JoAnn Pickel, director of operations at Pacesetter Claims Service, started in the insurance industry after her husband landed an underwriter job with State Farm. In short order, they had a claims position open.

There are many ways to quantify the impact of attorney involvement and social inflation (of which attorneys are a significant cause) on insurance carriers. One of the most striking examples is featured in a report by Jim Lynch and Dave Moore of the Casualty Actuarial Society, Social Inflation and Loss Development.

The insurance claims sector is tapping into technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to increase efficiency, improve outcomes and detect fraud.

A Texas appellate court has overturned workers compensation benefits awarded to a former professional football player, the decision coming after the court earlier ruled on a venue dispute issue in the case.

Federal workplace safety inspections at two Dollar General stores in the Tampa area have once again exposed alarming hazards and unsafe conditions. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, has issued citations for repeat violations, raising concerns about the well-being of employees at one of the nation’s largest discount retailers.

The rapid and unpredictable pace of change in the risk landscape presents risk management and insurance with one of its biggest challenges: How can we transfer risk if we cannot reliably quantify it?

Increased attorney involvement in commercial claims is a direct cause of substantial loss ratios, with costs continuing to rise. These growing costs result from high legal involvement rates, social inflation, third-party litigation funding and bad-faith lawsuits filed by attorneys.

It’s been less than a decade since Colorado became the first U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana. Today, it’s legal to consume in 25 U.S. states and territories, as well as in Washington, D.C. But in most of these regions, recreational cannabis use has been legal for less than five years.

From its inception in 1923, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) has provided a wealth of data and information on the workers’ comp space. Now, as NCCI celebrates its 100th year, it looks to note the changes and advancements the workers’ comp system encountered throughout the past century.

Medicare Advantage Plans (MAPs), also known as Medicare Part C, are private insurance plans that provide for a Medicare beneficiary’s Part A and Part B benefits. Beneficiaries can choose to enroll in a MAP rather than traditional Medicare. There also are Medicare drug plans (Part D) that provide for a beneficiary’s prescription drugs.

The courtroom was impassioned, to say the least, and downright angry at what they were hearing. In our post-COVID-19 reality, the claimant in a workers’ compensation case was presenting lengthy testimony by video. The judge sat calmly as the claimant spoke about a seemingly horrific injury.

Workers compensation insurers in Texas reported nearly 100,000 COVID-19 claims and 472 fatalities between March 2020 and April of this year, and more than half of both involved first responders and correctional officers, according to new data made public by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation.

In recent inspections conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, unsafe working conditions were once again discovered at Dollar General and Dolgencorp discount stores across multiple states.

Workforce positive marijuana test results after accidents have reached a 25-year high, according to the recently published results of the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index.

Injured workers often feel lost in the complex workers’ compensation benefit delivery systems. Difficult to understand, these systems leave injured workers confused, disbelieved and disrespected, which feeds a sense of hopelessness and abandonment. This can potentially contribute to the development or instigation of chronic pain perceptions and a poor outcome.