Workers' Compensation

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Health Care Spending Will Peak Around 2025 and Then Flatten Out

Recent comment to the cost of medical care in for injured workers appear to reflect that it is a "boomer generation" factor. The question is whether the workers' compensation system can wait until 2025 or will it be dead by then as a result of medical costs. Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

This is apropos of nothing. I happened to be fiddling around with CMS health care expenditures and decided to take a look at how spending has increased year-over-year as a share of GDP for the past four decades. (Example: If spending increases from a 16 percent share of GDP to a 16.4 percent share of GDP, that's a year-over-year 2.5 percent growth rate.)

The chart below is a rolling 5-year average to smooth out the noise. Roughly speaking, it shows a steady decrease in the growth rate. If things continue along these lines, health care spending will continue increasing until it reaches about 21-22 percent of GDP sometime in the mid-2020s. The aging of the baby boom generation might send that number a little higher, but not by a lot, I suspect.

The mechanism is simple: As spending goes up, our collective resistance to higher spending increases, and that's the ultimate brake on health care expenditures. I'm willing to bet that U.S. spending on health care will never top 25 percent of GDP. It might not even top 23 percent.

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Why Health Care Is Stuck — And How to Fix It

Medical costs approximate the largest majority of costs in workers' compensation claims. Today's post was shared by NEJM and comes from blogs.hbr.org

The pressures for fundamental change in health care have been building for decades, but meaningful change has been limited while the urgency of change only grows. The moment of discontinuity has arrived. Already unsustainable costs, an aging population, advances in medicine, and a growing proportion of patients in low reimbursement government programs have made the status quo unsustainable. Change is inevitable.

There is only one real solution, which is to dramatically increase the value of health care. Value is the outcomes achieved for patients relative to the money spent. Without major improvements in value, services will need to be restricted, the incomes of health care professionals will fall, and patients will be asked to pay even more.

In our October Harvard Business Review article “The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care”we describe the strategic agenda that is necessary to create a high value health care delivery system. We believe that there is no longer any doubt about how to increase the value of care. The question is whether providers can make the necessary changes.
Why has it been so hard for health care organizations to improve outcomes and efficiency, despite their best intentions? With so many good, smart people working so hard? With patients’ needs so obvious and so compelling? And with such deep societal concerns about health care spending? The...

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Frigidaire Recalls Professional Blenders Due to Laceration Hazard

Today's post was shared by U.S. CPSC and comes from www.cpsc.gov

Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Serial plate with model and serial numbers on bottom of unit

This recall involves Frigidaire Professional© brand blender model FPJB56B7MS with a serial number between FFP 49 1203 0001 and FFP 49 1237 00974. The model and serial numbers are located on a serial plate on the underside of the blender’s motor base. Frigidaire Professional is printed on the front base of the blenders. The 5-speed blender is brushed aluminum and has black buttons on the front. The blender container is a 56-oz. clear glass jar with a black lid and a black base.

Incidents/Injuries

Frigidaire has received eight reports of the blender’s blade shaft assembly breaking. No injuries have been reported.

Remedy

Consumers should stop using the recalled blenders immediately and contact Frigidaire for instructions on returning the blenders for a free replacement blender.

Sold at

Best Buy, Target and other stores nationwide and online at amazon.com, bedbath.com and other online retailers from March 2012 through July 2013 for about $130.

Distributor

Electrolux Home Care Products Inc., of Charlotte, N.C.

Manufactured in

China

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience...

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Cambridge Metal & Plastics Recalls Motorcycle Training Wheels Due to a Crash Hazard (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Health Spending Over The Coming Decade Expected To Exceed Economic Growth

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

The nation’s total health spending will bump up next year as the health law expands insurance coverage to more Americans, and then will grow by an average of 6.2 percent a year over the next decade, according to projections released Wednesday by government actuaries.

That estimate is lower than typical annual increases before the recession hit. Still, the actuaries forecast that in a decade, the health care segment of the nation’s economy will be larger than it is today, amounting to a fifth of the gross domestic product in 2022.

They attributed that to the rising number of baby boomers moving into Medicare and the actuaries’ expectation that the economy will improve, according to their findings published in the journal Health Affairs.

The actuaries were not persuaded that experiments in the health law and new insurer procedures that change the way doctors, hospitals and others provide services will significantly curtain health spending.

They assumed "modest" savings from those changes from the law. "It's a little early to tell how substantial those savings will be in the longer term," Gigi Cuckler, one of the actuaries, told reporters.

The actuaries also said they are skeptical that the nation has entered a new era of lower health spending, a case that has been made by the Obama administration and many prominent economists. They have predicted a strengthening economy will not be accompanied by sharp health spending hikes. The report expects health...

