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A new Illinois law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker does not repeal or extend the limitation on when an employee can file a claim under the workers' compensation system, it creates "unprecedented new rights," a Chicago-based defense lawyer said. Senate Bill 1596, the Workers' Compensation Repose Act, will allow those barred from making a claim under a 25-year statute of…

In what may ironically be good news, if you were hoping to go to Arbitration in the next week or two at the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, you might not be. That's because Governor Pritzker has essentially fired six Arbitrators who were appointed but not confirmed by previous Governor Rauner. Elections have consequences and the reality is that Republican Governors…

When the price of physician services increases relative to group health rates, injured workers report fewer problems getting the care they want but no significant improvement in physical function or speedier return to work, according to a study released Thursday by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute. WCRI used data taken from interviews with injured workers in 14 states and claims…

Illinois remains a high-price state when it comes to workers' compensation, with costs driven by substantial attorney involvement in cases and medical-legal bills, according to a recently published study by an independent research institute. Massachusetts-based Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), which studied Illinois and 17 other states including neighbors Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin, found that Illinois had one of the…

The dwindling number of states that have no fee schedule, or that set fees according to a percentage of billed charges, are paying far more for outpatient surgery than states that have adopted some version of Medicare’s payment system, according to a report released Thursday by the Workers’ Compensation Institute. WCRI compared payments to hospitals for outpatient surgery in 36…