Workers' Compensation: Search results for marijuana

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Thursday, June 23, 2022

Jury awards $650K in damages for Massachusetts contractor’s unlawful retaliation against injured immigrant worker

A federal jury in the District of Massachusetts has found that a Massachusetts employer and his company retaliated against an employee who reported an on-the-job injury. The jury awarded $650,000 in damages – $600,000 in punitive damages and $50,000 in compensatory damages – as a result.

Dramatic Enrollment Drop Was Strategically Planned, Law School Says

A sign of the times. Today's post was shared by WSJ Law Blog and comes from blogs.wsj.com

The historic drop in enrollment at U.S. law schools has been the subject of anxious debate in the legal community. Some view the pattern as a symptom of a sluggish job market and growing skepticism about the value of a law degree.

According to Syracuse University’s College of Law, which has seen a particularly steep drop in its class sizes, the shrinking numbers are the result of smarter planning.

Syracuse’s Class of 2016 is nearly 25% smaller than its Class of 2014, decreasing from 255 to 196 over two years. The law school’s director of admissions, Nikki Laubenstein, spoke to the campus newspaper about the enrollment trend and offered this take:

“Our smaller class size is strategically managed and planned to provide the optimal level of engagement for our students with our law school faculty and programming opportunities,” she told the Daily Orange in an article published Wednesday.

The article doesn’t say how many applications the school is getting compared to previous years. In the face of shrinking demand, many law schools around the nation have slashed their class sizes to prop up student quality.

But Law Blog wonders — if a smaller class size was all part of a plan, as Syracuse’s admissions director suggests, does that mean the law school was offering a less than optimal educational experience when it was bigger? Ms. Laubenstein wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, Syracuse’s student body may...

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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Fracking: NY State Report Reveals Significant Health Uncertainties

"As with most complex human activities in modern societies, absolute scientific certainty

regarding the relative contributions of positive and negative impacts of HVHF* on public

health is unlikely to ever be attained. In this instance, however, the overall weight of the

evidence from the cumulative body of information contained in this Public Health

Review demonstrates that there are significant uncertainties about the kinds of adverse

health outcomes that may be associated with HVHF, the likelihood of the occurrence of

adverse health outcomes, and the effectiveness of some of the mitigation measures in

reducing or preventing environmental impacts which could adversely affect public

health. Until the science provides sufficient information to determine the level of risk to

public health from HVHF to all New Yorkers and whether the risks can be adequately

managed, DOH recommends that HVHF should not proceed in New York State."
*high volume hydraulic fracturing

Click here to read the entire report.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Goodbye to the Doctor’s White Coat?

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

A scene from “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC's long-running hospital drama.

Ron Tom/ABC A scene from “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC’s long-running hospital drama.

New recommendations on what health care workers should wear may mean an end to the doctor’s white coat.
The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, a professional group whose mission is to prevent and control infections in the medical workplace, has issued guidance on what health care workers should wear outside of the operating room.
The paper, in the February issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, suggests that to minimize infection risk, hospitals might want to adopt a “bare below the elbows” policy that includes short sleeves and no wristwatch, jewelry or neckties during contact with patients.
The authors also recommend that if the use of white coats is not entirely abandoned, each doctor should have at least two, worn alternately and laundered frequently. And even if they wear the coat at other times, they should be encouraged to remove it before approaching patients.
The authors emphasize that the recommendations are based more on the biological plausibility of transmitting infection through clothing than on strong scientific evidence, which is limited.
The lead author, Dr. Gonzalo Bearman, a professor of medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, said that hand washing, bathing patients with antibacterial soap, and checklists for inserting...

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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The Rule of Law and The Media's Role

Today's post is authored by David DePaolo and shared from workcompcentral.com

Those not living in California are befuddled by our system. Heck, even those living in California are befuddled...

Yesterday was also the start of the 21st annual California Division of Workers' Compensation Educational Conference in Los Angeles, CA, where the weather is a bit warmer than it is here in CT.

So too has the activity been a bit warmer in California - at the Educational Conference Acting Administrative Director Destie Overpeck gave an overview of what has been going on with the division since the directive of SB 863 to implement numerous changes to the system.

The list of work that the division has been engaged in is impressive, and demonstrates just how vast the changes were in SB 863:

New rules to reduce payments to ambulatory surgery centers from 120% of Medicare’s outpatient rate to 80%;
A new fee schedule for providers based on a Resource Based Relative Value Scale;
A lien fee system (currently partially in abeyance due to legal challenges which also adds to the division's work load);
New statute of limitations for lien filers;
New Independent Medical Review process and procedures;
New Independent Medical Bill review process and procedures;
Revised Medical Provider Network approval and renewal process and rules;
Pending fee schedule for copy services;New penalties for failures in notifications and standards for MPNs.

