Quote of the day
"When I got the letter, they let me know they would no longer be treating patients like me. I think it was very wrong."
Patsy Harting, 66-year-old injured Chico-area worker, after a medical center told her and 200 other patients that they no longer would be treated for chronic pain from injuries covered by workers' comp
State Fund to Host Industrial Ergonomics Seminar in Santa Ana
In an effort to educate employers about the importance of industrial ergonomics as injury prevention, State Compensation Insurance Fund will hold a two-day “Industrial Ergonomics Workshop” in Santa Ana August 14-15. Workers’ Comp Executive
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Chico Medical Center Pulls Treatment of Workers’ Comp Patients
Enloe Medical Center’s Occupational Health Center in east Chico no longer will provide “specialty” care to workers compensation claimants who suffer chronic pain. Chico-based attorney Steve Foster says, “I don’t blame the doctors. The ones that are still doing [occupational medicine] kinda got beaten down so much that they throw their hands up and give up.” By Vince Abbate, Chico News & Review [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Report Illuminates Beacon’s Culture of Favors
The “market conduct examination” released last week by Rhode Island state business regulators details how managers at Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., in their goal of squashing competition, gave “pricing favors” to large policyholders, unearned commissions and gifts to insurance agents, and contributions to politicians. But Rhode Island’s dominant workers’ compensation insurer’s new president and CEO contends that the report reflects the company’s “past practices.”
Go to the full story by Lynn Arditi, Providence Journal
Go to the full story by Jim Baron, Pawtucket Times
Overall Rate Going Down in Dairy State
Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance Sean Dilweg says that there will be a 2.47 percent decrease in the overall worker’s compensation rate starting Oct. 1. Business Journal of Milwaukee
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Critics Press Alberta Government on Potential Physician Fraud in Workers’ Comp System
Critics want Alberta government officials to explain how one Edmonton medical practice allegedly was able to review more than 13,000 Workers’ Compensation Board cases in a single year—a feat some describe as “impossible.” In related WCB news, the board loses another round in its longstanding fight to deny benefits to a former employee who suffered a head injury in 1992 that the WCB initially agreed caused ongoing psychiatric and psychological difficulties. By Jeremy Loome, Edmonton Sun
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