Tennessee Reforms Cut Workers Comp Claims, Costs

Workers’ compensation rates will drop again next year for most Tennessee businesses as safer work sites and non-judicial settlements of workers’ comp claims continue to cut the costs of the insurance in Tennessee.
September 7, 2017 Legislation & Regulation Workers' Compensation Tennessee

Harvey Recovery Likely To Cause Workplace Safety Risks

Recovering from Tropical Storm Harvey will be a dangerous process and can present multiple safety hazards to workers, according to experts.
September 6, 2017 Liability Workers' Compensation Texas

Injuries Sustained In Suicide Attempt Are Compensable: Court

A federal appeals court ruled a man who shot himself due to anguish over injuries suffered on the job is entitled to compensation for the injuries he sustained during his suicide attempt.
August 21, 2017 Workers' Compensation California Hawaii

They Got Hurt At Work — Then They Got Deported

At age 31, Nixon Arias cut a profile similar to many unauthorized immigrants in the United States. A native of Honduras, he had been in the country for more than a decade and had worked off and on for a landscaping company for nine years.
August 16, 2017 Fraud Legislation & Regulation Risk Management Workers' Compensation Florida

Solar Eclipse Creates Employee Safety Risks

Employers planning to host solar eclipse viewing parties should be aware of employee safety and workers compensation concerns. On Aug. 21, a total solar eclipse will take place and will be visible from cities including Portland, Oregon; Denver; Kansas City, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta; and Charlotte, North Carolina.
August 16, 2017 Workers' Compensation Colorado Georgia Missouri North Carolina Oregon

Think Differently: How Claims Departments Are Becoming Innovation Breeding Grounds

Channeling Apple’s iconic marketing slogan in a headline (some would argue a more grammatically correct version) necessarily means turning to the company’s legendary leader Steve Jobs for one of his memorable quotes on innovation: “To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of discipline.”
August 10, 2017 Auto Fraud Property Risk Management Technology

Comp Insurer Credits Predictive Modeling For Reduction In Opioid Use

The Travelers Companies Inc. has spent the past two years attempting to curb opioid abuse by gauging the likelihood that an injured worker would become hooked — and it helped reduce opioid use in claims by 30% among 500,000 claimants in the United States, the company reported Wednesday.
August 10, 2017 Workers' Compensation

Florida Airport Ground Worker Struck By Lightning

NBC2 has obtained video showing the moment a lightning strike at Southwest Florida International Airport sent a ground worker to the hospital. The bolt hit a Sun Country plane and traveled through 21-year-old Austin Dunn’s body on Saturday July 22nd.
August 3, 2017 Workers' Compensation Florida

Californian Pleads Guilty In Multimillion Dollar Workers’ Comp Scheme

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office recently announced that a Redondo Beach woman accused of participating in a $150 million workers’ compensation insurance fraud scheme recently pleaded guilty.
August 1, 2017 Fraud Workers' Compensation California

Proposal Addresses Causation, Multiple Conditions In Workers Comp Claims

A bill presented to lawmakers in Texas on Wednesday aims to tackle the murky issue of causation in workers compensation.House Bill 233, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, calls for medical causation narrative reports to be paid for by insurers when they dispute a correlation between one condition and that which is directly related to the workplace injury.
July 24, 2017 Legislation & Regulation Workers' Compensation Texas

Biggest Challenge To Workers Comp Prescription Cost Reform: Profit Motive

States that enacted reforms to rein in the high cost of drugs dispensed by physicians to injured workers are facing an uphill battle as some doctors are finding ways around the regulations, meaning these costs remain stagnant or are rising in some states, experts say.
July 20, 2017 Legislation & Regulation Workers' Compensation California Illinois Maryland Pennsylvania

Study: Workers’ Comp Systems Lose Billions To Misdiagnoses

As much as a fifth of medical diagnoses in workers’ compensation claims involve errors that cost workers’ compensation systems billions, a 10-year study from a medical consulting service found.
July 11, 2017 Workers' Compensation

Roll With It? Hawaii Insurer Pulls Workers’ Comp Coverage From Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Insurance company Hawaii Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company announced it will stop providing workers’ compensation insurance to seven of the eight businesses waiting for licenses to begin selling their product in dispensaries.
July 7, 2017 Workers' Compensation Hawaii

Man Who Filed Workers’ Comp Claim But Actually Hurt Himself Riding A Motorcycle Admits Felony

A state employee who said he got hurt at work and claimed disability from the state’s workers’ compensation insurer, but was actually injured riding a motorcycle at a Bozeman racetrack, has admitted to a felony and will pay a $3,000 fine. Boone Block, 34, of Clyde Park, pleaded guilty June 14 to false claim to a public agency.
July 6, 2017 Litigation Workers' Compensation Missouri

National Study Indicates Michigan Has Seen Largest Decrease in Workers’ Comp Opioid Prescriptions

According to a study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), Michigan boasted the country’s largest decrease in the amount of opioids prescribed for workers’ compensation claims between 2009 and 2015. In total, the amount fell by 37 percent, and the WCRI claims it is due to amendments of Workers’ Compensation Health Care Services rules and fee schedule.
July 5, 2017 Workers' Compensation Michigan
SOS Ladder AssistMid-America Catastrophe ServicesAspen Claims ServiceNationwide OversprayWeller Salvage