Quote of the day
"You have turned the whole world upside down for physicians and providers." Dolores Russell, president and chief executive officer of Managed Healthcare Northwest, an Oregon-regulated physicians' network for injured workers
Constitution State Cracks Down
Connecticut officials have issued stop-work orders to more than 60 subcontractors at 30 construction sites across the state in recent months in a bid to crack down on workers’ compensation scofflaws. Inspections by the state Department of Labor have turned up about 300 workers who lacked workers’ comp coverage because they were either being paid in cash or misclassified as independent contractors. By Jason Millman, Hartford Business
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Oregon Health Care Providers Blast Law Change
Dozens of health care providers in Oregon send sharply worded letters to the state warning that a change in how they are paid to care for injured workers is driving doctors to drop workers’ compensation cases. The Workers’ Compensation Division released the letters Friday as agency leaders convened the first of two three-hour meetings to discuss a temporary rule that allows insurance companies to pay doctors less than the state-mandated fee schedule.
Go to the full story by AP via East Oregonian
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Six Steps to Improve Workers’ Comp
Workers’ compensation is often neglected in discussions of state health care reform. That is unfortunate, because employers who think they have achieved real savings after a significant change in their group health insurance plan often discover their lower health insurance costs are partially offset by higher workers’ compensation costs. By John C. Goodman, Heartland.org
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BP Lawsuits: ‘And Then There Was One’
The state court civil litigation stemming from the March 2005 blast at BP’s Texas City refinery is down to a single pending case from about 4,000 claims filed since 15 people were killed in the disaster. By Kristen Hays, Houston Chronicle
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New York Law Has Major Implications for Self-Insured Trusts
In New York, a state law passed in June as a response to the default of about a dozen trusts between 2006 and early 2008 has major implications for the nearly 60 self-insured workers’ compensation trusts in the state. By Kevin Tampone, Central New York Business Journal
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Postal Service Employee Pleads Guilty in New York
In Syracuse, federal authorities announce the guilty plea of a 45-year-old individual to making a false statement to obtain workers’ compensation benefits from the Postal Service. Empire State News
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Bay State City’s Former Auditor Denied
The former embattled auditor of Lowell, Mass., has his quest to collect extensive workers’ compensation benefits denied by a Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents’ judge. His last day of work, in September 2002, followed an incident in which he allegedly screamed profanities at workers in his office after discovering that another city employee had parked in his parking spot. TMC
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Protestors Target Victoria Workers’ Comp Law Changes
In Australia, protesters gather outside the Victorian Workcover Authority in an attempt to stop changes to accident compensation claims that they say will be unfair to injured workers. ABC News (Australia)
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