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A majority of the 20 largest U.S. workers compensation underwriters saw their direct premiums earned increase year over year in the second quarter, with Markel Corp. recording the biggest growth at 46.3%, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis released on Thursday. Direct premiums earned for the entire workers comp industry amounted to $12.4 billion, up from $11.8 billion…

The Biden administration cited climate change as a driver behind its planned crackdown on heat-related illness and deaths among workers, but other factors likely also have contributed. Concerns over restrictions placed on federal safety officials under the Trump administration and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were likely also an impetus for the move, experts say. The Biden administration…

Saying the “financial fate” of Illinois employers could ride on the decision, the operators of a Chicago nursing home have asked the justices of the Illinois Supreme Court to rein in the state’s sweeping biometrics privacy law, which has created a stampede of class actions targeting Illinois businesses, by declaring workers’ claims against their employers under the biometrics law actually…

Workers compensation pharmacy costs continued to decline during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a steady reduction in opioid use, according to data released Wednesday by CompPharma LLC. The Maggie Valley, North Carolina-based consulting company for pharmacy benefits managers surveyed those managing prescriptions for injured workers and found that despite reports of increased opioid use among workers comp patients during the…

A report zeroing in on medical marijuana’s status in the workers compensation arena show that although the majority of the country has laws that allow for medical use of cannabis – 36 states to date — it’s a mixed bag on whether a payer must reimburse for the drug. According to a study published in the American Journal of Industrial…

Early manual therapy for injured workers with lower back pain is associated with lower utilization of medical services, lower medical and indemnity payments, and shorter disability, according to a study released Tuesday by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute. Using data from 18 study states, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute examined outcomes of manual therapy, which it describes as a type of…

Workers compensation insurers pay more for medical services than that of group health to treat comparable injuries, according to a research report released Friday by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. In examining the workers comp experiences from NCCI’s medical data call, which captures transaction‐level detail — service, charges, payments, procedure codes and diagnosis codes — on medical bills processed…