A 10 Step Guide To Your Independent Medical Examination

Follow these steps to ensure you get the most out of your independent medical examination.

Today's post comes from guest author Paul J. McAndrew, Jr. from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.

You will reach the stage in your worker’s compensation claim where you will be examined by a doctor of your choice. This exam may generate the most important evidence in your claim. I strongly recommend that you do the following:

1. Needless to say, always tell the truth. Never exaggerate or overstate your symptoms. On the other hand, do not understate your symptoms, either. This is your one chance to tell it all.
2. Be sure to write down the time and place of your independent medical examination (IME, for short). It is important that you make it to this appointment on time.
3. Before going to the IME, spend an hour or two writing down the history of your injury, your current complaints based on the injury, what things aggravate your injury, and what care and treatment you have been given for your injury. You will have only a limited amount of time to describe these things to the IME doctor. It is important that you have a well-organized statement to give to the doctor. Therefore, you should take your written statement to the IME and use it to make sure that you tell the doctor a complete statement of these things. Then, save the written statement and return it to me. If the things in your statement do not end up in the IME doctor’s record, this may be useful in the future.
4. Remember, although this is a doctor of our choosing who will be fair and impartial. The doctor is not in our pocket. He (or she) will be using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment which has certain “tests” to determine if a patient is faking or exaggerating their symptoms.
5. The best way to go into the IME is to be alert, relaxed and polite. The IME is a fairly routine process. You are not being singled out. Don’t be defensive.
6. A major part of the IME will consist of you answering<!--more--> written or oral questions or giving a statement to the doctor. Answer all questions politely and truthfully. Don’t try to fake anything or unreasonably exaggerate any problem. Any experienced doctor will quickly discover this and it could ruin your case. Take your time in answering questions to make sure that you answer each question clearly and truthfully. Answer only the questions that are asked and don’t ramble on.
7. You will probably be asked to describe your pain. Paint is often difficult to describe. You might find it easiest to explain activities that worsen your pain. You should have a list of everyday activities that increase your pain.
8. When talking to the physician try to be as accurate as possible. Explain when and how you were hurt. Tell him your current symptoms in as neutral a way as possible.
9. Do not complain bitterly about your previous treatment. Don’t say things about the company doctor being in cahoots with the employer. The IME doctor’s evaluation won’t be made better by complaints.
10. After the IME, I am interested in knowing just what went on in the examination. Therefore, after the examination, take at least one half-hour to write down as much as you can remember of what the doctor said, what you answered, what the doctor did, and what, if anything, was dictated into a recorder. Note as accurately as possible the time that you arrived at the office, the time that you were placed in the examining room, when the doctor entered the room, and when the doctor left the room. It may be important to have an exact record of the time the doctor spent with you in the examination room.

If you follow these directions, you will provide the IME doctor with an accurate description of your work-injury condition. This will lead to a clear and reliable IME report that can held your claim. Of course, check with your attorney for more suggestions.

The Price of ‘Made in China’

Today's post was shared by Jon L Gelman and comes from www.nytimes.com

HERE is a symbol of China’s assault on the American economy: the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island. This landmark, which opened in 1964, is North America’s longest suspension bridge. It’s also in urgent need of renovation. Unfortunately, $34 million in steel production and fabrication work has been outsourced to China.

How did this happen? The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says a Chinese fabricator was picked because the two American companies approached for the project lacked the manufacturing space, special equipment and financial capacity to do the job. But the United Steelworkers claims it quickly found two other American bridge fabricators, within 100 miles of New York City, that could do the job.

The real problem with this deal is that it doesn’t take into account all of the additional costs that buying “Made in China” brings to the American table. In fact, this failure to consider all costs is the same problem we as consumers face every time we choose a Chinese-made product on price alone — a price that is invariably cheaper.

Consider the safety issue: a scary one, indeed, because China has a very well-deserved reputation for producing inferior and often dangerous products. Such products are as diverse as lead-filled toys, sulfurous drywall, pet food spiked with melamine and heparin tainted with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.

In the specific case of bridges, six have collapsed across China since July 2011. The...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Healthcare Workers: Protect Yourselves!

Today's post was shared by Safe Healthy Workers and comes from www.cdc.gov

Healthcare workers may be at risk for exposure to vaccine-preventable diseases. Getting vaccinated is an important step to keep yourself, coworkers, patients, and family safe.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk for exposure to serious, and sometimes deadly, diseases. If you work directly with patients or handle material that could spread infection, you should get appropriate vaccines to reduce the chance that you will get or spread vaccine-preventable diseases. Protect yourself, your patients, and your family members. Make sure you are up-to-date with recommended vaccines.

The term "healthcare workers" includes physicians, nurses, emergency medical personnel, dental professionals and students, medical and nursing students, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, hospital volunteers, and administrative staff.

Recommended Vaccines for Healthcare Workers:

Hepatitis B Vaccine

If you don't have documented evidence of a complete hepatitis B vaccine series, or if you don't have an up-to-date blood test that shows you are immune to hepatitis B (i.e., no serologic evidence of immunity or prior vaccination) then you should:

• Get the 3-dose series (dose #1 now, #2 in 1 month, #3 approximately 5 months after #2).
• Get anti-HBs serologic tested 1–2 months after dose #3.

Flu (Influenza) Vaccine

Get 1 dose of influenza vaccine annually.