This is all in addition to the normal work load...

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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Pharmacy Executives Face Murder Charges in Meningitis Deaths

Today's post is shared from nytimes.com/

Two senior executives of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy were charged Wednesday with racketeering and murder in the production of tainted drugs that killed 64 people and sickened hundreds of others across the country with fungal meningitis in the fall of 2012.
The United States attorney’s office here charged Barry J. Cadden, an owner of New England Compounding Center Inc. and the head pharmacist, and Glenn A. Chin, a supervisory pharmacist, with 25 acts of second-degree murder in seven states — Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
“Senior N.E.C.C. pharmacists knew that, despite the filthy conditions at N.E.C.C., the drugs that they made were not property tested for sterility,” said Carmen Ortiz, the United States attorney for Massachusetts.
In all, 14 people were charged in a 131-count indictment, many of them pharmacists at the company, which is now closed. The charges include mail fraud, conspiracy and violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Most were taken into custody at their homes early Wednesday, officials said.

Among those accused were members of the Conigliaro family of Massachusetts — Gregory, Douglas and Carla. The family founded the company in 1998 as part of a broader business organization that included a recycling firm.
Carla and Douglas Conigliaro, a husband and wife, were accused of transferring $33 million in assets to eight different bank accounts after the...

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Read more about meningitis and workers' compensation
Workers' Compensation: Unintended Consequences ...
Oct 22, 2012
Workers' Compensation benefits generally are payable when a condition arises out of the employment including the consequences of medical treatment. Injured workers' who have suffered meningitis as a result of the ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Workers' Compensation: Fungal Meningitis: One Year After ...
Oct 29, 2013
The clinical paper, focusing on the early stages of the outbreak, describes patients who experienced a wide variety of illnesses, including meningitis, stroke, arachnoiditis (inflammation of one of the membranes around the ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

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Monday, September 29, 2014

Study: Cancer costs 'skyrocketed' despite drug cuts

Today's post is shared from thehill.com
The cost of treating cancer has "skyrocketed" despite a 2003 law that sought to control Medicare drug costs, including the cost of chemotherapy, according to a new study.
Research published Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that oncologists did not stop prescribing expensive cancer drugs even after Medicare cut the drugs' reimbursements in 2005.
In fact, the aggregate cost of cancer care rose by as much as 60 percent between the passage of the law in 2003 and 2013, the study noted.
"Economists expected a sharp decline in use of the most expensive drugs targeted by the [2003] law, because reimbursement to oncologists for these drugs was reduced, but that did not happen," said Mark C. Hornbrook of Kaiser Permanente Northwest, the study’s lead author.
Cutting drug reimbursements is one way federal health officials seek to influence doctors' prescribing habits.
Profit on Medicare reimbursements for chemotherapy drugs is one way cancer clinics generate profit, making the payments ripe for scrutiny by Medicare.
The study looked at 5,831 chemotherapy regimens for 3,613 patients and found the the law lowered prescriptions for affected cancer drugs "slightly" in fee-for-service cancer clinics.
The 2003 law — the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act — is best known for creating Medicare Part D.

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Sunday, June 12, 2022

Central New Jersey facility to pay $273K, take corrective actions to resolve COVID-related respirator violations

OSHA finds employers failed to ensure safe respirator use while testing hundreds daily.

Burn Pit Claims: US Supreme Court Allows Veteran to Sue a State Agency for Employment Discrimination

In a 5-4 decision authored by Justice Breyer, the US Supreme Court reversed a lower court and remanded the case allowing a veteran to sue the state of Texas. It held under the US Constitution that the States agreed it would yield their sovereignty to the Federal Government to raise and support the Armed Forces.

Trenton NJ council approves sleeping employee’s $19K workers’ comp claim

Still frame from a video showing a Trenton city employee asleep in a running backhoe.Still frame from a video showing a Trenton city employee asleep in a running backhoe.
Today's post is shared from http://washingtonexaminer.com/
TRENTON......City officials did not even question publicly the workers’ comp claim of an employee caught sleeping on camera while on the job.
Charles Nottingham, a Trenton Water Works employee caught earlier this year snoozing in a video posted to YouTube while operating a backhoe, received the unanimous blessing of council to receive a workers’ comp settlement of $19,000.
“The complaint arose from allegations made by the plaintiff of work related injuries as it purportedly relates to his employment,” the resolution states, adding it is in the best interest of the city to settle the 2012 case.
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The video posted in March, which has since been removed, showed Nottingham sound asleep in a running backhoe with his hands clasped over his stomach at a work site.
After the video surfaced, city officials stated they were investigating the matter.
Citing it is a personnel matter, Michael Walker, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, declined comment this week about the workers’ comp claim.
Nottingham is still an employee with Trenton Water Works. He earned a salary of $57,213 last year, according to online records.
His claim is not the first from that department to garner attention.
In January,...

