Quote of the day
"My concern now is, if it took him a year to find a retina specialist to do macular pucker surgery, what if you needed neurosurgery? God forbid. You can't wait a year for something like that."
Dr. Benjamin Chang, eye surgeon, and one of the few retina specialists who accepts workers' compensation in the New York City region
New York workers’ comp website still riddled with errors
Seven months after the I-Team revealed how New York refers injured workers to physicians who won’t help them, the state continues to operate a website that falsely lists dozens of doctors as workers’ compensation participants. The I-Team shared those results with New York’s workers’ compensation board but seven months later, most of those non-participating doctors are still listed as participants in the health provider search. WNBC (New York)
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New Mexico workers’ comp rates to decrease in 2017
New Mexico employers could see a decrease in their insurance costs for on-the-job injuries and deaths. The state Office of Superintendent of Insurance says a key factor in calculating individual employers’ workers’ compensation costs will drop by an average of 9 percent in 2017. Las Vegas Optic [may require registration] Go to the Full Story…
North Dakota: Bill draft could make it easier for injured workers to find legal counsel
An interim North Dakota legislative committee has approved a bill draft to require the state’s workers’ compensation agency to pick up an injured worker’s legal bills, if that worker appeals a decision from the agency and wins at any appellate level, even if the agency ultimately prevails. Prairie Public Broadcasting (Fargo, N.D.) [with audio] Go to the Full Story…
New Jersey bill: No reimbursement for opioid prescriptions in New Jersey written without plan
New Jersey would be the first state in the nation to hold insurance companies largely responsible for ensuring opioids are prescribed only as a last resort, under a new proposal to help curb the flow of highly addictive medicines that are fueling the state’s heroin and opiate epidemic. A bill introduced last week would prohibit an insurance company from paying for opiate-based painkillers unless a physician had signed off on a five-part patient-safety protocol designed to avoid addiction. NJ Spotlight
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Massachusetts workers’ comp: Causation/medical evidence
Where an employee never claimed entitlement to §34A benefits, that portion of the award must be vacated and §34 benefits awarded instead. However, the remainder of the decision must be affirmed despite the insurer’s claim that the judge improperly discounted its §1(7A) defense and mischaracterized the medical evidence. Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly [may require registration] Go to the Full Story…