MMR (Measles, Mumps, & Rubella) Vaccine

If you were born in 1957 or later and have not had the MMR vaccine, or if you don't have an up-to-date blood test...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Truck Drivers Not Revved Up About New Safety Rules

Today's post was shared by NIOSH Transportation and comes from www.cnbc.com

The federal government thinks long-haul truckers like Bryan Spoon need more rest.

But with the Department of Transportation's new rules forcing drivers to take longer breaks and cut back on hours behind the wheel, Spoon thinks the government has created a solution looking for a problem.

"I wish the government would just quit trying to fix something that's not broken," he said on a recent rest stop in Columbia, Mo., after hauling a load of construction materials on the 48-foot Great Dane flatbed behind his 2009 Volvo 780.

"If I get any more breaks out here I won't be able to make a living," he said.

Starting Monday, drivers like Spooner will have to stick to a schedule that requires taking a 30-minute break in the first eight hours of driving, cut the maximum workweek to 70 hours from 82, and "restart" those 70 hours with a 34-hour break once a week.

The rules are part of a program by the Obama administration to make U.S. highways safer by reducing the number of truck accidents and fatalities. The program also includes a safety rating system that shippers can review when they chose a new carrier, with the goal of prodding the trucking industry to further improve the safety of its drivers and equipment.

"The updated hours of service rule makes three common sense, data-driven changes to increase safety on our roadways and reduce driver fatigue, a leading factor in large truck crashes," said Anne Ferro administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

At Too Many Hospitals, a Revolving Door

Today's post was shared by The New Old Age and comes from newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com

Jessie Gruman can’t remember the number of times she’s been hospitalized for cancer. The list of the conditions she’s had over almost 40 years is daunting: from Hodgkin’s lymphoma to cancers of the cervix and lung.

But Ms. Gruman, 59, can’t forget her experience three years ago, when it was time to leave the hospital after having her stomach removed, a consequence of gastric cancer.

Ms. Gruman was alone; her husband was on his way to this hospital but hadn’t yet arrived. This is all she remembers a nurse saying before she was shown the door.

Here is a prescription for pain medication. Don’t drive if you take it. Call your surgeon if you have a temperature or are worried about anything. Go see your doctor in two weeks. Do you want a flu shot? I can give you one before you leave. If you need a wheel chair to take you to the door, I’ll call for one. If not, you can go home. Take care of yourself. You are going to do great!

What wasn’t communicated to Ms. Gruman: Here’s a number to call if you have any questions. Here’s the medical expert who’s in charge of your follow-up care and how to reach him or her. Here’s the plan for your care over the next month, and here’s the plan for the next six months.



Or this: You’re going to experience a lot of challenges when you get home. Here are the three or four concerns that should be your priorities. Here’s what your caregiver needs to know to...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

The Unanticipated Consequences of Postponing the Employer Mandate

Today's post was shared by NEJM and comes from www.nejm.org

The Obama administration's decision to postpone implementation of the employer mandate is the latest in a series of delays and alterations of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But postponing the mandate — which requires larger employers to offer lower-income workers health insurance coverage similar to that available in the new insurance exchanges, on equal and affordable financial terms — may create large ripple effects. The good news is that as compared with instituting the mandate as planned, postponing it should barely increase the number of uninsured Americans after ACA implementation. But it affects other provisions, particularly the individual subsidies for purchasing insurance, and creates distorted incentives that may leave the government paying significantly more than planned.

More than 90% of Americans who obtain private health insurance today receive it through employers, but the centerpiece of the ACA's effort to make coverage more attractive to the uninsured focuses on insurance exchanges for individuals purchasing coverage directly. However, because both consumers and employers can in principle finance or obtain private health insurance in either setting, ACA provisions had to be compatible with both coverage channels. Moreover, the legislation created tax-financed subsidies for buying insurance only through the exchanges while relying largely on regulations and mandates to deal with employment-based coverage. Inevitably, this grafting of a new...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Crumbling American Dreams

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

Andrew Borowiec for The New York TimesThe demolition of the old Port Clinton Middle and Jefferson Elementary Schools in Port Clinton, Ohio.

My hometown — Port Clinton, Ohio, population 6,050 — was in the 1950s a passable embodiment of the American dream, a place that offered decent opportunity for the children of bankers and factory workers alike.

But a half-century later, wealthy kids park BMW convertibles in the Port Clinton High School lot next to decrepit “junkers” in which homeless classmates live. The American dream has morphed into a split-screen American nightmare. And the story of this small town, and the divergent destinies of its children, turns out to be sadly representative of America.

Growing up, almost all my classmates lived with two parents in homes their parents owned and in neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone else’s first name. Some dads worked in the local auto-part factories or gypsum mines, while others, like my dad, were small businessmen. In that era of strong unions and full employment, few families experienced joblessness or serious economic insecurity. Very few P.C.H.S. students came from wealthy backgrounds, and those few made every effort to hide that fact.

Half a century later, my classmates, now mostly retired, have experienced astonishing upward mobility. Nearly three-quarters of them surpassed their parents in education and in that way advanced economically as well. One-third of my classmates came from homes...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

OSHA reminds outdoor workers of dangers of heat-related illnesses

Today's post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from www.mywesttexas.com

Fall may be close, but Texans continue to experience summer temperatures, including a recent string of triple-digit days.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is urging employers to emphasize the hazards of heat illnesses to their employees who work outdoors. The agency has launched a public awareness campaign amid the warm temperatures about the consequences, whether heat stress, dehydration, heat stroke or death, that extreme heat can have on those working outdoors.