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Saturday, July 2, 2022

OSHA reminds fireworks/pyrotechnics industry to put worker safety first in advance of July 4 celebration

As Independence Day approaches, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration urges employers in the fireworks and pyrotechnics industry to be vigilant and protect workers from hazards while manufacturing, storing, transporting, displaying, and selling fireworks for public events.

Judge rules Florida workers' compensation law unconstitutional

The emasculation of the US workers' compensation system continues as the economic unbalance in the nation has escalates. Ironically the latest assault is a successful constitutional challenged by the organized bar of diminishing legal representatives of injured workers. The judicial decision may result in potential political upheaval as Florida is facing an upcoming gubernatorial election. More importantly the decision is yet another signal that workers' compensation as a social remedial legislation has failed to dynamically adapt to its changing role in the nation's evolving medical delivery network and disability benefit structure.

Today's post is shared from jurist.com

The 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida [official website] in Miami on Wednesday ruled [order, PDF] that Florida's workers' compensation law [text] is unconstitutional. Prior to the ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi [official website] issued a response [text, PDF] to the court's order to show cause, asking the court to rule the law as unconstitutional in the form of an advisory opinion. In his ruling, Judge Jorge Cueto stated that the law is the exclusive remedy for injured workers, and therefore, only under rare circumstances can they sue their employers. Pursuant to Florida Supreme Court precedent, to be a constitutional worker's compensation act, it must provide some level of permanent partial disability benefit. Because it does not provide these remedies, the judge found that the act does is not an adequate replacement for the tort remedies that it supplanted.

Workers' rights continue to be an issue in the US. Last month, the US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [JURIST report] in eight cases, including Young v. United Parcel Service [docket; cert. petition, PDF]. In that case, the court will consider whether, and in what circumstances, an employer that provides work accommodations to non-pregnant employees with work limitations must provide work accommodations to pregnant employees who are "similar in their ability or inability to work."

Monday, October 27, 2014

National Trends and Developments in Workers' Compensation

This brief looks at trends and developments in state workers' compensation systems across the nation over the last 25 years, identifying at least seven that undermine workers' human rights to health and work with dignity. The brief calls for immediate action to end the roll back on injured and ill workers' rights and advocates for broad systemic change based on human rights notions. Workers' comp is one of several systems created through public policy to offer social protection and health care to some people in certain scenarios, which, together, are failing to guarantee everyone access to health care and income support when they need it. It is ultimately the government's responsibility to guarantee and enable all people to enforce their rights to universal health care and a basic income.
Downloads:

Workers Comp Trends and Developments October 2014.pdf

- See more at: http://www.nesri.org/resources/national-trends-and-developments-in-workers-compensation#sthash.nNJrsF3v.dpuf

Saturday, January 10, 2015

New Drugs to Treat Hearing Loss and Ear Disorders

A multitude of workers have occupational hearing losses induced by either sudden trauma or prolonged occupational exposures to loud noise. Some workers have hearing losses associated with age and fail to address the issue and create a potential safety concern in the workplace. In the past many have gone undetected and/or treated.

Workers' Compensation insurance provides for benefits for hearing losses and disorders associated with both traumatic (sudden) and occupational (exposure to loud noise) hearing losses occurring in the workplace. The insurance also allows workers to obtain hearing aids, treatment and medication(s).

Many of these conditions are not diagnosed or treated at an early stage for lack of attention. This is changing because of recent changes in medical delivery associated with the Affordable Care Act and Medicare. The new laws will afford millions a new opportunity to be diagnosed and treated.

Recent developments in pharmaceutical medicine may allow for restoration of hearing losses as well elimination of associated tinnitus, commonly known as ringing in the ears. Today's post is shared from nytimes.com/

COVID-19 on the Brain: Neurological Symptoms Persist in Majority of Long-Haulers

A new study offers scientific evidence supporting permanent neurological disability flowing from an occupational COVID-19 condition. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine are conducting a longitudinal study to track neurological symptoms in COVID-19 “long-haulers.”

Available Workers' Compensation Law 2023 Update

Jon Gelman’s* newly revised and updated treatise on Workers’ Compensation Law is now available from Thomson Reuters®. The treatise is the most complete and research-integrated work on NJ Workers’ Compensation law.

