Study: California Workers Not Weaned Off Opioids Had Much Higher Drug Costs
Injured workers who were not weaned off of opioids had much higher drug costs and higher treatment transaction volumes, according to a report released on Friday by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance...
View ArticlePennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be...
View ArticleAcid Release at Louisiana Exxon Plant Sends 2 to Hospital
A sulfuric acid release sent two contractors at an ExxonMobil chemical plant in Louisiana to the hospital. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Greg Langley says the agency wasn’t...
View ArticleOregon Workers’ Comp Costs to Drop Sixth-Straight Year
Oregon employers next year will pay an average of $1.12 per $100 of payroll for workers’ compensation insurance, down from $1.23 in 2018, under a proposal by the Oregon Department of Consumer and...
View ArticleOregon SAIF Declares Dividends as Workers’ Comp Costs Decrease
The board of directors of the SAIF, the not-for-profit company providing workers’ comp insurance in Oregon, declared two dividends for customers: a $120 million primary dividend to be paid to SAIF’s...
View ArticleWashington Employers May See Big Drop in 2019 Workers’ Comp Rates
The price of workers’ compensation insurance in Washington could drop significantly in 2019. The Washington Department of Labor & Industries this week proposed a 5 percent decrease in the average...
View ArticleIdaho Workers’ Compensation Rates to Decrease in 2019
The Idaho Department of Insurance has proved a 4.2 percent drop in workers’ compensation insurance rates effective Jan. 1, 2019. The proposed rate change comes from the National Council on Compensation...
View ArticleCalifornia Hits 2 Companies with $4.3M Fine for Improperly Selling Workers’ Comp
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Wednesday imposed a $4.3 million penalty on American Labor Alliance and CompOne USA for selling workers’ compensation and liability policies to employers...
View ArticleCalifornia Written Workers’ Comp Premium Down, Quarterly Report for Last Year...
California written premium for 2018 was 4 percent below 2017 and 6 percent below 2016 as recent declining premium rates have more than offset payroll growth, according to a report from the Workers’...
View ArticleCalifornia State Fund Reports Increase in Net Income in 2018
California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund reported an increase of net income and written premium in its just-released annual report for 2018. Financial highlights of the 2018 annual report...
View ArticleCalifornia Workers’ Comp Medical Dispute Resolution Letters Rose Last Year,...
After dipping for the first time ever in 2017, the number of workers’ comp medical dispute decision letters rose to an all-time high in 2018, according to a California Workers’ Compensation Institute...
View ArticleScholarship Organization Forms in Maine to Assist Children of Injured Workers
Representatives of employers, organized labor, insurance companies, plaintiff’s attorneys, medical providers and defense attorneys have formed Kids’ Chance of Maine to provide scholarships to the...
View ArticleNo Increase in Average Washington Workers’ Comp in 2021
For the first time in two decades, Washington workers’ compensation rates have dropped or stayed steady for four years in a row. The state Department of Labor & Industries on Monday announced there...
View ArticleThree Injured in Gas Line Explosion in Northern Virginia
Three people were injured in a gas line explosion on Wednesday which also set three vehicles on fire and caused damage to a house in a northern Virginia city. News outlets report Fairfax County Fire...
View ArticleNew Jersey Ice Cream Manufacturer Cited for Safety Hazards Leading to...
Despite two severe amputation injuries in 2018 and 2020 on the same machine at a Lakewood, New Jersey, ice cream manufacturing plant, a recent federal safety and health inspection found the company...
View ArticleInstitute Analyzes Impact of California Medical Provider Network Option for...
Legislation intended to increase injured California workers’ access to medical care by requiring the state to create a medical provider network as an alternative to private networks that render 90% of...
View ArticleNew York Launches Injured Workers Legal Assistance Project to Assist with...
The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board has launched its first-ever legal assistance project to help injured workers obtain medical treatment, the Injured Workers Legal Assistance Project...
View ArticleTwo Workers Treated for Burns After Fire at Connecticut Plating Company
Two workers at a Connecticut chrome plating company were transported to a burn hospital after a process “went awry” and sparked a flash fire that firefighters were still battling hours later, a task...
View ArticleCalifornia Commissioner Lowers Workers’ Comp Benchmark
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara lowered the workers’ compensation insurance benchmark rate by 5 cents to $1.41 per $100 of payroll effective Sept. 1. Lara’s decision results in an...
View ArticleWorkers’ Comp Pays More Than Group Health to Treat Similar Injuries: NCCI Study
Workers’ compensation pays more than group health to treat comparable injuries, according to a research brief issued by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. Although the workers’...
View ArticleCalifornia Workers’ Comp Hospital Stays Decline as COVID Affects Quantity and...
The latest update to California Workers’ Compensation Institute research on California workers’ compensation inpatient hospital stays shows the number of injured worker hospitalizations fell 17.2% in...
View ArticlePinnacol Distributes $50M in Dividends to 51K Colorado Companies
Pinnacol Assurance is distributing general dividend checks to its customers totaling $50 million. Pinnacol has also lowered premium rates by an average of 11%. This is the seventh consecutive year of...
View ArticleArkansas Supreme Court Rules for Appellant in Elapsed Time Workers’ Comp Case
The Supreme Court of Arkansas has reversed and remanded a decision in an appeal of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission’s denial of a claim for additional medical benefits of an appellant over...
View ArticleWorkers Hurt When Building Collapses in Indiana
A building under construction collapsed, injuring at least two construction workers, authorities said. The building was under construction in the town of Whiteland, about 20 miles south of...
View ArticleCalifornia Workers’ Comp Written Premium up 27% in First Half of 2022
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California released its Quarterly Experience Report, which reflects an increase in written premium due to economic recovery from the pandemic. The...
View ArticleIdaho’s Workers’ Comp Rates Decreasing 11.5% for 2023
The Idaho Department of Insurance accepted a 11.5% reduction in rates, effective January 1, 2023. This follows the National Council on Compensation Insurance submission of its annual rate...
View ArticleWCIRB Report on Medical Characteristics of Cumulative Trauma Claims
A report from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California shows indemnity claims are the key driver of cumulative trauma claim costs. Highlights of the WCIRB report, Medical...
View ArticleResearch Shows Low-Volume/High-Cost Meds in California Workers’ Comp
New research on low-volume/high-cost drugs used to treat injured workers in California spotlights a handful of anti-inflammatory and anticonvulsant medications that have become significant cost drivers...
View ArticleCalifornia Workers’ Comp Public Self-Insured Claim Volume, Total Paid and...
Initial data on fiscal year 2022/23 public self-insured claims experience in the California workers’ compensation system show that public self-insured’s total claim volume, spurred by a sharp drop in...
View ArticleCalifornia Workers’ Comp Report Shows Written Premium Nearing Pre-Pandemic...
A new report from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California shows written premium in 2022 was 14% above the previous year. The WCIRB’s Quarterly Experience Report is an update on...
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