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• Fla. urged to reconsider prevailing-party costs statute for workers comp claims
  A Florida appeals court recommended Friday that state legislators revisit a statute forcing injured employees to pay an employer’s legal expense when the employee does not prevail in litigating for workers compensation benefits in good faith.
• NCCI requests 6.1% increase in Florida workers compensation rate
  NCCI Holdings Inc. says increasing workers compensation claim frequency in Florida and rising prescription drug costs are the basis for a 6.1% rate increase requested in the state for 2013.
• Workers comp pharmacy biller to restore $1M in overcharges to Massachusetts
  A workers compensation pharmacy billing company agreed to pay $1 million in restitution to settle allegations it overcharged Massachusetts and nearly 80 municipalities within the state, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Thursday.

• Companies opt for higher self-insured retention levels to cut costs: Panel
  INDIANAPOLIS — Many employers are selecting higher self-insured retention levels to help keep workers compensation costs down, but that option may only be available to companies with solid finances, a panel of excess workers comp insurers said.
• Few doctors follow guidelines on monitoring opioid patients: WCRI
  Few doctors follow recommended medical treatment guidelines for monitoring patients to prevent opioid pain medication abuse, according to research findings released Tuesday by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Workers Compensation Research Institute.
• Calif. bill easing domestic worker qualification for workers comp vetoed
  California Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed legislation that would have made it easier for domestic workers to qualify for workers compensation benefits and made them eligible for a range of labor protections.
• Workers comp insurer can subrogate N.Y. rape victim’s civil settlement
  A civil settlement received by a New York rape victim can be subrogated by the workers compensation insurer that covered her injuries, a New York appellate court ruled last week.

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Workers Compensation Southern California Press Updates
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California

• Employers fear wasteful coverage overlap from array of benefits programs
  Large employers face substantial challenges in trying to determine whether they are paying for wasteful coverage overlaps among an array of benefit programs intended to keep employees healthy and productive, observers say.

Orange County workers compensation attorney
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California

• Advisory workers comp rate increase of 5% approved for Indiana
  The Indiana Department of Insurance has approved a 5% increase in advisory workers compensation rates in the state for 2013, according to the Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau.
• Immigration verification lapse doesn’t nullify workers comp protections: Court
  Violating the U.S. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 by not verifying employees’ immigration status does not cause an employer to lose workers compensation lawyer protections, a New York appeals court ruled.
• Managed care provider Concentra must provide legal defense for TPA Cambridge: Court
  Managed care provider Concentra Integrated Services Inc. met its obligation to indemnify third-party administrator Cambridge Integrated Services Group Inc. a but did not meet its duty to defend the TPA, according to a U.S.
• Calif. workers comp reforms prompts change to 2013 rate filing
  California’s Workers Compensation Information Rating Bureau plans to amend its 2013 rate filing to recommend no rate increase for next year in light of recent workers comp reforms passed in the state.

Workers Compensation Southern California Press Updates
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California

• Same-sex partner seeks workers comp survivor benefits in Alaska case
  An Alaska woman is seeking workers compensation survivor benefits based on her relationship with her same-sex partner of more than a decade who was murdered at work late last year.
• Draft model rule aims to amend state workers comp laws that address opioid prescriptions
  An International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions committee posted a draft model rule Thursday for amending state workers compensation attorney Orange County that address opioid pain medication prescribing.

Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Chula Vista Archives Workers Compensation Southern California

• Workers compensation pioneer Dr. Gary Franklin sounds opioid alarm
  Years before risk managers learned that opioid prescriptions would become a workers compensation liability, Dr. Gary Franklin was reviewing death certificates to document that large doses of the narcotics were killing injured workers.
• Insurers unconvinced that Calif. law reforms will reduce workers comp costs
  DANA POINT, Calif. — While recent workers compensation reforms in California aim to reduce costs for employers, insurers and claims handlers say they’re concerned the new law won’t do much to ease rising expenses.
• Conference draws 850 to Dana Point
  DANA POINT, Calif. — The California Workers Compensation & Risk Conference, held Sept. 19-21 in Dana Point, Calif., drew more than 850 attendees from California and around the country.
• California workers compensation reforms will cut costs by $300M annually: Fitch
  California’s latest workers compensation reforms are expected to cut the state’s comp costs by about $300 million, or 1.4%, annually, Fitch Ratings Ltd. said Thursday.
• Medicare set-asides getting faster approvals with new contractors
  DANA POINT, Calif.
• California’s workers comp reforms may not reduce system costs for payers: Panel
  DANA POINT, Calif. — A panel of insurers and workers compensation claims handlers said Wednesday that they don’t expect California’s recent workers compensation lawyer Orange County reforms to reduce system costs for payers in the state.

Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Press releases Archives – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Southern California Press Updates

• California workers comp reform measure signed into law
  California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed workers compensation reform legislation into law on Tuesday, saying the law will reverse a four-year trend of rate increases.

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Workers Compensation Southern California Press Updates
Workers Compensation Southern California Press Updates
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California

• Tracking true cost of lost productivity remains a challenge
  Poor worker health and related productivity losses cost U.S. employers $576 billion annually, including workers compensation, disability and group health program expenses, according to workers compensation attorney research released last week.

Chula Vista  Workers Compensation Southern California Archives
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California

• Untaxed tips must be counted toward bartender’s comp benefit: Nev. high court
  Determining the amount of workers compensation benefits owed to an injured bartender must include the untaxed tips he received and reported to his employer, Nevada’s Supreme Court has ruled.
• OFF BEAT: MMA fighter works out deal on workers comp fraud charges
  A Los Angeles firefighter who found himself in hot water when he was caught pursuing a career as a mixed martial arts fighter while on disability leave from his fire department job has ended his battle with prosecutors who had charged him with insurance…
• OFF BEAT: Daughter collects deceased dad’s workers comp payments for 22 years
  The state of Hawaii for 22 years paid workers compensation benefits to a dead man amounting to nearly $400,000.
• Poor health of employees can drag down productivity: Integrated Benefits Institute
  Workers’ poor health and its drag on productivity costs U.S. employers $576 billion annually, according to an estimate released Wednesday by the San Francisco-based Integrated Benefits Institute.

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Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
San Diego Archives Workers Compensation Southern California

• Worker who tested positive for cocaine use in injury probe entitled to back pay, fees: Court
  An employee fired after testing positive for cocaine use in a workplace injury investigation is entitled to back pay and attorney fees because her carpal tunnel injury was not an accident, the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled.
• Workers comp patients have fewer illicit drugs in systems: Analysis
  Workers compensation patients have illicit drugs in their systems less frequently than patients whose care is paid for by other medical delivery systems, according to a study by a drug monitoring company.

Orange County workers compensation attorney
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
Workers Compensation Press Updates – Workers Compensation Southern California
San Diego Archives Workers Compensation Southern California