Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Gaines Named Liberty Mutual National Medical Director, Commercial Insurance
Feb 26 2015 // Liberty Mutual Insurance has appointed Dr. Will Gaines, MD, MPH, as national medical director of its Commercial Insurance strategic business unit. Gaines is responsible for managing the company’s team of regional...
Fratianni-Atsaves Appointed Chair of Illinois Workers’ Comp Commission
Feb 25 2015 // Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has appointed Joann Fratianni-Atsaves as the chairman of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC). She has 34 years of experience in workers’ compensation law and has...
Kentucky Bill Would Exempt Unpaid Pastors from Workers’ Comp Insurance
Feb 25 2015 // Kentucky House lawmakers have advanced a bill that would exempt some pastors from paying workers’ compensation insurance. Kentucky has hundreds of churches with tiny congregations whose pastors work for free. The...
2014 Workers’ Compensation Rates Ranked by State
Feb 23 2015 // The median index rate for workers’ compensation insurance fell to an all-time low in 2014 to $1.85 per $100 of payroll. Index rates in 2014 varied from a low of $0.88 in North Dakota to a high of $3.48 in California,...
N.H. Lawmakers Work to Tackle High Workers’ Comp Costs
Feb 23 2015 // If a worker in New Hampshire gets hurt on the job, an anesthetic injection can cost $763 under a workers’ compensation claim, compared to $298 for non-work related injuries. Surgical treatment for tendinitis in the...
N.C. Governor Challenged Over Workers’ Comp Fraud Claim
Feb 23 2015 // North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory took some heat after saying in his annual State of the State address earlier this month that nearly half of workers’ compensation claims paid to state employees are the result of abuse...
New Mexico Bill Would Reduce Benefits if Workers Are High
Feb 23 2015 // A New Mexico lawmaker has introduced a bill to reduce workers’ compensation in cases when an employee’s death or injury results from being drunk or high on the job. Republican Rep. Dennis Roch of Logan said...
Despite Fewer Claims, Louisiana State Employees’ Workers’ Comp Costs Rise
Feb 23 2015 // The number of workers’ compensation claims filed by Louisiana state employees dropped by nearly one-third over the last eight years, but claims costs for state agencies continued to surge higher, according to a state...
Declarations
Feb 23 2015 // Anthem Data Breach “The personally identifiable information apparently hacked at Anthem is exactly what tax fraud thieves use to make false refund claims that appear to be legitimate.” —Kevin Sullivan,...
Texas Workers’ Comp Unit Recovers Over $500K for Injured Workers, Beneficiaries
Feb 18 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance-Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) announced that through performance audits of several insurance carriers on the accuracy of payments of lifetime income benefits (LIBs) and...
LP Insurance in Nevada Moves Up Handful of Employees
Feb 18 2015 // Reno, Nev.-based LP Insurance Services Inc. has made several moves on its employment roster. Angela Atchley was named human resources manager after the recent promotion of Teri Wood to senior operations manager. Atchley is...
Sagamore Insurance Expands Workers Compensation Program to 6 States
Feb 17 2015 // Sagamore Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Baldwin & Lyons Inc., is expanding its mono-line workers’ compensation program into six new states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kansas and Arkansas. The...
Injured Workers File Legal Challenge over Oklahoma Workers’ Comp Law
Feb 16 2015 // Two workers who were injured on the job have filed a legal challenge over changes to Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation laws that were approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2013. The constitutional...
AIG Q4 Profit Drops on Debt Repayments, Reserve Charges
Feb 13 2015 // American International Group Inc., the largest commercial insurer in the U.S. and Canada, said profit declined 67 percent on costs to pay down debt and add to reserves. Net income fell to $655 million, or 46 cents a share...
Use of Data and Analytics in Workers’ Compensation
Feb 12 2015 // In the workers’ compensation space, not only have claim costs increased because of medical issues, but the landscape has also become much more complex. Along with the elevated incidence of fraud, economic fears, and...
Nevada Workers’ Compensation Loss Costs See Slight Decrease in 2015
Feb 12 2015 // Many Nevada employers will see a slight decrease in the premiums they pay for workers’ compensation insurance this year. Insurance Commissioner Scott J. Kipper approved a filing from the National Council on...
Medical Chain Pleads Guilty to Work Comp Fraud, Repays Texas Mutual $6.5M
Feb 11 2015 // Nova Healthcare Management, headquartered in Houston, Texas, entered a plea of guilty to felony workers’ compensation fraud related charges, according to an announcement by Texas Mutual Insurance Co. and the Travis...
LCTA Workers’ Comp Adds Boudreaux as Loss Control Rep in Louisiana
Feb 11 2015 // Louisiana’s LCTA Workers’ Comp has hired Paul Boudreaux as loss control representative. In this position, Boudreaux will perform onsite safety inspections to identify workers’ compensation exposures and...
Despite Fewer Claims, Louisiana State Employees’ Workers’ Comp Costs Rise
Feb 11 2015 // The number of workers’ compensation claims filed by Louisiana state employees dropped by nearly one-third over the last eight years, but claims costs for state agencies continued to surge higher, according to an...
N.J. Staffing Firm Owners Accused of Underpaying WC Premiums
Feb 10 2015 // New Jersey authorities announced that a married couple who own several temporary staffing companies with offices in northern and central New Jersey were arrested on first-degree charges. According to a Feb. 4 announcement...
