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05.22.2013
WCI BRIEFS: To save you time, here’s a sampling of workers' compensation and insurance news from around the globe, each in 300 words or less.
Big deal. SAP, the German business software company, wants to tap into a new talent pool by hiring hundreds of people with autism to program and test its products. financialtimes
New deal. The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office will soon have a full-time prosecutor assigned to...
05.22.2013
05.22.2013
By DAVID DANKWAMany Texas employers that opt out of the state's voluntary workers' compensation system purchase alternative benefit plans to cover workplace injuries, but that doesn't mean they want a state mandate forcing them to.
A bill signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin on May 6 that allows employers to opt out of workers' comp if they provide equivalent benefits through an alternative plan has some employers worried that Texas lawmakers will consider similar...
05.22.2013
05.22.2013
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued four revised documents on protection against disability discrimination. The documents address how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to applicants and employees with cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, and intellectual disabilities.
"Nearly 34 million Americans have been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, or epilepsy, and more than 2 million have an intellectual disability," said EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien. "Many of them are looking for jobs or are already in the workplace."
The four separate documents each are about 10 pages long. So, for people without the spare time to review them all, Stacie Caraway with Miller & Martin PLLC has written a Cliffs Notes version at JD Supra.
05.22.2013
The management of safety within an organization is often based on what is considered "best practices." Much of this collection of best practices grew out of trial and error, anecdotal information, unsubstantiated data, uncorroborated assumptions, and expedient solutions. Over time, these beliefs become accepted into the fabric of a "safety" culture and are taken for granted.
Unfortunately, some of these safety beliefs are accepted without being verified, making them myths. And the problem with myths is that they are very difficult to change or remove.
That safety is common sense is one of the myths. Taking risk is a very personal matter. Some people skydive, bungee jump, race automobiles, rock climb. Others may view that as total insanity.
Peter G. Furst has more on that and other myths in an article at IRMI.
05.22.2013
By TIMOTHY E. HUFFMANContaining workers’ compensation claim costs have always been a matter of concern for the chemical industry in West Virginia. The current medical claims management rule which has been instrumental in containing medical costs has come under increasing pressure with complaints of unfairness to claimants who are unable to hire attorneys for representation because of limitations in the workers’ compensation statute.
In an effort to correct this asserted inequity, legislation...
05.22.2013
05.21.2013
Kelley Wheeler of Port Clinton, Ohio, pleaded guilty to workers’ compensation fraud after her Facebook postings helped prove she was working while collecting benefits for a workplace injury. Wheeler pleaded guilty May 16 in a Franklin County courtroom and was ordered to repay more than $61,000 she collected inappropriately.
“As social media has grown, BWC investigators have deployed enhanced analysis of these sites to support our investigations,” said the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation ...
05.21.2013
05.21.2013
WCI BRIEFS: To save you time, here’s a sampling of workers' compensation and insurance news from around the globe, each in 400 words or less.
Next time, just call. Police in Missoula, Mont. say a man who rammed his sport utility vehicle into an insurance office three times was apparently expressing his frustration with the insurance industry. Insurance Journal
Or use an iPad. Healthesystems launches an iPad app version to give clinicians and claims...
05.21.2013
05.21.2013
In its review of property & casualty insurance industry loss reserves, Conning says that the overall reserve position is stable, or perhaps even slightly improved from the previous review. This is despite another $10.5 billion in releases in 2012.
However, the study “2012 Property-Casualty Loss Reserves: Getting Stronger, or has the Industry Discovered Fracking?” also shows that workers’ compensation may have ended 2012 slightly deficient by about 1.2 percent of carried reserves, compared to an estimated deficiency of 6 percent of carried loss reserves in 2011. The industry released workers’ compensation reserves in 2012 by $212 million, compared to a slight strengthening of $240 million in 2011.
Phil Gusman has more details at PC360.
05.21.2013
According to a new KPMG International survey report, C-suite executives in all industries other than health care say the most threatening risk scenario—defined as issues potentially on the horizon—is the possibility of another global economic crisis or geopolitical instability. However, the biggest risk scenario for health care executives is a sharp slowdown in health care spending.
A full seventy percent of C-suite executives, across all industries, say that regulatory changes have caused either substantial...
05.21.2013
05.21.2013
The number of Americans receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) more than doubled over the past two decades, from 5.2 million to 11.7 million by the end of 2011, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA). Additionally, the SSA reports that the proportion of eligible workers applying for disability benefits has doubled in the past 10 years.
24/7 Wall Street conducted an analysis of data from an SSA annual report on disability and found that states with the highest disability claims tend to have the highest poverty rates and the fewest jobs offering competitive wages. Specifically, the number of jobs in manufacturing and retail, which tend to pay modest wages, are above the national average, while opportunities in finance and professional occupations are scarce.
05.20.2013
WCI BRIEFS: To save you time, here’s a sampling of workers' compensation and insurance news from around the globe, each in 300 words or less.
