Health care workers’ exposure to COVID-19 most often comes from community spread, not their occupational activities, according to a study conducted by Emory University released Thursday. Researchers from Emory in Atlanta, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Rush University in Chicago and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed the antibodies of more than 24,000…
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories now account for more than a third of all drugs dispensed to injured workers, and just two NSAIDs account for two-thirds of prescription payments in that drug category, according to a report released Wednesday by the California Workers Compensation Institute. Oakland, California-based CWCI analyzed changes in the distribution of workers comp prescriptions and prescription payments in the state…
The renewal process for 2021 included several changes spurred by the pandemic, as companies changed workers’ job duties and insurers wanted to know more about what was being done to manage risks associated with COVID-19. Much depended on the type of business involved, said JoEllen Thelen, St. Louis-based middle market practice leader for the central region for Aon PLC. “With…
Workers’ compensation insurers aren’t getting the large aggregate volumes of COVID-related claims projected during the early months of the pandemic, but different data sources give varying readouts on developments for individual U.S. states and classes of workers. In fact, while claim frequencies are down for workers’ compensation overall with business shutdowns bringing lower numbers of non-COVID claims, and while the…
A bill filed in the Illinois General Assembly would transfer the responsibilities for investigating workers’ compensation fraud to the state insurance department. Under HB 2947, the pending business of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission’s Insurance Compliance Division would be transferred to the Illinois Department of Insurance. he change would transfer “all powers, duties, rights, responsibilities, personnel, books, records, papers, documents,…
Lawmakers in Illinois will consider making post-traumatic stress disorder compensable for certain first responders under a bill presented on Friday. H.B. 3081 states that “post-traumatic stress disorder is to be rebuttably presumed to arise out of and to be causally connected to the hazards of employment” for firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics. Lawmakers also read H.B. 3697, which states…
Brain-injury workers compensation claims cost more than double other types of lost-time claims, according to a report released Friday by the National Council for Compensation Insurance. The report said that among active claims between 2013 and 2018, 15% of permanent-injury total claims included a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A TBI is defined as physical trauma to the head that alters…
The Indiana Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would clarify the statute of limitations and increase benefits for injured workers receiving workers compensation. S.B. 220, which passed the state’s Senate in a 43-3 vote, would start the two-year statute of limitations for filing an application for the adjustment of claims on the last date a payment was made for…
Illinois lawmakers introduced a bill on Thursday that would clarify that injuries sustained by employees while traveling to and from work do not arise out of and in the course of employment except under a few circumstances. H.B. 2965 would modify existing statutes to clarify that an accident while traveling to and from the workplace is not compensable. The bill…
Workers compensation claims for COVID-19 last year were far less than the doomsday predictions made early in the pandemic, but experts are concerned that lingering symptoms and rebuttable presumptions in some states may negatively impact the industry going forward. In November and December combined, the U.S. reported 11 million new COVID-19 cases, with insurers and ratings agencies seeing corresponding jumps…
