Workers Comp Archives - Page 3 of 7

The future isn’t coming; it’s here. And we are so unprepared.

May 23, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

Inspired by a stunning presentation by Accident Fund Director of Innovation Jeffrey Austin White and a terrific session at NCCI by Salim Ismail, I’m going to be posting occasionally on the future of workers’ comp. This future is one that is rarely discussed, mostly ignored, and often pooh-poohed. I’ve been involved in comp since 1988 –...
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Keep Workers Cool As The Heat Turns Up

May 4, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

As the weather starts to turn warmer, extra effort should be made to keep employees safe and healthy. As too many businesses have discovered over the years, heat-related injuries and ultimately fatalities are more commonplace than one realizes. According to information from OSHA, workers dealing with heat conditions are best suited when they: Drink water...
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The Everything-PPACA edition of Health Wonk Review

April 27, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

The ongoing rollout of the Affordable Care Act is the primary subject of this edition of Health Wonk Review – but there’s much more from the best of the health policy blogosphere – all summarized here for your reading pleasure! PPACA rollout Brad Flansbaum has written a thoughtful and compelling perspective on the impact of...
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The latest “innovations’ in physician dispensing

April 26, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

Despite overwhelming evidence that physician dispensing in workers’ comp leads to extended disability, higher medical costs, and higher indemnity expense, doc dispensing continues to expand. Here’s why this is such a tough nut. Back in the day, almost all physician-dispensed drugs were repackaged medications; since WC drug fee schedules were based on AWP, and repackagers could...
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Workers’ Compensation, Return to Work, and the Americans with Disabilities Act

April 17, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

Article originally published by LexisNexis Best practices for complying with the spirit and law of the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended in 2009 Roger Rabb, J.D., Special Correspondent for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter Employers dealing with injured workers are often preoccupied in the early stages of the injury period with workers’ compensation issues,...
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Work comp drug trends

April 5, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

Helios has just released their drug trend report covering spend, trends, and influencers for 2013 and 2014. As the largest – and oldest – WC PBM, Helios has perhaps the broadest and “longest” perspective, able to draw on several decades of data to identify, parse, and analyze trends. The PBM also has quite the stable of...
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WCRI Looks At Impact of Affordable Care Act On Workers Comp

March 11, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

I.I.I. chief actuary Jim Lynch reports from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) annual conference: An important cost-control mechanism of the Affordable Care Act could end up annually shifting hundreds of millions of claim dollars into the workers compensation system, preliminary research by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) indicates. The mechanism is the Accountable Care...
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Opt-Out In Workers Compensation Is Not A New Concept

March 11, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

Currently, there are proposals in some states for allowing workers to “opt out” of workers’ comp. Is this a radical departure from the past history of work comp? Hardly. In fact, for the first three decades of work comp the issue was “opting in”, not “opting out”. When Comp Laws Began, Only Fraction of Work...
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Using Telemedicine in Workers Compensation

February 23, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

Telemedicine is viewed by many as an opportunity to reduce the cost of medical expenses and promote efficiency in the workers’ compensation system. While this practice may be new in workers’ compensation claims, it should be something claim management teams look at to reduce the overall costs of a workers’ compensation program. What...
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A Revisit: Impact of Obamacare on Workers Comp

January 28, 2015 by The Insurance 411Leave a Comment

I.I.I. chief actuary Jim Lynch previews the Workers Compensation Research Institute’s (WCRI) Annual Issues & Research conference: This time last year, property/casualty insurers worried how the Affordable Care Act’s rollout would affect workers compensation insurance. The debate seemed to disappear as the law took hold, but research to be unveiled at a March workers compensation...
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