Formularies in the News

Today's guest post is by The Hon. David Langham who is the Deputy Chief Judge of Compensation Claims for the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims and Division of Administrative Hearings flojcc.blogspot.com

The California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI) released their study of controlling pharmaceuticals on October 6, 2014. They acknowledge that Washington and Texas have each implemented drug formularies, and have enjoyed cost savings as a result. The complete report is here. Their data helps with the question of whether a formulary might be part of the solution elsewhere, California in particular. Formulary restrictions are not new. Texas enacted legislation in 2005 that led to the deployment of its formulary. The results have been remarkable. Prescription volume has dropped and the cost of "non-formulary drugs" decreased by 80% according to the Workers' Compensation Research Institute. I summarized some of the WCRI findings in a June 2014 post. Another interesting point on closed formularies is the control they afford regarding specific medications or potentially types of medication. The Texas experience with Zohydro, and its recent approval by the FDA is discussed in a December 2013 post. Essentially, while others have wondered about the effect of "heroin in a pill," Texas simply did not add it to their formulary, and that is that. For a doctor to prescribe it in a Texas Comp case is not impossible, but it will require paperwork and...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Related articles

• California could save $124M-$420M a year with closed comp drug formulary (businessinsurance.com)
• Drug formularies - much needed in workers comp (xcuz.me)

FedEx cited by OSHA $44,000 for machine guard hazard

FedEx Ground Packaging System Inc. failed to guard a conveyor belt properly at its Wilmington shipping distribution center and exposed its employees to potential injuries, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found. OSHA had previously cited the company in 2010 and 2011 for similar hazards at company facilities in Grove City, Ohio, and Syracuse, New York.

After inspecting the Wilmington facility, OSHA's Andover Area Office personnel determined that the belt conveyor system's rotating parts were insufficiently guarded on the periphery to prevent employees' fingers and hands from getting caught. This could result in injuries, including pinched or crushed fingers and hands, concussions, abrasions or nerve damage. Proper machine guarding ensures that no part of an employee's body can come in contact with a machine's moving parts.

"A basic safety concern went unmet here even though this employer has twice been cited for similar hazards in the past four years," said Jeffrey Erskine, OSHA's acting deputy regional administrator for New England. "It is critical for workers' safety and health that an employer with multiple facilities, such as this, ensures that required safeguards are in place and maintained effectively at all times in all locations."

Because of the prior violations, OSHA has cited the company for a repeat violation with a proposed fine of $44,000. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

FedEx Ground Packaging System Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission.

The Long Seach for Employment

Read the complete report click here.

Is Ebola Too Big of Risk For The Nation's Workers' Compensation System?

Ebola is a major risk of a generational epidemic of a potential compensable disease. The risk/loss is so immense that the US Government is apt to have already starting to plan to spread the risk through Federal legislation.

In the past, with anthrax/smallpox, the Federal government put in place a contingency system to avoid an economic collapse of the Insurance Industry. "The federal government established a no-fault program entitled the Smallpox Emergency Personnel Protection Act of 2003 (SEPPA) in an effort to provide benefits and/or compensation to certain individuals, including health-care workers and emergency responders, who are injured as a result of the administration of smallpox countermeasures including the smallpox (vaccinia) vaccine. SEPPA also provides benefits and/or compensation to certain individuals who are injured through the result of accidental vaccinia inoculation through contact. 42 U.S.C.A. § 239 " 38 NJ PRAC §1.25, Gelman, (West Publishing 2014).

CDC Statement 10/12/2014
"Texas Patient Tests Positive for Ebola

A health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the Ebola patient hospitalized there has tested positive for Ebola in a preliminary test at the state public health laboratory in Austin. Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The health care worker reported a low grade fever Friday night and was isolated and referred for testing. The preliminary ​test result was received late Saturday.

"We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility," said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. "We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread."

Health officials have interviewed the patient and are identifying any contacts or potential exposures. People who had contact with the health care worker after symptoms emerged will be monitored based on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles. People are not contagious before symptoms such as fever develop."

....

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Related articles

• 2nd person in U.S. tests positive for Ebola (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Read also:

Workers' Compensation: Ebola lawsuits would face high ...

