Our Resources

• Integrate Mental Health Counseling with Welllness, Workers’ Comp
  Coordinating employee assistance program counseling with workers compensation benefits can help employees address issues that accompany job-related injuries such as depression and pain medication abuse.
• Florida set to approve 6.1% workers compensation rate hike
  Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced Friday that he intends to approve a 6.1% workers compensation rate increase effective Jan. 1, 2013.
• Health, safety lapses in lab tied to fungal meningitis outbreak
  Investigators found “serious health and safety deficiencies” at the compound pharmaceutical lab tied to the fungal meningitis outbreak, according to a preliminary report released Monday.
• GALLERY: Top 10 highest workers comp premium rates
  This gallery looks at the states with the highest workers compensation premium rate rankings according to the newly released Oregon Workers’ Compensation Premium Rate Ranking Summary.

• GALLERY: Top 10 lowest workers compensation premium rates
  This gallery looks at the states with the lowest workers compensation premium rate rankings according to the newly released Oregon Workers’ Compensation Premium Rate Ranking Summary.
• Delaware sets hearings on proposed 38% workers compensation rate hike
  The Delaware Department of Insurance is set to hold a series of public hearings in the next few weeks to discuss a proposed 38.27% hike in the state’s workers compensation rates.

• California workers comp reform measures have yet to hold down rates
  Workers compensation insurers are handing significant price increases to renewing California policyholders, while confusion reigns over whether new reforms will hold down rates, observers said.
• Meningitis outbreak brings more scrutiny of drug compounding
  The deadly meningitis outbreak in the United States is drawing greater scrutiny of drug compounding, which already is a concern in the workers compensation industry for certain pricing practices.
• COMMENTARY: Workers comp claim data is a good economic indicator
  Presidential candidates and their detractors have argued over what recent job numbers say about the U.S. economy’s health.
• Internal surveillance cameras can reduce workers compensation fraud
  Security cameras can help employers stave off fraudulent workers compensation claims, but experts say companies should consider the risks of conducting internal surveillance throughout their facilities.

• Court rules employer does not need to pay for employee’s gastric bypass
  A woman’s gastric bypass surgery and subsequent weight loss did not constitute a change in condition that would have allowed her workers compensation claim to be reopened, and her employer shouldn’t have to pay for the procedure, the Iowa Court of…
• GALLERY: Deadly jobs
  Business Insurance’s latest gallery shows the preliminary figures for fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers by industry sector in 2011, starting with the industries with the fewest fatalities.

• OFF BEAT: Postal worker likely to get workout from court over disability claims
  A former postal worker has likely concluded that demonstrating the use of fitness equipment while collecting disability payments is probably not a wise move.
• Ethnic disparities found in compensation for injured construction workers
  White, non-Hispanic construction workers receive larger workers compensation settlements despite sustaining equivalent or lower disabilities than their black or Hispanic counterparts, new research concludes.
• NCCI requests 7.1% increase in Connecticut’s advisory workers compensation rates
  NCCI Holdings Inc. has requested a 7.1% increase in Connecticut’s advisory workers compensation rates for 2013, due largely to indemnity and medical costs that are “increasing faster than wages” in the state.

• Helping employees stay at work or return to work following an illness or injury can prevent avoidable disability absences
  This guidance paper from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine provides observations and recommendations on measures employers can undertake when developing a disability prevention model that emphasizes helping ill or injured…
• More information emerges on meningitis outbreak
  Workers compensation adjusters and case managers are helping provide claimants with information on the meningitis outbreak.
• OFF BEAT: Hot line snafu has callers chatting about sex, not meningitis
  Florida Gov. Rick Scott has either been convinced of the therapeutic properties of phone sex, or his communications office could do with a good copy editor.
• Supreme Court to review case involving reports from doctors outside of workers comp medical network
  The California Supreme Court is set to review an appellate court ruling in Elayne Valdez v.
• Alaska tops rankings of state workers compensation rates: Study
  Employers in Alaska, California and Connecticut faced the highest workers compensation rates for 2012, according to a biennial study produced by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services.
• Commercial property/casualty prices expected to increase: KBW
  Commercial property/casualty prices will continue to increase, according to a third-quarter insurer earnings preview issued Wednesday by Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc.
• Lawmakers seek more oversight of compound drugs after meningitis outbreak
  A couple of U.S. lawmakers say they will introduce legislation aimed at increasing the oversight of compound pharmaceuticals, which have been linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak.
• N.Y. workers comp reforms result in increased benefits, lower drug costs: WCRI
  Workers compensation reforms passed by New York in 2007 have increased benefits for injured workers while lowering prescription drug costs by up to 20%, according to the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

• Health care facilities that take workers comp cases linked to meningitis outbreak: CDC
  Several health care facilities that treat workers compensation claimants are on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list of facilities that received a compounded medication linked to a meningitis outbreak.
• Aetna teams with Broadspire, ESIS, Gallagher Bassett to integrate claims filing
  Aetna Inc. announced Monday that it has teamed up with three workers compensation third-party administrators to integrate the filing of non-occupation disability and workers comp claims.

• Border Patrol shootings highlight federal workers comp issues
  The killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent and the wounding of another last week in Arizona demonstrates the dangers faced by law enforcement professionals who depend on a federal workers compensation program when things go wrong.
• Employers choose higher retentions to fight rising workers comp costs
  INDIANAPOLIS — Employers are choosing higher self-insured retentions to help limit rising workers compensation costs as the market continues to firm, a panel of excess workers comp insurers said last week.
• SIIA meeting draws 1,600
  INDIANAPOLIS — The Self-Insurance Institute of America Inc. drew about 1,600 attendees to its 32nd annual National Educational Conference and Expo, held Oct. 1-3 in Indianapolis.

• 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