New NCCI board. The membership of NCCI has elected Tracy Ryan, William Berkley, Jr., and Russell Huffer, to the 2013 Board of Directors. ncci
New job. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company has appointed Erik W. Matson to the position of commercial insurance field executive. BusinessWire
New money....
05.20.2013
05.20.2013
At least 1,127 people were killed when the Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed on April 24, making it the world's deadliest industrial accident since the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984.
Despite calls for substantive changes in safety measures, nearly all of the major U.S. clothing chains—including Wal-Mart, Target, Gap Inc., and J.C. Penney—have declined to join an international safety pact that would require them to pay for inspections and upgrades in Bangladeshi garment factories.
Instead, the National Retail Federation is leading a coalition of North American retail and apparel groups to develop an alternative broader proposal that they say will go beyond Bangladesh.
The Claims Journal has the story.
05.20.2013
By Ankita RaoDr. Thomas Bellavia transformed his traditional medical practice in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., into a so-called medical home where patients are seen by teams of doctors and nurses. He says it has paid off in better, more coordinated care for his patients and healthier income for the nurse practitioners and physicians in his group.
Dr. Mark Holthouse took a different tack—limiting his El Dorado, Calif., clinic to 400 patients a year,...
05.20.2013
05.20.2013
Editor’s Note: The 68th annual Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference (WCEC) will be held August 18 - 21 at the Orlando World Center Marriott. Presented by the Workers’ Compensation Institute, the WCEC is the largest gathering of its kind in the nation and offers discipline-specific programs and break-out sessions from hundreds of national speakers, as well as CEU opportunities. All stakeholders in the workers' compensation community are represented at and welcome to participate in the conference. This...
05.20.2013
05.20.2013
By COLIN CRONINWhat’s in a name? Sometimes, it is everything. On June 24, 2011, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted a set of reforms for the workers’ compensation system entitled “An Act Protecting and Putting North Carolina Back to Work by Reforming the Workers’ Compensation Act.” By its title alone, the ostensible purpose of the reform was to encourage claimants to return to work.
Indeed, prior to these new legislative reforms, it...
05.20.2013
05.17.2013
WCI BRIEFS: To save you time, here’s a sampling of workers' compensation and insurance news from around the globe, each in 300 words or less.
New captive. Eastern Alliance Insurance and Westfield Insurance have jointly formed a multi-line captive program, known as EastWest Alliance, for mid-to large-size employers. ibr
New president. A.I.M. Mutual Insurance Companies has promoted Mike Standing to be the company’s new president, effective June 1. The organization provides...
05.17.2013
05.17.2013
All that’s left to do is for the governor to sign the bill, and some big issues regarding workers’ compensation will be on their way to being resolved.
The backstory: The Missouri Legislature in 2005 passed a law that placed a 3 percent cap on the surcharge that supports the Second Injury Fund. The fund now is $20 million in the red, with more than 30,000 claims pending.
The new fix-it legislation proposes doubling that surcharge from 2014 to 2021, long enough to pay down pending and outstanding claims. It also restricts the fund to covering only the most serious claims.
Additionally, the bill moves coverage for occupational disease back into the state's workers' compensation system. A court interpretation of a 2005 law had led to those cases being handled in the courts. (2005 was apparently not a shining year for lawmakers.)
cbs.stlouis.com has the story.
05.17.2013
What do you do when your state-legal business collides with federal law?
Every month, Elliott Klug or one of his business partners walks into the Colorado Revenue Department with thousands of dollars in cash and watches as state employees start counting.
Klug, co-founder of PinkHouse Blooms LLC, a chain of five medical-marijuana dispensaries in Denver, has to pay his sales taxes in cash because federal law bars banks from offering accounts to pot shops, even as Colorado allows and taxes them.
Banks’ refusal to allow dispensaries to maintain accounts has made it extremely difficult for dispensaries to operate. As a result, many legal marijuana businesses like Klug’s have resorted to all cash operations.
Bloomberg.com has the story.
05.17.2013
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is soliciting applications under the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. A total of $1.5 million is available to nonprofit, community and faith-based organizations; employer associations; labor unions; joint labor/management associations; and colleges and universities. The grants will fund training and education for workers and employers in recognizing workplace safety and health hazards and prevention measures, and understanding their rights and responsibilities.
"These grants will fund...
05.17.2013
05.17.2013
A United States subsidiary of India’s largest pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay $500 million in fines and civil penalties for selling adulterated drugs and lying about tests of the medications to federal regulators.
The company agreed to a fine and forfeiture of $150 million as well as an additional $350 million penalty to settle civil claims that it submitted false statements to Medicaid, Medicare and other government health care programs. About $49 million of that penalty will go to a former Ranbaxy executive who acted as a whistleblower,
Prosecutors said the guilty plea by Ranbaxy USA Inc. represents the largest financial penalty by a generic drug company for violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
JD Supra has more.
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