Latest Drugs Headlines

Work Comp Prescription Drug Costs in Texas 30% Higher than Median

May 11 2010 // The payment per claim for prescription drugs used to treat injured workers in Texas was nearly one-third higher than in most study states, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The...

Jury Awards $500M Punitive Damages in Medical Malpractice Case

May 11 2010 // A jury in Las Vegas ordered two drug companies to pay a combined $500 million in punitive damages in the first of hundreds of civil cases stemming from a hepatitis C outbreak two years ago. The Clark County District Court...

Workers’ Comp Drug Costs in Wisconsin 30% Lower Than Median

May 10 2010 // The cost per claim of prescription drugs used to treat injured workers in Wisconsin was significantly lower than in most study states, according to a new report by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The...

May 3 2010 // 30 Terry Lisotta, former CEO of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. was sentenced to 30 months in prison for improperly spending more than $29,000 of the company’s money on lavish meals, trips, sports tickets...

Michigan Injured Workers’ Drug Costs Lowest in Study

Apr 28 2010 // The cost per claim of prescription drugs used to treat injured workers in Michigan is the lowest among 16 states studied. According to the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), the average payment per claim for...

Illinois Injured Worker Prescription Drug Costs Lower Than Study Median

Apr 19 2010 // The payment per claim for prescription drugs used to treat injured workers in Illinois was slightly lower than in most study states, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The...

West Virginia Doctor Probed Over Workers’ Compensation Prescriptions

Apr 19 2010 // Investigators have seized a small fortune from a Mingo County, West Virginia doctor in a case that parallels a previous raid of a Williamson pain clinic, court filings show. The U.S. District Court papers disclose that...

Injured Workers’ Drug Costs Higher in Florida Than Other States

Apr 15 2010 // The payment per claim for prescription drugs used to treat injured workers in Florida was nearly 40 percent higher than in most study states, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute...

Congress Approves Final Healthcare Bill Changes

Mar 26 2010 // The U.S. Congress approved a package of final changes to President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul Thursday, and Obama dared Republicans to try to repeal the new law. The House put the finishing touches...

Medicare Takes Action Against Insurance Company

Mar 2 2010 // An insurance company operating in Hawaii and 20 other states has been ordered to stop marketing and enrollment of new members to its Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. The order affecting Fox Insurance Co. of New York...

Winners, Losers in Obama Health Proposal

Feb 22 2010 // Health insurers, makers of brand-name drugs and generic drugmakers are among the industry players who see further pressure in President Barack Obama’s health care proposal released Monday. The White House plans to...

Insurance Fraud Rises as State Bureaus’ Budgets Fall

Jan 24 2010 // State insurance fraud fighting bureaus are seeing a significant spike in fraud cases while trying to manage with lower budgets and staffing in the down economy of 2009. Cases increased in all 15 types of fraud schemes,...

Inadequate Warning Claims Against Generic Drugs OK Under State Law

Jan 11 2010 // A federal appeals court said Friday that patients may sue generic drugmakers under state law for failing to provide adequate warnings about their drugs’ potential side effects, extending a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court...

Insurance Fraud Rises As State Bureaus’ Budgets Fall

Jan 11 2010 // State insurance fraud fighting bureaus are seeing a significant spike in fraud cases while trying to manage with lower budgets and staffing in the downturned economy of 2009, according to a survey by the Coalition Against...

Study: Narcotic Drugs Major Cost in Workers’ Compensation Claims

Dec 29 2009 // When it comes to workers’ compensation prescription costs, narcotic drugs account for nearly one quarter of the cost, according to a new industry study. Despite the serious risks associated with narcotics usage, some...

Health Care Reform To Have Major Impact on Workers’ Compensation

Dec 16 2009 // Workers’ compensation insurers and actuaries need to prepare for upcoming changes arising from proposed healthcare reform and the shifting medical landscape, attendees of the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) annual...

Supreme Court Hears Vioxx Arguments on Investor Lawsuits

Dec 2 2009 // Lawyers for Merck & Co. told the Supreme Court this week that investors waited too late and didn’t do all of the necessary investigations to sue the drug maker over whether it properly warned about the risks of...

Winners, Losers in Senate Health Bill

Nov 23 2009 // Democrats in the Senate cleared the first procedural hurdle for sweeping healthcare reform Saturday by voting to open debate on the historic legislation. The Senate debate due to start on Nov. 30 is expected to last for at...

8th Circuit Affirms Arkansas Court Ruling Against Drug Companies

Nov 15 2009 // The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has upheld Arkansas district court decisions in a products liability case against pharmaceutical companies that are the makers of hormone therapy drugs that, combined, have...

Utah Official Pleads to Health Insurance Fraud

Nov 11 2009 // The former commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety on Monday entered a conditional guilty plea to two third-degree felony charges of falsely obtaining a prescription and to a misdemeanor count of filing a...