The California Office of Administrative Law on Tuesday approved proposed changes to the state Division of Workers Compensation’s medical-legal fee schedule, which substantially overhauled the current reimbursement system for workers comp evaluations. All medical-legal valuations occurring on or after April…
A new study shows that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) now account for more than one-third of all drugs dispensed to injured workers in California, triple the proportion for opioids. A study from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute released on Wednesday also…
A decline in non-COVID-19-related workers compensation in California last year was offset by claims stemming from the disease, according to data presented Thursday. Overall, the state saw a 26.4% drop in non-COVID-19 claims when comparing data from March 2019 to…
Workers’ compensation insurers aren’t getting the large aggregate volumes of COVID-related claims projected during the early months of the pandemic, but different data sources give varying readouts on developments for individual U.S. states and classes of workers. In fact, while…
A California bill would create expand a presumption covering skin cancer for certain workers to include fish and wildlife and parks and recreation workers. A.B. 334, filed Thursday, would amend workers compensation law to presume that Department of Fish and…
Health care workers pose the greatest risk of developing COVID-19 infections and, relatedly, have been most likely to submit workers compensation claims, according to the results of a study released Tuesday. The study, published in Journal of Occupational and Environmental…
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has begun in health care and senior living facilities across the U.S., and employers in many industries are eagerly awaiting the chance to have their employees vaccinated against the coronavirus. However, employers must balance their desire…
Lost in the U.S. launch of the coronavirus vaccine is a fact most don’t know when they roll up their sleeves: In rare cases of serious illness from the shots, the injured are blocked from suing and steered instead to…
Initial data on fiscal year 2019/2020 public self-insured claims experience in the California workers’ compensation system show claim volume fell 6.4% compared with the prior year, but medical-only claims accounted for nearly all of that decline, a new report out…
The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board unanimously adopted emergency temporary standards on Thursday to protect workers from hazards related to COVID-19. The emergency standards will be in effect immediately if approved by the Office of Administrative Law in the next…
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