OSHA is investigating the death of an oilfield worker in Big Spring in early June as heat-related. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in 2011, the most recent data available, Texas saw nine heat-related workplace fatalities and workers missed 600 days away from work due to heat-related illnesses.

Anthony Zacniewski, Health, Safety and Environment Director with Abilene-based Bandera Drilling, said rig moves were an issue during hot weather. Before the company built a comfort trailer in 2008, he said, there were four heat-related incidents.

"We have trained our personnel in hydration and breaks," he said by email. "During the extended hours of moving a rig, we bring out our comfort trailer. It is equipped with refrigerated air for cooling off. It is also stocked with water, Gatorade and fruit."

Since the trailer was implemented, he said, the company has not experienced one heat-related incident.

As part of its heat awareness campaign, OSHA is stressing three words: Water, Rest and Shade. Those working...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

GOP Still Embroiled In Intra-Party Split Over Govt. Shutdown And Efforts To Defund The Health Law

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

Some Republican governors are urging members of Congress to step away from the government shutdown threat. And while some GOP leaders are signaling that efforts to gut health law funding will not be considered in this fall's budget battle, rank-and-file lawmakers have opinions of their own.

The New York Times: G.O.P. Governors Warn Party Members In Congress Not To Shut Government

Worried about the potential impact on the fragile economies in their states, Republican governors this weekend warned their counterparts in Congress not to shut down the federal government as part of an effort to block financing for President Obama’s health care law (Martin, 8/4).

The Wall Street Journal: GOP Leaders Signal Health-Care Card Not In Play In Budget Battle

Two top House Republicans suggested Sunday that they don't plan to use the threat of a partial government shutdown this fall to demand a repeal of President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul. Many rank-and-file Republicans have pledged to block any bill funding the government for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 if it includes funds to implement the health-care law. GOP leaders, however, have appeared wary of using the health-care legislation as a negotiating tool as Washington nears another fiscal crisis (Peterson, 8/4).

Medpage Today: GOP Split On Plan To Kill ACA Funding

Hard-line conservatives are rounding up support to hold up the spending bill that will fund the federal government after next month unless money to fund the...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Federal regulators emphasize safety at Nebraska grain elevators

Today's post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from www.omaha.com

The big tanker full of corn rumbled into the Frontier Cooperative grain elevator in Mead, Neb., deposited a few hundred bushels into the underground receiving pit and was gone in less than five minutes.

The driver spoke with no one — the receiving, weighing and documentation are all automated via digital scanners at the handling facility about 30 miles west of Omaha, one of 13 in the farmer-owned cooperative's family of grain elevators.

And for farmers, time is money, especially at harvest time, when the trucks will be lined up onto County Road 10 to get the grain on the train. The corn is California-bound, where it goes to feed dairy cows. As for the soybeans, they ride the rails to pressing plants to be turned into soy oil, which Randy Robeson said is in about everything these days.

MONEY TALKS

Find the latest in local business and development, from who's saying what to what's going in at that corner, in the Money Talks blog.

“We are getting more done in an hour here than we ever used to,” said Robeson, Frontier Cooperative's general manager. “We can receive 1,000 bushels in 30 seconds and can load a 100-car train in 10 hours.”

It is all part of the nation's grain elevator system, one part of the world's most productive agricultural economy. Grain elevators are the concrete and steel sculptures found on rural roads all over Nebraska, the bins, tanks and silos where corn and soybeans are received, sorted, sometimes dried and eventually stored until...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

What To Say When Mom Or Dad Has Cancer

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

HOUSTON -- At any one time, an estimated 2.9 million children have a parent who has, or has had, cancer.

Dozens of studies show that many of these children experience worry and stress, but that good communication can ease their fears and isolation, even up to the point of a parent’s death. Still, figuring out what to tell the kids – and when – is not an easy decision, and many parents who have cancer get little to no advice from their doctors about how to handle it.

Two hospitals in Houston are tackling the issue with support groups for parents and children. The Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center work with The Children’s Treehouse Foundation to offer emotional and practical support for families dealing with the disease.

Martha Aschenbrenner, a hospice counselor at MD Anderson, says that a very natural response to a cancer diagnosis is to try to protect children by hiding the facts or keeping them vague. But she urges parents to tell their children what’s happening in age-appropriate ways. Whether Mom or Dad is going to die is usually one of the first things a pre-teen will ask, she says.

“The wrong way to answer the question is ‘No, no, I’m not going to die.’ Because you can’t promise that,” Aschenbrenner says. “A better way that also invites more conversation is: ‘That is not my plan. And I’m going to a hospital where they’re going to give me very strong medicine,...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

How to protect gay workers

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.washingtonpost.com

IN THE politically charged election year of 1996 — the same year the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed both houses of Congress with veto-proof margins — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) reached the Senate floor and was defeated by a single vote.

Reading the tea leaves then, it might have seemed that employment discrimination against gay workers would become illegal long before 17 years would pass. It was same-sex marriage that seemed unlikely. But a nation that has evolved rapidly toward supporting marriage equality continues to drag its feet on workforce fairness. The rejection of ENDA, a version of which was proposed as far back as the mid-1970s, has become something of a ritual: The act has been introduced in every Congress since 1994, save one.

