Medical Records Fees Reshape Claims

The cost of obtaining medical records in New Jersey workers’ compensation cases has been significantly restructured. Senate Bill 2253—signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy as P.L. 2022, c. 114, effective September 22, 2022—slashed the permissible fees that hospitals and licensed health care professionals may charge for copies of medical and billing records. Three years on, a January 5, 2026, regulatory amendment to N.J.A.C. 8:43G-15.3 has updated hospital licensing standards to bring administrative rules into full alignment with the statute, closing a gap that had persisted since 2011.

Hemp, Medicare, and Workers' Compensation

A federal district court in the District of Columbia has dismissed a challenge to a novel Medicare hemp-access program, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. The decision in Smart Approaches to Marijuana v. Kennedy (D.D.C. May 22, 2026) has significant implications for healthcare providers, insurers, and workers' compensation practitioners navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of cannabis-related medical treatment.

Honor Beyond the Holiday

 Making Memorial Day Meaningful in 2026

Memorial Day falls on the last Monday of May every year. Flags are lowered to half-staff at sunrise and raised again at noon. A moment of silence falls at 3:00 p.m. local time. Parades march through city streets. And then, almost imperceptibly, the holiday becomes a long weekend — a time for cookouts, road trips, and retail sales. But the day deserves more from us. It deserves remembrance.

Workplace Stress Kills Workers

The International Labour Organization's landmark 2026 Global Report, The Psychosocial Working Environment: Global Developments and Pathways for Action, delivers a sober verdict: workplace stress is not merely an inconvenience; it is a global killer. For workers' compensation practitioners in New Jersey and across the United States, this report carries profound implications. It quantifies what many attorneys and physicians have long argued: that the psychosocial conditions of work — job strain, overwork, harassment, and insecurity — are primary drivers of cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders, and even suicide.

The ILO's new global estimates, published here for the first time, are staggering in scope and sobering in implication. They demand a reevaluation of how workers' compensation law responds to stress-induced illness and death in the workplace.

NJ Workers’ Compensation: Profit Surge

An Analysis of Premiums, Profitability, and Trends from the NJCRIB 2025 Annual Report

Ebola: A Global Workers' Peril

A deadly new chapter in the decades-long struggle against Ebola has arrived. On May 16, 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), its highest level of alarm, as the Bundibugyo virus (BVD) rapidly spread across northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and crossed the border into Uganda. With no approved vaccine and no targeted therapeutics, this rapidly spreading, often fatal hemorrhagic fever poses an urgent, underappreciated threat to workers around the globe, particularly those in healthcare settings.

When Refusing Surgery Is Reasonable

The NJ Appellate Division Affirms Increased Disability on a Reopener and a Full Fee Shift