Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
PT and OT Preauthorization Mandatory Under Texas Workers’ Comp System Effective Dec. 1
Dec 22 2005 // House Bill 7 amended Texas Labor Code §413.014 by adding physical therapy and occupational therapy to the list of services requiring preauthorization. The Texas Department of Insurance, with bulletin B-0039-05, notified...
Calif. Court Decision Expected to Lower Workers’ Comp Rates
Dec 22 2005 // Los Angeles based law firm Roxborough, Pomerance & Nye LLP recently won a ruling that the firm said will affect the way workers’ compensation premiums are calculated for California employers covered by a carrier...
Auto Dealers Compensation of Calif. Returns $9.6 Million in Equity
Dec 21 2005 // The Trustee Board of the Auto Dealers Compensation of California Inc. (AD-COMP(R)), has announced an equity distribution of approximately $9.6 million to its auto dealership members. AD-COMP(R), formed in 2002, is a...
Fla. Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit Commander Describes Four Common Violations
Dec 19 2005 // Premium fraud, working without workers’ compensation coverage, fraudulent certification and claimant fraud are common types of workers’ compensation fraud encountered by the Bureau of Workers’...
Health Care Networks: A New Approach for Workers’ Compensation in Texas
Dec 19 2005 // House Bill 7 enacted sweeping workers’ compensation reforms. One of those reforms was the establishment of health care provider networks. After receiving much thoughtful input from system participants, I am proud to...
Costs Lower When Employers Choose, Says Study that Included Mass., Pa. Systems
Dec 19 2005 // Costs Lower When Employers Choose, Says Study that Included Mass., Pa. Systems The choice of medical care providers to treat injured workers by either workers or their employer not only impacts medical costs but also a...
States Urged to Prepare for Catastrophes by Enforcing Smarter Land Use
Dec 19 2005 // The country needs to consider where and how it builds if it is to avoid the worst effects of another Hurricane Katrina or Sept. 11 attack, according to experts at the recent National Conference of Insurance Legislators...
CUT IN PAYMENTS:
Dec 19 2005 // In a decision that could cost the state millions of dollars, a judge said the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation did not follow state procedures when it cut payments to hospitals for treating injured workers. The...
Marin County Contractor Pleads Guilty
Dec 18 2005 // A licensed general contractor and owner of a Marin County, Calif., roofing company has pled guilty to workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud, unemployment insurance fraud and filing false income tax...
States Urged to Prepare for Catastrophes by Enforcing Smarter Land Use
Dec 18 2005 // The country needs to consider where and how it builds if it is to avoid the worst effects of another Hurricane Katrina or Sept. 11 attack, according to experts at the recent National Conference of Insurance Legislators...
News Briefs
Dec 18 2005 // MISSOURI Insurer to Pay $8 Million: State Farm Insurance has been ordered to pay more than $8 million to a tow truck driver and his sister-in-law who were acquitted of insurance fraud after being accused of faking the...
Opinion
Dec 18 2005 // Health Care Networks: A New Approach for Workers’ Compensation in Texas House Bill 7 enacted sweeping workers’ compensation reforms. One of those reforms was the establishment of health care provider networks....
Choice of Medical Care Provider Affects Injured Worker Outcomes
Dec 18 2005 // The choice of medical care providers to treat injured workers by either workers or their employer not only impacts medical costs but also a variety of outcomes for injured workers, according to a study by the Workers...
News Briefs
Dec 18 2005 // FLORIDA State Farm of Florida 8.6 Percent Rate Request Approved The Florida Department of Insurance approved an average statewide premium rate hike of 8.6 percent for State Farm of Florida, the largest insurer of homes in...
Florida Authorities ‘Draw a Line in the Sand,’ Tighten Workers’ Comp Enforcement
Dec 16 2005 // In October, 2003, when the Florida Legislature approved an updated workers’ compensation program, legislators “drew a line in the sand,” according to Andrew Sabolic, chief of the Florida Bureau of...
Maine Allows 1.2% Workers’ Comp Rate Hike Starting in Jan.
Dec 15 2005 // The Maine Bureau of Insurance has modified the request of the industry’s National Council on Compensation Insurance for an average 1.8 percent increase in workers’ compensation rates for policy year 2006 to 1.2...
Calif. Man Sentenced Following Plea on Pair of Workers’ Comp Fraud Counts
Dec 15 2005 // Ventura County (California) District Attorney Gregory Totten reported that Everardo Ramirez Vega (DOB 11-28-1967) was recently sentenced after his plea on two felony counts of workers’ compensation fraud. The...
OSHA Responds to Gulf Coast Cleanup with New Guidelines
Dec 15 2005 // The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Washington D.C., announced a new safety and health guidance document, posted today on their Web site. The OSHA document will help workers and employers in determining...
Conn. Approves Industry’s Workers’ Comp Rate Boost
Dec 14 2005 // Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Susan Cogswell has approved a slight boost in workers compensation insurance rates effective Jan. 1. She accepted the recommendations from the industry’s National Council on...
NCCI Report Criticizes S.C. Workers’ Compensation Plan
Dec 14 2005 // The National Council on Compensation Insurance has issued an independent evaluation of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s workers’ compensation overhaul proposal and says the governor’s top...