Recently, however, there have been promising signs. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved ENDA by a 2 to 1 margin, with support from all Democrats and from Republicans Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Especially in a year when the Supreme Court has overturned a key part of DOMA and civil rights groups have launched a major campaign for ENDA, that bodes well for the act’s appearance on the Senate floor in the near future.

In the meantime, President Obama could sign an executive order that would immediately protect gay and transgender employees of federal contractors from workplace discrimination.

Those contractors, which employ...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Examples of risk factors for lung cancer include—

Today's post was shared by CDC Cancer and comes from www.cdc.gov

Risk Factors

Research has found several risk factors for lung cancer. A risk factor is anything that increases the chance of getting a disease.

Examples of risk factors for lung cancer include—

• Smoking tobacco and being around others' smoke.
• Exposures at home or work (such as radon gas or asbestos).
• Personal history (such as having radiation therapy or a family history of lung cancer).

We know a lot about risk factors, but they don't tell us everything. Some people who get cancer don't seem to have any known risk factors. Other people have one or more risk factors and do not get cancer. If a person has several risk factors and develops lung cancer, we don’t know how much each risk factor contributed to the cancer.

Smoking and Secondhand Smoke

Cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer. In the United States, cigarette smoking causes about 90% of lung cancers. Tobacco smoke is a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals. Many are poisons. At least 70 are known to cause cancer in people or animals. People who smoke are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who do not smoke. Even smoking a few cigarettes a day or smoking occasionally increases the risk of lung cancer. The more years a person smokes and the more cigarettes smoked each day, the more risk goes up.

People who quit smoking have a lower risk of lung cancer than if they had continued to smoke, but their risk is higher than the risk for people who...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Health Care Law Raises Pressure on Public Unions

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

Cities and towns across the country are pushing municipal unions to accept cheaper health benefits in anticipation of a component of the Affordable Care Act that will tax expensive plans starting in 2018. 

The so-called Cadillac tax was inserted into the Affordable Care Act at the advice of economists who argued that expensive health insurance with the employee bearing little cost made people insensitive to the cost of care. In public employment, though, where benefits are arrived at through bargaining with powerful unions, switching to cheaper plans will not be easy.

Cities including New York and Boston, and school districts from Westchester County, N.Y., to Orange County, Calif., are warning unions that if they cannot figure out how to rein in health care costs now, the price when the tax goes into effect will be steep, threatening raises and even jobs.

“Every municipality with a generous health care plan is doing the math on this,” said J. D. Piro, a health care lawyer at a human resources consultancy, Aon Hewitt.

But some prominent liberals express frustration at seeing the tax used against unions in negotiations.

“I think it was misguided all along,” Robert B. Reich, the former labor secretary, said in an e-mail. When the law was being written, he said, he worried that the tax was “a blunt instrument that could too easily become a bargaining chit for cutting back benefits of workers.”

“Apparently, that’s what it’s become,” Mr. Reich, who is a professor of...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

EPA Updates Oil and Gas Standards for Storage Tanks

Today's post was shared by US EPA News and comes from yosemite.epa.gov

 

Release Date: 08/05/2013

Contact Information: Enesta Jones, jones.enesta@epa.gov, 202-564-7873, 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued updates to its April 2012 oil and natural gas standards for storage tanks, which allow responsible oil and natural gas production while ensuring air emissions are reduced as quickly as possible. The updates will phase in emission control deadlines, starting with higher-emitting tanks first, and will provide the time needed to ramp up the production and installation of controls. EPA is making the changes based on information received after the 2012 standards were issued that shows more storage tanks will come online than the agency originally estimated.Storage tanks that emit 6 or more tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a year must reduce emissions by 95 percent. Today’s rule establishes two emission control deadlines:

· tanks that come online after April 12, 2013 are likely to have higher emissions and must control VOC emissions within 60 days or by April 15, 2014, whichever is later; and

· tanks that came online before April 12, 2013 are likely to have lower emissions and must control VOC emissions by April 15, 2015.

The updated standards also establish an alternative emissions limit that would allow owners/operators to remove controls from tanks if they can demonstrate that the tanks emit less than 4 tons per year of VOC emissions without controls. In...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

White House releases executive order on improving chemical facility safety and security

The President signed an Executive Order to improve the safety and security of chemical facilities and reduce the risks of hazardous chemicals to workers and communities. Incidents such as the devastating explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas in April are tragic reminders that the handling and storage of chemicals present serious risks that must be addressed. 

Secretary of Labor
Thomas E. Perez

The Executive Order directs Federal agencies to work with stakeholders to improve chemical safety and security through agency programs, private sector initiatives, Federal guidance, standards, and regulations. 

New Labor Secretary arrives with commitment to workplace safety and health

Thomas E. Perez, nominated by President Obama as the nation's 26th Secretary of Labor, was sworn in July 23. Previously assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice and secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, 

Illinois: Employer Convicted of a Felony for Failure to Have Workers' Compensation Insurance

The Illinois Worker’s Compensation (IWCC), in conjunction with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, has secured the first felony conviction for failure to secure workers’ compensation insurance. 

