A New Jersey lawmaker on Friday filed a bill that would require workers compensation carriers to pay for medical marijuana.

Transporting work comp patients to and from medical visits, PT, IMEs, hearings and the like is a big business - big for workers’ comp that is. At first blush, it looks like a perfect opportunity for Lyft and Uber (L/U)- they’ve got a gazillion drivers everywhere, a great service model, and they are much less expensive than the traditional work comp transportation services.

Sometimes the simplest of stories can be the most impactful. There was no better example of that than comments made during today’s opening session of the IAIABC 104th Annual Conference.

Several weeks ago, Lockton published a study demonstrating that nationwide 67% of claims initially denied wind up being accepted within 12 months. Just as important in their findings is that these claims cost 55% more than those claims that are accepted from the outset.

For years, Spyros Panos seemed like a successful orthopedic surgeon, seeing dozens of patients a day and bringing in millions of dollars in fees for his suburban New York medical group.

Quantum computing represents the next true frontier in computing power, and with its advance will usher in incredible opportunities in data analysis, artificial intelligence and augmented reality systems. That is the good news. The bad news, for the unprepared, is that quantum computing will have the ability to strip through today’s encryption processes like a tornado in a trailer park.

Beware of those who seek to revise history by erasing or rewriting it altogether. This rule applies to the study of history, as well as the history of a subject such as consumer or construction safety.

A woman armed with a handgun opened fire on Thursday at a Maryland distribution center for the Rite Aid drugstore chain, killing three people and wounding three others before taking her own life, the Harford County sheriff said.

An explosion and fire Wednesday afternoon at a metal fabrication plant in Minneapolis badly injured two workers, authorities said.

Three trends in technology are poised to make significant impacts in medical care, and by the nature of our relationship to that industry, in workers’ compensation itself. The continuing advancements in miniaturization, artificial intelligence and robotics will give us unparalleled opportunity to improve care and achieve more satisfactory outcomes.

Ever wonder why some people seem to feel less pain than others? A study conducted at Wake Forest School of Medicine may have found one of the answers—mindfulness.

An explosion Thursday at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant in Chicago caused part of the plant to collapse, injuring 10 people there, according to Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MRWD) of Greater Chicago.

Two workers were killed in a construction accident near Walt Disney World, Orange County Fire Rescue said. Fire Rescue spokesperson Mike Jachles said there were about 18 workers at the scene when they got the call about the accident at 4:15 a.m.

There is a new awards/recognition program I would like to announce. It has no winners yet, but it may in the foreseeable future. It will only run once, so it will be easier to manage than things like our annual Best Blogs competition. And it will be a literal game changer for the workers’ compensation industry. More on that in a moment.

There has been a clear push in recent years to change the culture of workers’ comp across the nation with better communication, clearer language and an emphasis on ultimate recovery. This is a difficult task, as the legislative complexities of comp and entrenched interests within the system make this industry a very difficult ship to turn.