While coronavirus news is often bleak and sometimes downright depressing, there may be a silver lining for claims management.

Last week we debunked unwarranted fears that workers’ comp is in a profit-crushing "COVID crisis" - mostly because COVID-19 claim costs and claim counts are relatively low. Reality is COVID-19 costs will be more than offset by the massive decrease in new claims seen so far, a decrease that may deepen as jobs continue to disappear.

It's a common story: A worker falls off a ladder while performing his job and gets hurt. A bone is broken, a disc is ruptured - the worker is in pain and can't go to work. He files a workers' comp claim but needs a doctor right away and chooses one at random.

A case in New York that is challenging the cessation of Permanent Disability benefits upon the death of a worker may change the landscape of workers' comp in the state.

Ergonomics and the associated employer requirements to maintain safe workplaces, especially in industries where repetitive motion injuries are common, are at the forefront of modern claim prevention. However, the legal cannabis industry could be especially vulnerable.

As the global workforce trends towards remote work environments, employers need to learn how to navigate a new normal. Supervisors are now responsible for remote workforce management, which comes with its own set of unique challenges and opportunities.

Case management has been a vital component of workers' compensation for years. Returning injured workers to the job in a meaningful capacity means that case managers often must perform a dual role as advocate for both the injured employee and the employer.

We know that workers' comp is at times controversial, and that case related decisions and determinations rarely make everyone happy. Still, through the din of disagreement there is usually a thread of logic that can help define issues and justify outcomes.

Members of the claim management team should be empowered to engage injured employees, even when they are represented by an attorney, to try and settle workers' compensation claims.

On May 12, 2020, the New Jersey Supreme Court answered a long-standing subrogation question regarding whether a workers' compensation carrier is entitled to subrogation and/or reimbursement from a third-party tortfeasor who is covered by New Jersey no-fault insurance, even though the employee does not otherwise meet the verbal threshold allowing him or her to sue the tortfeasor.

Technology and automation are everywhere in workers' comp. Artificial intelligence (AI) allows insurers to analyze workers' comp claims and flag ones that could go awry. Apps check in on injured workers.

The scenes from May 30 looked like they had been plucked out of the 1960s. News networks alternated between covering nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was allegedly killed by a police officer while in custody, and SpaceX’s first crewed launch to the international space station.

A delivery driver who used his wife's name to try to pull off one of the state's largest workers' compensation fraud cases has been ordered to pay back nearly $340,000.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent reverberations through every industry and has the potential to take a heavy economic toll on workers compensation insurers and self-insurers in particular. The current environment creates many questions. Here are answers to those being most frequently asked.

Oh, what a difference a state line makes. In Florida, a work-at-home workers' compensation claims professional who tripped over her dog while reaching for a cup of coffee could not receive workers' compensation benefits. If she moved just a few miles north, over the Georgia border, it would now be a different story.