Mr. Ahmed Ghosien, d/b/a Ghosien European Auto Werks, refused to comply with Illinois law despite having been given several opportunities to become compliant.  After aggressive enforcement efforts, on July 25, 2013, Mr. Ghosien entered a guilty plea to the Class 4 felony (People v. Ahmed Ghosien, 12 CR 20949).  This is the first felony conviction against an employer for failure to obtain workers’ compensation insurance since the penalty increase, from a misdemeanor to a Class 4 felony, was introduced in 2005 and remained a critical part of Gov. Quinn’s reforms to the Worker’s Compensation Act in 2011.

Saving Money, Poisoning Workers

This is a case for employers to act with moral responsibility to maintain a safe work environment, stronger regulations and changes in statutory provisions to make the workplace safer. This post was shared by Jordan Barab and comes from www.nytimes.com

The workers at Royale Comfort Seating in Taylorsville, N.C., had a simple but grueling job. For 10 hours at a stretch they spray-glued pieces of polyurethane foam into shapes that became the spongy filling of cushions sold to many top furniture brands. Unfortunately, the glue contained a dangerous chemical known as n-propyl bromide, or nPB, and the spray guns left a yellowish fog in the air that coated everything in sight. Exposure to the toxic fumes left some workers so dizzy at the end of the day that they walked as if drunk.

Worse yet, many developed long-term ailments. One worker can no longer stand or sit for more than 20 minutes without feeling excruciating pain in her spine and legs. Another lost control of his hands and could not put on clothes without help.

Medicare To Punish 2,225 Hospitals For Excess Readmissions

As workers' compensation medical costs rise, the quality of care is a focus for Medicare. Medicare is focussing on hospital re-admissions in an effort to improve care and lower costs. This may have a trickle down effect on workers' compensation costs. Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

Medicare will levy $227 million in fines against hospitals in every state but one for the second round of the government’s campaign to reduce the number of patients readmitted within a month, according to federal records released Friday.

Medicare identified 2,225 hospitals that will have payments reduced for a year starting on Oct. 1. Eighteen hospitals will lose 2 percent, the maximum possible and double the current top penalty.
Another 154 will lose 1 percent or more of every payment for a patient stay, the records show.

The young and new on job most affected by heat stress: study

Today's post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from www.iwh.on.ca

Study of work-related heat stress finds heat strokes, sun strokes and other heat illnesses spike over groups of days and disproportionately affect those on the job less than two months

On hot, sultry summer days, it’s common to see ministries of labour issue alerts telling workers to stay cool, drink a lot of water and take longer breaks if necessary. Public health officials will also urge people to stay indoors and check in on their elderly neighbours.

If employers were ever to issue a workplace equivalent of such alerts, they should ask workers to keep an eye on their young colleagues—especially the new ones on the job.

According to a study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) on heat stress, young men working in manual occupations are most vulnerable to extreme heat. The more inexperienced they are on the job, the more likely they are to need time off work to recover from heat stroke, sun stroke, fainting and other forms of heat illnesses.

Garlock testimony switches to financial liability

Asbestos companies have for decades attempted to limit their personal injury claims liability by filing for bankruptcy protection. The Union Asbestos and Rubber Company and Johns Manville were the first in a series of companies who have sough protection. Adequately funding an asbestos personal injury claims trust is essential to protect injured workers and other victims of asbestos disease, ie. asbestosis, lung cancer & mesothelioma. As long as asbestos is not banned in the US, it is critical that these trust adequately compensate the victims and potential victims for decades into the future. 

Today's post was shared by Legal Newsline and comes from legalnewsline.com

Attorneys transitioned Friday from days of expert testimony on the carcinogenic effects of asbestos and the work practices of attorneys representing asbestos plaintiffs to arguments about how much financial liability Garlock Sealing Technologies should face in the company’s ongoing bankruptcy trial.

Garlock attorneys called on economists to give the court estimates for how much money the company should place in a trust for future mesothelioma victims who might sue the company over exposure to asbestos from their products. Doing so will allow the company to escape bankruptcy.

Health Care Workers Suffer Exposures to Antineoplastic Drugs

A recent study reveals that health care workers may be suffering from occupational exposure to chemotherapy drugs while treating cancer patients.

"Antineoplastic drugs are pharmaceuticals commonly used to treat cancer, which are generally referred to as 'chemotherapy'. Several studies have shown that exposure to antineoplastic drugs can cause toxic effects on reproduction as well as carcinogenic effects. Presence of these drugs in the urine of hospital personnel has been widely studied and dermal exposure has been suggested to be the main route of exposure. 

The main focus has been on handling the concentrated drug during preparation and administration of antineoplastic drugs and several approaches have been proposed on how to control those. Handling patient excreta has been considered to be potentially harmful to nurses working with cancer patients, since antineoplastic drugs are known to be present in patient excreta (e.g. urine, saliva, sweat, faeces, vomit), but this has not been studied in great detail in occupational exposure studies. 

