Has the Internet Raised or Lowered Healthcare Costs?

The next trip to see the company doctor my be by computer. Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

Matt Yglesias writes about the awesome power of information technology to diagnose illnesses and save a trip to the doctor: I was having a kind of weird problem with my left thumb over the course of the past few days....Finally I figured out that it looked to me like an infection of the cuticle....That brought me to a Wikipedia page...."paronychia"....led to a bit more Googling....typically happens to habitual fingernail biters (guilty) or people who've recently been in the water a lot (swimming pool on vacation). Everyone basically agrees that this isn't a huge deal and that you can obtain some physical relief by occasionally soaking the thumb in hot water while waiting for it to clear up. I took that advice starting yesterday morning, and today I feel a lot better....So there we have it. In a small but real way, information technology reduced the cost of this particular health care service. Productivity for the win. Obviously there are lots of things we aren't going to treat in this way, but I'm quite optimistic that information technology in the health care sector is going to do us a lot of good.

Mexican Consulate, Labor Dept. Partner On Worker Protection

Today's post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from indianapublicmedia.org

Photo: Sam Klemet/WFYI Students walk outside the Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis. The United States Department of Labor is partnering with Mexican Consulates across the country, including in Indiana, to ensure worker protection. Juan Manuel Solana Morales says some Mexicans who come to the United States to work, often don’t know about all of their rights. “Sadly, we have detected that when we have new immigrants, they have different laws, different knowledge, different culture,” said Juan Manuel Solana Morales. “And, when they arrive here in the United States, sometimes they don’t understand the kind of rights that they have.” Morales is the Consul of Mexico in Indianapolis.

US Labor Department announces final rules to improve employment of veterans and people with disabilities

Hiring workers with pre-existing disabilities creates workers' compensation future costs of workers' compensation fears for many employers. As Second Injury Funds have evaporated as an economic insulator for employers, other mechanisms have been generated such as ADA claims and Federal employment regulations.

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced two final rules to improve hiring and employment of veterans and for people with disabilities. One rule updates requirements under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974; the other updates those under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For more than 40 years these laws have required federal contractors and subcontractors to affirmatively recruit, hire, train and promote qualified veterans and people with disabilities respectively.

"In a competitive job market, employers need access to the best possible employees," said Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "These rules make it easier for employers to tap into a large, diverse pool of qualified candidates."

"Strengthening these regulations is an important step toward reducing barriers to real opportunities for veterans and individuals with disabilities," said Patricia A. Shiu, director of the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces both laws.

The VEVRAA rule provides contractors with a quantifiable metric to measure their success in recruiting and employing veterans by requiring contractors to annually adopt a benchmark either based on the national percentage of veterans in the workforce (currently 8 percent), or their own benchmark based on the best available data. The rule strengthens accountability and record-keeping requirements, enabling contractors to assess the effectiveness of their recruitment efforts. It also clarifies job listing and subcontract requirements to facilitate compliance.

The Section 503 rule introduces a hiring goal for federal contractors and subcontractors that 7 percent of each job group in their workforce be qualified individuals with disabilities. The rule also details specific actions contractors must take in the areas of recruitment, training, record keeping and policy dissemination — similar to those that have long been required to promote workplace equality for women and minorities.

The rules will become effective 180 days after their publication in the Federal Register. More information is available atwww.dol.gov/ofccp/VEVRAARule/ and www.dol.gov/ofccp/503Rule/.

OFCCP enforces Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. These three laws require those who do business with the federal government, both contractors and subcontractors, to follow the fair and reasonable standard that they not discriminate in employment on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. For general information, call OFCCP's toll-free helpline at 800-397-6251 or visit http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/.
Read this news release en Español.

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Speed Camera Enforcement Will Begin on Sepember 9th, the First Day of School

Transportation accidents generate substantial workers' compensation claims. New York City is taking a bold step through the use to technology to change driver safety and reduce accidents. Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from mikebloomberg.com

Mayor Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced enforcement of speed cameras near school locations will take effect on the first day of the school year, Monday, September 9th. The Administration pressed for passage of State legislation to approve the use of speed cameras in New York City for more than a decade, and this year legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Deborah Glick and State Senator Jeff Klein was approved by the State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The law provides the City with a significant tool in its efforts to continue to reduce traffic fatalities citywide and curb speeding near schools. The last five years have been the safest since traffic fatality records began being kept in 1910, due to efforts including the use of red-light cameras, pedestrian countdown signals, Neighborhood Slow Zones, aggressive enforcement of traffic laws, safety education campaigns and corridor and intersection redesigns. Traffic fatalities have decreased by 30 percent since 2001, but speeding remained the contributing factor in 81 fatal traffic crashes in 2012, roughly 30 percent, and fatal hit-and-run crashes increased by 31 percent between 2010 and 2012. There is a 70 percent chance a child will be killed if hit by a car at 40 miles per hours, but an 80 percent chance that child survives if hit by a vehicle travelling 30 miles per hour, the City’s speed limit. The law allows the City to implement a speed camera...

