By Elizabeth Connellan Smith, Counsel, Verrill Dana LLP, Portland, ME Innovation isn’t always the first word associated with the regulation of workers’ compensation, but innovation was in the forefront of the Commissioners and Associate Members Roundtable...
Oakland – A new California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) study uses data from 1.2 million drug prescriptions dispensed to California injured workers in 2014 to model the impact of the draft Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule (MTUS) Drug...
A New Report Looks at the Early Data in 25 States to See How Opioid Abuse Reform Efforts are Faring in Workers' Compensation Claims In light of the epidemic in deaths caused by prescription opioid overdoses and abuse building since at least the 1990s, reforms...
This list of recent noteworthy cases was compiled by Keith J. Kasper of McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Buchard, PC. Argentina Kearney has joined the Department of Labor staff as a Workers’ Compensation Specialist II starting May 16, 2016. Ms...
Texas Saw Reductions in Both “Non-Preferred” Drug Prescriptions and Overall Prescription Costs In recent years, a host of workers’ compensation (WC) experts have touted the specialized drug formularies utilized in several states operate as two...
WCRI Publishes New Study on Ambulatory Surgery Centers . FDA Issues Three New Draft Guidances for Compound Drugs . EEOC Issues New Guidance on Employer-Provided Leave, ADA . AK: WCB Discusses Budget, HB 214 Workers Comp Appeals Commission . AZ: ICA to Hold...
Oakland - The use of opioids in California workers’ compensation has declined in recent years, along with the associated payments, yet these potentially addictive painkillers remain the number one therapeutic drug group used in the system according to a new...
The Board was justified in finding claimant had violated N.Y. Work. Comp. Law § 114-a and should be disqualified from receiving wage replacement benefits where the claimant represented to an orthopedic surgeon that he could not do anything more than sedentary activity...
Are reform efforts aimed at controlling the costs of physician-dispensed drugs having the desired effect? It appears not, at least in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Tennessee. In recent years, at least 20 states have made legislative or regulatory...
A Kentucky appellate court held that pharmacies are “medical providers” for purposes of Rev. Stat. Ann. § 342.020(1). Accordingly, the injured worker’s right to choose his or her own medical provider extended to the selection of a pharmacy...
If one was trying to track hot topics and trends in California workers’ comp, a good place to start would have been a recent March conference in Oakland attended by many prominent stakeholder representatives. Oakland’s Marriott Hotel was the site...
By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. Marijuana is used medicinally or recreationally once a year by at least 128 million people in the world since 2012 according to global epidemiology studies. Growing up in California means easy access to marijuana from elementary school...
By Julius Young, Esq., Richard M. Jacobsmeyer, Esq., Barry D. Bloom, Co-Editors-in-Chief, Herlick, California Workers' Compensation Handbook This 2016 edition is the 35th edition of Herlick, California Workers’ Comp Handbook (hereinafter “Herlick”...
Massachusetts’ new pilot program aims to break the emphasis on opioids On October 23, 2015, attorneys and judges from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire gathered at Gillette Stadium to discuss a variety of workers’ compensation issues that...
By Roger Rabb, J.D., Special Correspondent for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter NCCI studies have shown that establishing a fee schedule for physician services can help keep down costs in workers’ compensation claims, and in “ The Impact of Workers...