The identification of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs in sectors outside the hospital environment (i.e. veterinary medicine, home care, nursing homes and industrial laundries) showed that the number of workers potentially exposed to antineoplastic drugs is larger than previously estimated. "

Click here to read the series of articles in The Annals of Occupational Hygiene

Exposure to Antineoplastic Drugs in Two UK Hospital Pharmacy Units 
H. J. Mason, S. Blair, C. Sams, K. Jones, S. J. Garfitt, M. J. Cuschieri, and P. J. Baxter 

A Pooled Analysis to Study Trends in Exposure to Antineoplastic Drugs among Nurses 
Wouter Fransman, Susan Peelen, Simone Hilhorst, Nel Roeleveld, Dick Heederik, and Hans Kromhout 

Occupational Dermal Exposure to Cyclophosphamide in Dutch Hospitals: A Pilot Study 
Wouter Fransman, Roel Vermeulen, And Hans Kromhout 

Postulating a dermal pathway for exposure to anti-neoplastic drugs among hospital workers 
Hans Kromhout, Fred Hoek, Ruud Uitterhoeve, Roel Huijbers, Roderik F. Overmars, Rob Anzion, and Roel Vermeulen 

Occupational Exposure Limits for Therapeutic Substances 
Raymond Agius 

Read more about "occupational exposures" and workers' compensation:

Workers' Compensation: OSHA Targets Occupational Exposure to ...

Jul 12, 2013

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a new National Emphasis Program to protect workers from the serious health effects from occupational exposure to isocyanates. OSHA develops national ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: Chemical Exposure: Devastating ...

Jun 03, 2013

Chemical exposure in the workplace can have an insidious--yet devasating--effect on a worker. In a wide-ranging article, the New York Times presented an in-depth view of chemical exposure at furniture factories in North ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: Occupational Safety and Health ...

Jul 19, 2013

Workers' compensation claims result from heat stress and exposure. As the Mid-West and Northeast heatwave is now soaring to records temperatures, workers should protect themselves from heat exposure. Today's post was ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Related articles

• OSHA and NIOSH issue hazard alert on 1-bromopropane (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA announces outreach campaign to protect health care workers from hazards causing musculoskeletal disorders (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Largest Study to Date Finds State Smoke-Free Laws Would Not Hurt Restaurant and Bar Business (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Lead Paint - Industry Has Yet to Meet Its Responsibility (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• When Things Are Wrong In The Hospital - CDC Sets Guidelines To Notify Patients/Families (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Breast Cancer Risk Doubles With Overnight Shift Work (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Cyclospora Outbreak Solved: Mexcian/California Salad Sold in Darden Restaurant Chain

The cause of the widespread (4000 more cases) infectious disease outbreak causing Cyclospora has been traced to a restaurant chain selling salad distributed by a Mexican and Salinas, CA based company.

"The salad mix identified in Cyclospora outbreak investigations in Iowa and Nebraska came from a Mexican company that processes foodservice salad, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today in an outbreak update.

The FDA said its trace-back investigation found that the salad mix that Iowa and Nebraska officials linked to the outbreak was supplied to restaurants in those states by a common supplier, Taylor Farms de Mexico, S de RL de CV. It added that its investigation has not implicated consumer packages sold in grocery stores.

The restaurants linked to the clusters include Olive Garden and Red Lobster outlets, both of which chains are owned by Darden Restaurants, FDA spokeswoman Theresa Eisenman told CIDRAP News.

Click here to read to complete article: FDA: Salad cited in Cyclospora cases came from Mexican supplier

Related articles

• More states report Cyclospora cases; total reaches 373
• Three more states report Cyclospora cases; total rises to 283
• Infectious Disease: Cyclospora Infection Becomes More Widespread
• FDA Closes Down Illegal On-Line Pharmacies
• Largest Study to Date Finds State Smoke-Free Laws Would Not Hurt Restaurant and Bar Business

Largest Study to Date Finds State Smoke-Free Laws Would Not Hurt Restaurant and Bar Business

Smoking is a major cause of disease and workers' compensation claims. Tobacco usage in restaurants and bars is a danger to both the employees and the guests. Banned in some jurisdictions, this study confirms that prohibiting smoking in restaurants and bars is not an economic detriment to businesses. Today's post was shared by RWJF PublicHealth and comes from www.cdcfoundation.org

A study conducted by RTI International in nine states concludes that statewide smoke-free laws would not be expected to have an adverse economic impact on restaurants and bars in these states. The study, which was supported by the CDC Foundation, was released today in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

The findings of the new analysis are consistent with the results of previous peer-reviewed studies. However, this study (www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2013/12_0327.htm) is unique in that it is the largest of its kind, aggregating all the available data from local jurisdictions in the studied states.

Occupations with the largest job growth

Today's jobs report shows once again that there is no growth in the manufacturing sector. The trend in job creation over the next decade is aimed totally at the aging population: Registered Nurses, Home Health Aides and Personal Care Aides. The traditional injuries over the past century brought before workers' compensation program will be changing from manufacturing to health care services. The high union wages/rates will be changed and adapted to lower paying positions with lower wages/rates of compensation being paid. Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.bls.gov

This table also can be found in the article, "Occupational Employment Projections to 2020," published in the January 2012 MonthlyLabor Review.