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A Conservative Re-Envisioning Of The Health Care Overhaul (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Many Cancer Patients Overtreated In Final Days

Cancer care for injured workers' is extremely costly. The final year of life equates to a large proportion of medical costs. Ehical and moral factors enter into the balance for spending deicision though. Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

While most older people say they don't want aggressive care at the end of life, many get it anyway.

Care in the last month of life for Medicare patients with advanced cancer typically is even more aggressive in the Philadelphia area than in the nation as a whole, concludes a report from the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which studies regional differences in care. It released a report last week that showed the percentage of cancer patients who died in hospitals in 2010, or were hospitalized or in an intensive care unit in their last month.

Oddly, participation in hospice, which should relieve symptoms rather than prolong life, is above average in the Philadelphia area. Throughout the nation, though, the average patient waits until the last week or two to join hospice.
The Dartmouth researchers believe the regional variations reflect differing physician practices and available resources rather than patient preferences or quality.
The conclusion is that many patients here are being overtreated and are not communicating well with doctors, said David Goodman, coprincipal investigator of the Dartmouth Atlas.
"I think most people would agree that most health-care systems have got some real work to do," he said. "Patients have no idea what is the style of care in the place that they're receiving care, and it's not easily identifiable."

He said doctors find it hard to pull back as their patients worsen.
The study included hospitals that cared for at least 80 Medicare patients...

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U.S. Textile Plants Return, With Floors Largely Empty of People

Today's post was shared by The New York Times and comes from www.nytimes.com

The old textile mills here are mostly gone now. Gaffney Manufacturing, National Textiles, Cherokee — clangorous, dusty, productive engines of the Carolinas fabric trade — fell one by one to the forces of globalization.

Just as the Carolinas benefited when manufacturing migrated first from the Cottonopolises of England to the mill towns of New England and then to here, where labor was even cheaper, they suffered in the 1990s when the textile industry mostly left the United States.

It headed to China, India, Mexico — wherever people would spool, spin and sew for a few dollars or less a day. Which is why what is happening at the old Wellstone spinning plant is so remarkable.

Drive out to the interstate, with the big peach-shaped water tower just down the highway, and you’ll find the mill up and running again. Parkdale Mills, the country’s largest buyer of raw cotton, reopened it in 2010.

Bayard Winthrop, the founder of the sweatshirt and clothing company American Giant, was at the mill one morning earlier this year to meet with his Parkdale sales representative. Just last year, Mr. Winthrop was buying fabric from a factory in India. Now, he says, it is cheaper to shop in the United States. Mr. Winthrop uses Parkdale yarn from one of its 25 American factories, and has that yarn spun into fabric about four miles from Parkdale’s Gaffney plant, at Carolina Cotton Works.

Mr. Winthrop says American manufacturing has several...

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Italian Plant's Abrupt Shutdown Stirs a Debate (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Workplace Stress, Depression, and the Overuse of Antidepressant Drugs in the Workplace

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from medicationsense.com

Medication side effects are the #4 leading cause of death in the U.S. annually (JAMA 1998). Yet, few people receive adequate information when medication is prescribed. This website is dedicated to providing information to help you and your doctor make informed, intelligent choices about medications and natural alternatives to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of treatment.

An Interview with Dr. Richard Lippin, an Expert on Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Dr. Cohen: Dr. Lippin, for many years you have been concerned about stress and depression in the workplace and the use of antidepressants medications. Why?
Dr. Lippin: As an administrator and doctor in occupational health settings for over 30 years, I've seen many depressed workers. This is a huge, growing, well-documented problem. Of the 47 million Americans who suffer from depression, probably over 70% or about 33 million are part of the nation's workforce. Depression costs employers $44 billion a year in lost productive time...

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Details Lacking on Prescription Drug Coverage in New Health Law

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.nytimes.com

Among the most troubling questions facing consumers as they shop for insurance under the Obama administration’s new health care law is whether the plans will cover the drugs they take — and how much they will have to pay for them.

But with less than two weeks remaining until enrollment opens on Oct. 1, the answers are still elusive and anxiety is growing for consumers whose well-being depends on expensive medications.

States running the marketplaces where the plans will be offered have not released details about which drugs will be covered. Insurers have said little about how much consumers will be asked to contribute or what types of restrictions will be placed on certain medicines. Of the few states that have revealed specifics, some have plans that will require patients to contribute as much as 50 percent of the cost of the most expensive drugs.

“I’ve got to be honest and say I’m a little bit nervous,” said Jessica Thomas, a mental health counselor in North Carolina who takes the drug Tecfidera to treat her multiple sclerosis.

Ms. Thomas, 34, has been enrolled for two years in a program for people with expensive medical conditions that is run by North Carolina. But that program is ending in December, and she must select a new plan in the state marketplace. At the top of her mind is how much she will have to pay for Tecfidera, which costs more than $4,000 a month. “I think that’s the hard thing right now is that it’s...

