and pain pills. The citrus and sunshine are pretty much permanent, but it appears that the easy dispensing of opioids may be coming to an end. HB 7095, the state's new law regulating opioid distribution, bans doctor dispensing o...Read More | |||
| Opioids in Work Comp: Gaining Visibility | 11/09/2011 | ||
| By: Joe Paduda | |||
| State: NA | Segment: | 0 | Popular with Insurance | |||
| Most workers' comp executives have moved opioid abuse and overuse to the top of their "we've got to fix this now" list.Those who haven't, should.Here's why.Employers and insurers will spend $1.4 billion on narcotics this year; the vast majority of ...Read More | |||
| Of Heroes, Acts of God and (No) Mercy | 10/28/2011 | ||
| State: MO | Segment: | 0 | |||
| When the category 5 tornado hit Joplin, Missouri on May 22 this year, Mark Lindquist was perched on a mattress which covered his clients, three mentally disabled adults. Lindquist, a social worker for Community Support Services, was following the tornado protocol in a town where basements are virtua...Read More | |||
| Older Workers: How Old is Too Old? | 10/19/2011 | ||
| State: NA | Segment: | 0 | |||
| For 36 years Rodolfo Meza worked for Aerol Corp. in Rancho Dominguez, Calif. as a metal worker making cast iron and aluminum molds. He was about 48 when he began working; he was about 84 when he was terminated while on medical leave for a knee operation. Rodolfo sued, claiming age discrimination, ra...Read More | |||