Other available formats: [XLS]Table 1.4: Occupations with the most job growth, 2010 and projected 2020

(Numbers in thousands)

00-0000	Total, All Occupations	143,068.2	163,537.1	20,468.9	14.3	$33,840
29-1111	Registered Nurses	2,737.4	3,449.3	711.9	26.0	64,690
41-2031	Retail Salespersons	4,261.6	4,968.4	706.8	16.6	20,670
31-1011	Home Health Aides	1,017.7	1,723.9	706.3	69.4	20,560
39-9021	Personal Care Aides	861.0	1,468.0	607.0	70.5	19,640
43-9061	Office Clerks, General	2,950.7	3,440.2	489.5	16.6	26,610
35-3021	Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food	2,682.1	3,080.1	398.0	14.8	17,950
43-4051	Customer Service Representatives	2,187.3	2,525.6	338.4	15.5	30,460
53-3032	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers	1,604.8	1,934.9	330.1	20.6	37,770
53-7062	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand	2,068.2	2,387.3	319.1	15.4	23,460
25-1000	Postsecondary Teachers	1,756.0	2,061.7	305.7	17.4	45,690
31-1012	Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants	1,505.3	1,807.2	302.0	20.1	24,010
39-9011	Childcare Workers	1,282.3	1,544.3	262.0	20.4	19,300
43-3031	Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	1,898.3	2,157.4	259.0	13.6	34,030
41-2011	Cashiers	3,362.6	3,612.8	250.2	7.4	18,500
25-2021	Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education	1,476.5	1,725.3	248.8	16.8	51,660
43-4171	Receptionists and Information Clerks	1,048.5	1,297.0	248.5	23.7	25,240
37-2011	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners	2,310.4	2,556.8	246.4	...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Asbestos Bankruptcy: Judge denies motion to keep Garlock trial open

Today's post was shared by Legal Newsline and comes from legalnewsline.com

Legal Newsline’s efforts to keep a North Carolina bankruptcy trial open to the public have failed.

Attorneys for Legal Newsline filed a motion Tuesday to keep the entire trial open to the public.

On Wednesday, Hodges denied Legal Newsline’s motion, saying none of the seven orders previously entered in the case relating to confidentiality of documents had been challenged by Legal Newsline or anyone else. Nor did Legal Newsline appear with respect to a motion by Garlock, which Hodges denied, to remove the confidentiality designation from certain documents.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge George R. Hodges had closed the courtroom to the news media and the public during a portion of a law professor’s testimony last week in the asbestos bankruptcy case filed by Garlock Sealing Technologies.

Your Big Mac Would Only Cost $.68 More If McDonalds Doubled Its Pay

Sweeping the nation is a wave of protests by fast food workers for higher wages. High wages result in higher workers' compensation rates/benefits. Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from thinkprogress.org

(Credit: AP)

If McDonalds were to double the salaries and benefits of all of its employees, from the CEO down to the minimum wage cashiers, it would still only cost an extra 68 cents for a Big Mac, according to a new report.

As fast food workers across the country are going on strike to demand a livable wage, University of Kansas research assistant Arnobio Morelix tells the Huffington Post that it would cost the average consumer mere cents to give them just that.

Currently, a minimum wage McDonalds employee makes $7.25 per hour. The CEO makes $8.75 million. But if the former were raised to $15 and the latter to $17.5 million, the dollar menu would only have to become the $1.17 menu and the Big Mac would go from $3.99 to $4.67, Morelix found.
These numbers underscore what low-wage workers already know: It would take very little for McDonalds to vastly improve the lives of those who make the company run. In fact, minimum wage raises have proven beneficial to a company’s bottom line.

Current wages for the lowest paid McDonalds workers are unworkable, and even the company knows that; a recent budget released by McDonalds told employees to get by through getting a second job and spending $0 on heating. Still, the company’s leadership has tried to frame itself as a charitable “above minimum wage” employer.

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Related articles

• Fast food workers strike to double current wages (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The Oklahoma Opt-Out System is Bad Medicine for an Ill System (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Connecticut Employers Shut Down For Not Paying Workers' Compensation Insurance (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The American Workforce is Working At Home (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Administration Urges Rate Changes for US FELA Benefits (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Truck Drivers Beware - Your Insurance May Not be What You Think (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• NJ Workers Compensation Companies Pay More for Hospital Fees (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

CMS Comments: "No Comment" on The Forthcoming Smart Act Regulations

CMS is withholding comment about The Smart Act regulations for now. See the transcript below:

"CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES
Moderator: John Albert
07-25-13/1:00 p.m. ET
Confirmation # 11907630
Page 14

That’s all I have on that right now. Some of the areas sort of more high 
arching as oppose to just a single question. As we received a number of 
questions about the SMART Act and how it affects this process and what 
regulations are out there.

In terms of regulations, when CMS is doing an advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking, an ANPRM or NNPRM or final rules or even a federal registered 
notice, we’re not allowed to comment whether we are or are not doing that 
notice or the content of that until there is at least something on the unified 
regulatory agenda at which point we still can’t tell you specifics but we can 
tell you that document is in progress. The site you need to go to for that 
generally is – if I can find the right thing – is www.reginfo.gov. And what 
that – you can also find it simply by Googling the Unified Regulatory Agenda 
and then the term CMS. But what it lives on that, it won’t – and want – those 
are ones that are in our process – officially in the process.

And right now, the requirement in the SMART Act that an ANPRM be done 
with respect to civil money penalties under Section 111 is on that Regulatory 
Agenda. I believe there are at least two other MSP related regulations either –
whether it’s under something in the final rule, a pre rule or proposed rule. But 
you can check that out and that’s a site that you may want to monitor every so 
often if you have a question about whether or not we’re doing a particular 
regulation.