Oct 07, 2014

Potential suits against the Dallas, Texas hospital that sent home a patient later diagnosed with Ebola face long odds in the face of state medical malpractice laws. Texas tort-reform measures have made it one of the hardest ...

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

NJ quarantines NBC crew that worked with Ebola-stricken ...

17 hours ago

An NBC news crew that was worked alongside an Ebola-stricken cameraman in Liberia has been placed under mandatory quarantine through Oct. 22, New Jersey health officials announced Saturday. The state Department of ...

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

As US Ebola Fears Widen, Reports of Possible Cases Grow

Oct 06, 2014

Infections are a major issue in workers' compensation claims. As health workers continue to become exposed to Ebola virus the question remain what action the Federal government will take to ease the burden upon the ...

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

Workers' Compensation: Ebola: An 18% Chance Became ...

Oct 06, 2014

Infections diseases are a living nightmare for all, including workers, employers and their insurance carriers. An 18% change of Ebola entering the US, quickly changed to 100% last week. Is the US doing ALL it can to prevent ...

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

The lifetime medical cost of motor vehicle crash injuries is $18.4 billion

Key Points In 2012, an estimated 2,519,471 emergency department visits resulting from nonfatal crash injuries occurred in the United States, with 7.5% of these visits resulting in hospitalization, accounting for an estimated 1,057,465 hospitalization days in 2012. The estimated total lifetime medical cost of nonfatal crash injuries was $18.4 billion (in 2012 dollars), consisting of $7.7 billion among patients treated and released from the emergency department and $10.7 billion among hospitalized patients. Teens and young adults aged 15–29 years account for 21% of the population but accounted for 38% of the costs for patients treated and released for crash injuries. Primary seatbelt laws, child passenger restraint laws, ignition interlocks to prevent alcohol impaired driving, publicized sobriety checkpoints, and graduated driver licensing systems for teens all have shown effectiveness to reduce crash injuries and fatalities. To date, no state has implemented all of these safety measures in accordance with evidence and expert recommendation. FIGURE 1. Percentage of emergency department visits for nonfatal crash injuries among motor vehicle occupants that result in hospitalization, by age group — National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, United States, 2012 The figure above is a bar chart showing the percentage of emergency department visits for nonfatal crash injuries among motor vehicle occupants that result in hospitalization, by age...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

2nd person in U.S. tests positive for Ebola

Today's post is shared from CNN.com/

A health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for Ebola after a preliminary test, the state's health agency said in a statement.

Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The employee helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Duncan died on Wednesday.

"We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility," Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said in a statement Sunday morning.

"We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread."

If confirmed by the CDC, the health care worker's case would mark the second diagnosis of Ebola ever in the United States.

Globally, the disease has wrought catastrophic consequences.

The World Health Organization estimates more than 8,300 have contracted Ebola during the current outbreak. Of those, more than 4,000 people have died.

Three countries -- Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia -- have been hardest hit.


[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Ebola Victim’s Family Blames Hospital and State

Today's post is shared from nytimes.com

Relatives of the first person to die of Ebola in the United States, joined by the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., continued on Saturday to denounce the treatment he and his family had received from a hospital here and from Texas officials, claiming that he had been cremated without their knowledge or permission and given substandard care because he was African. Josephus Weeks, a nephew of the Ebola victim — Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, a Liberian who died Wednesday at the Dallas hospital where he had been found to have Ebola on Sept. 30 — said his uncle had been “handled poorly, unfairly, and an injustice was done.” Mr. Weeks spoke to reporters on Saturday in Chicago with Mr. Jackson and Mr. Duncan’s mother, Nowai Gartay. They asked why Mr. Duncan had not been taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where two Americans who contracted the disease in West Africa have been treated. And they said the Dallas hospital, Texas Health Presbyterian, had not immediately informed them that Mr. Duncan had died and had led them to believe that he was still alive. “I feel bad about my son,” Ms. Gartay said inside a chapel at the Chicago headquarters of Mr. Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. “We call the hospital — they know that my son died, and they didn’t tell me. They only told me, ‘You can’t talk to your son.’ ” Mr. Jackson said the other Ebola victims in the United States “came back to...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on