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Health Spending Over The Coming Decade Expected To Exceed Economic Growth (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Workplace Stress, Depression, and the Overuse of Antidepressant Drugs in the Workplace (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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UPS Won't Insure Spouses Of Some Employees (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Friday, September 20, 2013

Labor Dept. Mandates Minimum Wage, Overtime Pay For Home Health Workers

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

The U. S. Department of Labor issued new rules Tuesday that mandate home health care agencies pay their workers the minimum wage and receive overtime pay starting in 2015.

"Almost 2 million home care workers are doing critical work, providing services to people with disabilities and senior citizens who want to live in community settings and age in place in their familiar surroundings," said Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez.

But when it comes to getting paid, they are "lumped into the same category as teenage babysitters," he said. "This is wrong and this is unfair."

For nearly 40 years, home care workers had been exempted from the pay rules because their services were considered "companionship." But advocates, including organized labor organizations, had argued that these workers were often doing much more, providing assistance with dressing, eating and other daily activities. The decision extends the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage requirements, currently at least $7.25 an hour, to direct care workers, including home health aides, personal care aides and certified nursing assistants, according to a Labor Department statement.

"This is a tremendous victory for home care aides, a workforce earning near-poverty wages while providing vital personal care and health-related services to America’s elders and people living with disabilities," said Jodi M. Sturgeon, president of Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI National), an advocacy...

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Parma considering following Cleveland in suing Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation over inflated premiums

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.cleveland.com

Parma is considering pursuing legal action against the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation for allegedly inflated premiums.
PARMA, Ohio -- The city is considering following Cleveland's lead in filing suit against the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation for allegedly inflated premiums.

The Cleveland lawsuit, filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court June 28, argues that the bureau billed the city excessive workers' compensation insurance premiums for many years. Meanwhile, public employers that qualified for group rates were being inequitably undercharged, the complaint states.

Cleveland is seeking repayment from the bureau of premium overcharges.

Parma Law Director Tim Dobeck said the city, which does not qualify for the discounted group premium rates, was approached by Cleveland-based law firm Bashein & Bashein regarding taking action against the bureau. He said he believes the city may be asked to serve as the representative plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit brought by several communities.

Dobeck was not able to provide an estimate as to how much in repayment the city may be entitled to.

A request for comment from Bashein & Bashein was not immediately returned.

The Cleveland lawsuit, and potential Parma-led class action, comes on the curtails of a March ruling that awarded 264,000 Ohio private employers a total of $859 million from the bureau following a lawsuit contending similar premium overcharges. That decision is being appealed by the bureau.

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Medical Transparency: Resistance is Futile

Today's post was shared by WorkCompCentral and comes from daviddepaolo.blogspot.com

John Green, one of the vlogbrothers, posted a video blog on YouTube that so far has racked up over 2 million views, entitled "Why Are American Health Care Costs So High?"

The bottom line take-away from this manic, though entertaining (and I assume accurate) review of the United States health care system is the reason why costs are so much higher in the US compared to the rest of the world is ...

Because they can...

John argues that there is no central pricing control like other countries, that consumers will pay whatever they are charged because, basically, they don't know any better, and there is no transparency in health care pricing.

Maybe that's true. I don't know, I'm no expert on health care costs, or health care for that matter - hell, I'm no expert on anything.

But it does make sense that health care pricing should be a factor in most medical care decision situations where there is time to make an informed judgment about a procedure - which is most of the time.

Some medical businesses are starting to advertise their prices and it's causing some debate in medical circles.

The Surgery Center of Oklahoma, owned by its roughly 40 surgeons and anesthesiologists, drew national interest and sparked a bidding war as several other medical facilities in Oklahoma posted their prices according to media reports.

Pricing transparency is gaining momentum.

North Carolina passed a law requiring hospitals to provide prices on 140 common medical procedures and services.
In May, the federal...

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What to Do About Futile Critical Care (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
OK's True Cost Control Feature (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Health Care Spending Will Peak Around 2025 and Then Flatten Out (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
The Shocking Truth About Medication Errors (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Details Lacking on Prescription Drug Coverage in New Health Law (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Physician Payments Sunshine Act Goes Into Effect Without Initial Concerns (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Why Health Care Is Stuck - And How to Fix It (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

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Shimano American Recalls Disc Brake Calipers Due to Collision Hazard

Today's post was shared by U.S. CPSC and comes from www.cpsc.gov

Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Shimano BR-CX75 disc brake caliper model number

Recall Details

In conjunction with

Units

About 6,600 in U.S. and 704 in Canada

Description

This recall includes all Shimano BR-CX75 aftermarket disc brake calipers and BR-R515 disc brake calipers installed on road and cyclocross bicycles sold by other manufacturers including BMC, Giant, Ibis, Raleigh, Shinola, Specialized and Volagi. “Shimano,” “China” and the model number are embossed on the outside of the brake caliper. Both models have either black or silver finishes.