Similar to that, because I mentioned the SMART Act before, is a lot of the 
questions were asking specific facts about our specific actions we planned to 
take with respect to what’s in the SMART Act. As we make any changes or 
do anything related to the SMART Act, we – anytime instructions are going to 
change, we will give appropriate notice. At this point, there’s nothing that we 
have changed in our instructions that affects you at this time. So, we won’t be 
addressing any specific SMART Act questions.

Last but not least, as we have said in most of these calls, the extent we 
received questions that are related to MSP recoveries in the mailbox, those are 
outside the scope of this call. And we won’t be addressing those.

Read more about The Smart Act

Workers' Compensation: The SMART Act and Workers' Compensation

May 09, 2013

The SMART Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on January 10, 2013, amends and reforms the Medicare Secondary Payer Act to improve the reimbursement process. It is located in Title II of H.R. 1845 and ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

It's Not "If", It's "When" - California - Workers' Compensation

Feb 01, 2013

Enactment of The SMART Act, the reality of which is that the regulations will eat up the statute, and also their lunch. I plan to write more on The SMART Act in the coming weeks. Maybe that wasn't so smart after all for the ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: Medicare Conditional Repayment ...

Jan 14, 2013

In additional to commenting on the new Strengthening Medicare And Repaying Taxpayers (SMART) Act, Judge Hickey will be discussing how the interaction of the workers' compensation claims process integrates with this ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Related articles

• CMS Consolidates Web Portals for Coordination of Benefits & Recovery (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Opting-Out: Airport Cancer Machines - Court Allows Public to Comment on TSA Proposal to Scan (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Black Lung Benefits Act: Standards for Chest Radiographs (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• EPA Fines Prudent Technologies $65,450 for Failure to Adhere to Repair and Painting Rule at Omaha Lead Site (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Fashion Safety -- Mandating Sweat-Free Garment Labels: Feasible Under the First Amendment (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

High Disability Rates Persist in Old Age

Aging and "late life disability" is an an increasing trend. Injured workers' are surviving longer making total disability claims and Medicare involvement an increasing factor in adjudication and settlement of workers' compensation claims. Today's post was shared by The New Old Age and comes from newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com

Weird berries. Capsules of unpronounceable supplements. Yoga or tai chi. Crossword puzzles. Such amulets, we’re told, may ward off disability — which is the real fear that accompanies aging, isn’t it? Not the sheer number of years that will have passed, but the things we’ll no longer be able to do.

But our efforts to dodge disability appear to be falling short. Gerontologists once hoped for a “compression of morbidity”; the idea was that we could remain healthy and active until our bodies fail at advanced ages, and we swiftly died. But new research shows that this has not materialized for most of the elderly. The price we’re paying for extended life spans is a high rate of late-life disability.

Fast food workers strike to double current wages

Wages are a critical component of workers' compensation systems. Wages are utilized to determine rates of compensation benefits. Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.nydailynews.com

They're not lovin' it.

Hundreds of New York City fast food workers from the likes of McDonald’s, Wendy’s and KFC went on strike Monday, chanting “Hold the burgers hold the fries, make our wages super-sized!"
They shouted that they deserve the right to unionize and make $15 hourly wages instead of the minimum wage they currently earn.

"I want for us to be respected. $7.25 is not enough!" said Lisette Ortiz, 27, of Rockaway, who works at a McDonald's in downtown Brooklyn.

"I live with my dad. I would like to get my own apartment. You can't! It's impossible!"
Her comments echoed scores of mostly part-time burger flippers, pizza deliverymen and fry cooks who gathered at fast food joints in the Bronx, midtown Manhattan, and downtown Brooklyn before a rally of around 300 protesters in Union Square. They said their paychecks simply cannot sustain life in the city.

"I live with my grandma, my aunt, and cousin. I can't even afford privacy!" said Naquasia LeGrand, 22, of Canarsie, Brooklyn.
"I'm a cashier, I cook, prep, clean — I do it all. It's just not enough, $7.25, not when milk and eggs are going up!”

She said she relies on $113 a month in welfare, in addition to the $225 she makes from working 38 hours a week at two KFCs.

Councilman Jumaane Williams led a rowdy crowd of 60 that barged into the rear entrance of a Wendy's in downtown Brooklyn. Protesters chanted to the workers inside, "We can't survive on $7.25!" and "Come on out, we got your...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Holes in the Safety Net — Legal Immigrants' Access to Health Insurance

Immigrant workers are entitled to workers' compensation benefits in most jurisdictions even if they are in the US without status. Ongoing Congressional changes to the nation's immigration system will have significant impact on the delivery of healthcare to immigrant workers.Today's post was shared by NEJM and comes from www.nejm.org

While Congress debates whether publicly supported health care should be available to undocumented immigrants who may be placed on a path to citizenship under immigration reform, the health care needs of already legal immigrants continues to be overlooked.

More than 12 million immigrants are lawfully present in the United States. They serve in the military, pay taxes, and contribute to the economy. Yet like undocumented immigrants, whose health care vulnerabilities are outlined in the Perspective article by Sommers, legal immigrants face substantial barriers to obtaining insurance coverage (see graph Health Insurance, According to Citizenship Status, 2009.). As a result, some — such as Antonio Torres, an uninsured Arizona farmworker who was in a coma after a car accident — have been forcefully transferred to their native country when their treating hospitals were unable to find facilities willing to provide them with long-term care.1