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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). 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.

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No Shopping Zone: Medicare Is Not Part Of New Insurance Marketplaces

Medicare is integrated with many aspects of state workers' compensation programs. From medical fee setting to reimbursement for conditional payments under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

While the Obama administration is stepping up efforts encouraging uninsured Americans to enroll in health coverage from the new online insurance marketplaces, officials are planning a campaign to convince millions of seniors to please stay away – don't call and don't sign up. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) "We want to reassure Medicare beneficiaries that they are already covered, their benefits are not changing and the marketplace doesn't require them to do anything," said Michele Patrick, Medicare's deputy director for communications. To reinforce the message, she said the 2014 "Medicare & You" handbook – the 100-plus-page guide that will be sent to 52 million Medicare beneficiaries next month -- contains a prominent- notice: "The Health Insurance Marketplace, a key part of the Affordable Care Act, will take effect in 2014. It's a new way for individuals, families, and employees of small businesses to get health insurance. Medicare isn't part of the Marketplace." Still, it can be easy to get the wrong impression. "You hear programs on the radio about the health care law and they never talk about seniors and what we are supposed to do," said Barbara Bonner, 72, of Reston, Va. "Do we have to go sign up like they're saying everyone else has to? Does the new law apply to us seniors at all and if so, how?" Enrollment in health plans offered on the marketplaces, also called exchanges, begins Oct. 1 and runs for six months. Meanwhile, the two-month sign-up period for private health plans for...

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Nuclear Operator Raises Alarm on Crisis

Nuclear energy has its safety issues for workers. Last weekn NJ's Salem Reactor was shut down due to a leak. Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.nytimes.com

The operator of Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear power plant sounded the alarm on the gravity of the deepening crisis of containment at the coastal site on Friday, saying that there are more than 200,000 tons of radioactive water in makeshift tanks vulnerable to leaks, with no reliable way to check on them or anywhere to transfer the water. Fukushima I nuclear power plant before the 2011 explosion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The latest disclosures add to a long list of recent accidents, leaks and breakdowns that have underscored grave vulnerabilities at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site more than two years after a powerful earthquake and tsunami set off meltdowns at three reactors. They come two weeks after the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, promised that his government would take a more active role in the site’s cleanup, raising questions over how seriously he has taken that pledge. Mr. Abe’s government has continued to push for a restart of the country’s nuclear power program, and he heads to the Middle East on Saturday to promote Japanese exports to the region, including nuclear technology. Mr. Abe also plans to lead Tokyo’s delegation to Argentina for the International Olympic Committee’s final vote, set for Sept. 7, on the host city for the 2020 Olympics. Tokyo, 150 miles south of the stricken nuclear power plant, is one of three finalists competing to host the games. The others are Istanbul and Madrid. Opposition lawmakers here have demanded that Mr. Abe stay home and declare a state of emergency. “The nuclear crisis is real and...

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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). 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.

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CA DWC Posts Proposed Changes to the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule Regulations Online for Public Comment

Medical treatment guidelines are being proposed to providence evidential standards for the workers' compensation medical benefits. Today's post was shared by votersinjuredatwork and comes from www.workerscompensation.com

The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has posted proposed changes to the existing Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule (MTUS) regulations to the online forum where members of the public may review and comment on the proposals. “These changes to DWC’s evidence-based medical treatment guidelines provide a critically needed framework describing best practices for providing medical care for work-related illnesses and injuries,” said DWC Executive Medical Director Dr. Rupali Das. The proposed updates to the MTUS were developed in cooperation with the multidisciplinary Medical Evidence Evaluation Advisory Committee (MEEAC). The proposed amendments to the MTUS regulations modify regulatory definitions, which includes a definition for Evidenced Based Medicine, and adds new definitions for terms used in the strength of evidence methodologies. The regulations clarify the role of the MTUS in accordance with Labor Code section 4600 and set forth the process to determine if medical care is reasonable and necessary when the MTUS is inapplicable.