New York City to provide lawyers for poor immigrants facing deportation

While some states have established restrictive procedures against immigrants not in status with US immigration laws, New York City has taken an opposite stance. Today's post is shared from jurist.com

New York lawmakers have approved funding for a program to provide lawyers to indigent residents facing deportation hearings. The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project [Bronx Defenders backgrounder] was created last year but was only funded at $500,000. Wednesday's vote by the New York City Council expands funding to $4.9 million [press release] to greatly expand the program. While defendants in the criminal justice system have the right to an attorney, there is no such right for individuals facing a complicated immigration legal system. This is the first program of its kind in the US [AP report]. Also this week, the New York Council approved a measure to provide identification cards [press release] to all city residents, including those in the country illegally.

In the absence of federal immigration reform, state governments have continued to enact various measures. Last week a Montana judge struck down [JURIST report] most of a voter-approved immigration law that required government officials to check the immigration status of anyone applying for state services. Earlier this month Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a law [JURIST report] allowing undocumented students to receive in-state tuition, joining 16 other states already allowing this. In March South Carolina announced...

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Sunday, January 11, 2015

High Compensation Medical Costs Raises Concern in New Hampshire

Medical costs now constitute a huge percentage of every workers' compensation claim. A recent editorial published in New Hampshire asserts that soaring and unequal medical costs have broken the workers' compensation system. Today's post is shared from concordmonitor.com/

Lawmakers should make 2014 the last year that doctors and other health care providers are guaranteed payment no matter how much they charge when a worker is injured on the job. The workers’ compensation system is broken.

The state, and the employers who pay into its workers’ compensation fund, have been paying two and three times the going rate for medical services when the patient is a workers’ compensation recipient. On average, surgeons charge 156 percent more, according to a report by the state’s Department of Insurance. Bills for radiology are 107 percent higher, 95 percent higher for occupational therapy and for something as simple as an ice pack, 300 percent more.

The extra paperwork required to document workers’ compensation cases and perhaps the added severity of the average injury, probably explains some of the price difference. But, human nature being what it is, it’s likely that, when the bill has to be paid no matter what the provider charges, the temptation to pad it can be irresistible, especially when providers can rationalize the surcharge by using it to offset underpayments in areas such as Medicare or Medicaid.

DWC's IMR Meetings Premature

The noise over the volume of Independent Medical Review requests and Maximus' inability to cope with that volume is at top level and the California Workers' Compensation Institute's latest research paper is certainly going to add to the fury.

The Division of Workers' Compensation has scheduled round table meetings with interested groups for Monday and Tuesday. CWCI's release couldn't be more timely.

CWCI says that basically IMR (and underlying Utilization Review) are working as intended.

The say that only 5.9% of requested medical procedures are delayed, denied or modified through utilization review, and that three out of every four medical treatment requests are approved by claims adjusters without the need for additional oversight.

Moreover, CWCI found 76.6% of the 919,370 treatment requests it evaluated that were sent out for physician review were approved, 6.6% were modified and 16.9% were denied.

One-in-four treatment requests being sent for physician review and one-in-four of those physician-reviewed requests denying or modifying the recommendation means that 94.1% of treatments are approved and 5.9% are denied.

CWCI also reviewed 1,141 independent medical-review decisions that had been issued as of Jan. 2 and found 78.9% of denials are upheld by the administrative review and 21.1% are overturned.

Of the 919,370 medical treatment requests reviewed by CWCi researchers, "pharmacy" garnered fully 43% of all events - this is an astounding number and debunks quite a...

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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Pressing Obama’s Agenda, Maryland Lawmakers Raise Minimum Wage

Maryland embraced President Obama’s call to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour on Monday, the second state to do since Connecticut acted last month.

The Maryland General Assembly voted for the pay raise on the last day of its 2014 regular session, giving Gov. Martin O’Malley a victory on his top priority this year. The governor, in his last year in office, has staked out a consistently liberal record as he weighs running for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

Mr. O’Malley thanked lawmakers “for giving so many Maryland families the raise they deserve.”

The governor also said he would sign a bill passed Monday that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana. Violators caught with less than 10 grams of the drug would be issued the equivalent of a traffic ticket and would pay a fine rather than face criminal prosecution.

Action on the minimum wage has moved to the states with congressional Republicans refusing to act on Mr. Obama’s call to lift the federal minimum wage from $7.25. Eight states and the District of Columbia have raised their base wages in 2013 and 2014 as Democrats seek to use economic inequality as a rallying point in the midterm elections.

Also on Monday, Democrats, who control the Minnesota State Legislature, said they reached a deal to lift the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2016 for large employers, from the current rate of $6.15. Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, is seeking re-election.

Last month,...

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