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Indiana lawmakers are considering legislation that would give injured workers the right to choose their treating physician in workers compensation and occupational disease claims. H.B. 1069, introduced Friday, would amend Indiana law to require employers to pay for an “attending physician” selected by the employee after June 30, 2026, regardless of when the underlying injury or occupational disease occurred. Under…

Five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, workers compensation litigation over the virus continues to move through jurisdictions. Courts are actively revisiting questions of causation, rebuttals of statutory presumptions — many of which have expired — long-COVID determinations, disability and the broader boundaries of occupational disease law. Decisions issued in 2024 and 2025 continue to reshape the system,…

A bipartisan bill newly introduced in Congress aims to “modernize” the federal workers compensation system by allowing physician assistants and nurse practitioners to diagnose, certify and oversee treatment for federal employees injured on the job. The proposal, titled the Improving Access to Workers’ Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act and introduced Tuesday on the Senate floor, would amend the Federal…

An Illinois Appellate Court upheld a lower court's decision, rejecting a Berwyn police officer's challenge to the commencement date and amount of his disability benefits. The officer, Michael Vokac, was injured in March 2020 and had been receiving benefits under the Public Employee Disability Act, but disputed when his pension benefits should have started and how much they should be.…

Roughly 70 former employees of a Metro East factory tied to the Manhattan Project, and the spouses of deceased workers, have become the first group in Illinois to receive workers’ compensation for radiation exposure. “I am literally a landmark decision,” said Larry Burgan, one of the former employees of Spectrulite Consortium Inc. That old Spectrulite facility that straddled the municipal…

Nursing professionals should carefully document patient care to avoid malpractice claims, which experts say are increasing in severity. From 2020 to 2024, the average total incurred cost of malpractice claims involving nursing professionals increased by 12.5% to $236,749, according to a report released recently by the Hatboro, Pennsylvania-based Nurses Service Organization, a division of Aon Affinity, in collaboration with CNA…