Clues to CMS Future Gleaned from WCRC Solicitation Notice
By: Sidney Wong The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) moved forward with requests for proposal regarding the Workers’ Compensation Review Contractor (WCRC) contract by releasing a...
View ArticleAdvocating for our Industry
By: Kimberly Brown, SVP Government Relations, Sedgwick Sedgwick is proud to support the Association of Claims Professionals (ACP) to advance our industry and sustain future growth and positive...
View ArticleWorkers Compensation for Uber and Lyft Drivers
By Ericka Murray How many times this week have you grabbed your phone and requested a ride from a service such as Uber or Lyft? Most people in urban areas have access to such services these days. Some...
View ArticlePreventing the Vortex of Failure
By: Lydia Hendrix, COO, NeuLife Rehabilitation Those of us that have years of experience working with catastrophically injured individuals see the disturbing pattern time and time again…The patient...
View ArticleRecent Developments in Telemedicine in California Workers Compensation
By: Michael P. Burns The past decade has seen an explosion in online access and improvements in technology. These changes have naturally resulted in changes in medicine. Smartphone applications and...
View ArticleTrump Administration May Bring a Surge in Occupational Disease Claims
Mesothelioma death rates remain high in the US even on the eve of an anticipated national ban of the asbestos fiber. Things may radically change for the worse as the Trump Administration goes forward...
View ArticleAppraising the Grand Bargain
At the 2017 WCRI Annual Issues and Research Conference, a panel debated the state of the workers’ compensation “grand bargain” in 2017. The panel was: David Dietz, MD – David Dietz & Associates Dr....
View ArticleSubrogation and the Admissibility of Expert Testimony
By: Gary L. Wickert The use of expert witnesses has become an integral and indispensable aspect of American litigation, and it is often the side with the best expert who wins the day. The same holds...
View ArticleIs Mental Injury Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
By: Robert Wilson Yesterday Peter Rousmaniere published a rather scathing opinion piece on this site accusing the insurance industry in general of intentionally misleading the federal government and...
View ArticleFormulary Implementation for Legacy Claims
By: Karen Atkins The Tennessee drug formulary has been deemed applicable to all dates of injury, including legacy claims. By legacy claims, I mean those claims where an injured worker was prescribed a...
View ArticleUpdate on Medical Marijuana
By: Tom Lynch Yesterday, while attending WCRI’s Annual Conference in Boston, we wrote about the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) new research results concerning the effectiveness of medical...
View ArticleRecently Released and Soon to be Released Generics Expected to Reduce Claims...
Over the past several years, prescription drug costs related to workers’ compensation claims have risen dramatically, making it increasingly important for claims professionals to carefully evaluate...
View ArticleImpact of the 2016 Election on Health Care, Labor and Workers’ Compensation
At the 2017 WCRI Annual Issues and Research Conference, former US Representative Henry Waxman and former US Senator Tom Colburn discussed how the 2016 election is impacting a variety of issues. The...
View ArticleGuest Post: Dr. Douglas Lurie on Work as Medicine
What if there was a treatment that was well accepted with scientific validity as being therapeutic, low risk, cheap and proven to improve outcomes and diminish claim duration? Believe it or not, but...
View ArticleLiability MSAs: What We Know and What to Expect
By: Kendell Gracey The dust is still swirling around the Liability Medicare Set-Aside (LMSA) issue, but a few areas clearly show Medicare’s plan and intended next steps. First, Medicare appears to...
View ArticleUnit-based Champions Promote Risk Management Culture
Today, leading-edge organizations systematically share internal control knowledge across their organization, departments and functions to promote best practices and to minimize loss. Healthcare...
View ArticleWorkersCompensation.com Enters News Publication Partnership with WCI
Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) – Starting this week, WorkersCompensation.com Premium Media Services will be providing current news and blog content for the Workers' Compensation Institute. It...
View ArticleConstitutionality of California’s IMR Procedure Not a ‘Slam Dunk’
By John Gerboth Sacramento, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) - On March 20, California's Third District Court of appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Ramirez v. WCAB. The case involved a...
View ArticleOvercoming with Community
By Mark Pew I spent some time last weekend going through some of my older blogposts and read "It's Personal" that I published on June 30, 2015. In it I relate a conversation with a lady on a shuttle...
View ArticleDissolving MT State Fund Dead in the Water… For Now
By Angela Underwood Helena, MT (WorkersCompensation.com) — The Montana State Fund isn't going anywhere regardless of Senator Eric Moore's (R-Miles City) proposal last week to dissolve the state's...
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