Pill Mill Doctor Could Get Life Sentence
By CAMERON LANGFORD A Houston doctor who used his prescription pad like an ATM machine, prescribing 1.6 million oxycodone pills in two years, faces up to life in prison after a jury convicted him...
View ArticleSeattle Employer Fined Nearly $450,000 for Workplace Hazards
A marine terminal operator in Seattle is facing a $448,200 fine from Washington State's Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) for failing to correct serious worker health hazards for which it...
View ArticleSenate Cafeteria Workers to Collect $1M in Unpaid Wages
By BRANDI BUCHMAN Cafeteria workers on Capitol Hill will recoup over $1 million in back pay after an investigation by the Labor Department found private contractors were misclassifying employees to pay...
View ArticleWCI Briefs: 7.29.16
To save you time, here’s a sampling of workers' compensation and insurance news, each in 450 words or less. Reno, Nev., is hosting 37 mine rescue teams from 18 states this week for the 2016 Metal and...
View Article#WCI2016: Conference Offers Multiple Continuing Education Opportunities
One of the major benefits of attendance at the 71st annual Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference is the opportunity to earn Continuing Education Units. Here is a listing of the available...
View ArticleDecades After Ban, Lead Paint Lingers
By TERESA WILTZ In the wake of the Flint water crisis, states are rushing to test for high levels of lead in drinking water. But many are failing to come to grips with a more insidious problem:...
View ArticleWest Virginia to See Workers’ Compensation Rate Decrease
The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) recently filed a proposed reduction of 14.7 percent in workers’ compensation loss cost rates with the Offices of the West Virginia Insurance...
View ArticleOpioid Dependence Leads to ‘Tsunami’ of Medical Services, Study Finds
By JULIA APPLEBY In one of the first looks at privately insured patients with opioid problems, researchers paint a grim picture: Medical services for people with opioid dependence diagnoses skyrocketed...
View ArticleWisconsin Shipyard Faces Nearly $1.4M in OSHA Fines
Federal health inspectors found Wisconsin's Fraser Shipyards Inc. overexposed workers to lead during the retrofitting of a ship's engine room. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and...
View ArticleInaugural IAIABC Innovation Awards: Call for Entries
The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC) Innovation Awards program recognizes public sector projects and initiatives that improve government service delivery...
View ArticleThe Pros And Cons to the Opioid Addiction Implant
By MARYLAND RECOVERY Opioids are a class of drugs that interact with opioid receptors on the nerve cells in the brain to decrease pain and can create pleasurable effects. Drugs in this category include...
View ArticleA.M. Best: 2015 Was a Good Year for U.S. Captives
Captive insurance companies rated by A.M. Best ended 2015 in strong form, recording pretax operating income of $1.4 billion, a 13.5 percent increase over 2014, according to a new A.M. Best special...
View ArticleFeds Allowed to Fortify Bulletproof-Vest Claims
By ROSE BOUBOUSHIAN Hoping to patch its claims over defective bulletproof vests, the U.S. government secured permission to amend its federal complaint against Honeywell International. At the crux of...
View ArticleShould Killing a Police Officer Be a Hate Crime?
By REBECCA BEITSCH Hoping to deter deadly attacks against police officers, some states want to expand hate-crime laws, which are traditionally confined to characteristics such as race and ethnicity, to...
View ArticleStudy Bodes Well for Biosimilars, but Highlights Need for More Research
By SYDNEY LUPKIN Research released Monday finds comparable safety and efficacy for one type of biosimilar drugs, complex medicines intended to be near-copies of some of the most costly prescription...
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Florida Supreme Court Decisions Create Workers’ Compensation Unfunded Liability
The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) has estimated that the combined total statewide unfunded liability related to the Florida Supreme Court’s decisions in Emma Murray (1), Castellanos...
View ArticlePinnacol Awards Grants to Three Colorado Nonprofits
Pinnacol Assurance has awarded grants totaling $45,000 to three Colorado nonprofits to help injured workers get back to work and stay healthy, and ensure that Colorado has a robust business climate and...
View ArticleWCI Briefs: 8.5.16
To save you time, here’s a sampling of workers' compensation and insurance news, each in 400 words or less. Stephen Schneider, Midwest region vice president for the American Insurance Association...
View ArticleHow to Fix the Primary Care Physician Shortage
By G. RICHARD OLDS, M.D. The U.S. healthcare system is at a crossroads. The number of primary care physicians is expected to grow modestly over the next ten years. But demand for them is skyrocketing....
View ArticleBook Note: Is Heroism the Standard?
By DAVID B. TORREY A review of Christina Crosby's, “A Body, Undone: Living on After Great Pain” (NYU Press 2016). A common theme in workers’ compensation disability literature is that injured workers...
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