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The payments for similar knee and shoulder surgeries performed in ambulatory surgery centers were lower compared with hospital outpatient departments in many study states, according to a study released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Researchers with the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute examined payments in 18 states in 2016, finding that in 14 of them payments for knee surgeries done…

Eugene Keefe argues that Senate Bill 904 lurks as an ever-greater disaster waiting to happen in relationship to doctors and hospitals across the state being able to get compensated in a timely manner. “Our concern is SB 904 would further increase litigation and concomitant employer costs in a system where Illinois already has what the Stat-Rats opine is the second…

Today the Indiana Department of Labor released the state's results from the 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics' Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses report, which measures incidents of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses on an annual basis. Indiana's nonfatal occupational injury and illness rate remains at the lowest in state history for the second year in a row, with an…

The Democrats winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives and of governorships and legislatures in multiple states in elections last week could result in improvements in health care access at the federal level and the passage of bills at the state level that could boost comp benefits for injured workers. “My initial reaction was to look at the states…

The Illinois Senate on Wednesday voted 55-1 to overturn a veto by Gov. Bruce Rauner that would amend workers compensation law to allow medical providers to charge insurers interest at a rate of 2% a month when bills are not paid promptly, among other changes. Specifically, S.B. 904, which passed both the state Senate and House in May and was…

Workplace fatalities are on the rise, but new safety research is outlining the ways that a deep dive into could-happens, near misses and smaller, less serious incidents could help prevent on-the-job deaths. Referring to a pyramid to illustrate workplace incidents, with the relatively small number of fatalities at the top and droves of noninjury accidents at the bottom, a researcher…

Private industry employers reported nearly 45,800 fewer nonfatal injury and illness cases in 2017 compared with a year earlier, according to estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday. There were approximately 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2017, which occurred at…