News

The prescribing of topical pain-management creams rose in 2017 workers compensation claims that were not monitored by pharmacy benefits managers, according to a report released Wednesday by Coventry Workers Comp. The second in a series covering workers comp drugs trends, Downers Grove, Illinois-based Coventry compared its 2017 data on managed claims, representing 77.6% of total comp prescriptions, and unmanaged claims,…

Hospital outpatient payments were higher and growing faster in states with percent-of-charge-based fee regulations or no fee schedules, finds a study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) that compares 35 states. States with percent-of-charge-based fee regulations had substantially higher hospital outpatient payments per surgical episode than states with fixed-amount fee schedules—30 to 196 percent higher than the median of…

By Dr. Laura Gardner, Vice President, Products, CLARA Analytics Putting the injured worker first is key to the “advocacy-based claims model,” which puts the worker at the center of all activity. “It focuses on improving the injured worker's experience. Until now, most employers have focused on corporate outcomes. Goals such as cutting costs and reducing days lost. But experts now…

Falls and struck-by incidents continue to cause the largest number of work-related deaths statewide based on preliminary information released today by the state Department of Labor. Struck-by incidents accounted for the most work-related deaths with 19, while falls accounted for 12 deaths. The department's Occupational Safety and Health Division inspected 48 work-related deaths last year. “Year after year, we see…