State and federal dignitaries echoed one another, during AgSafe’s Innovation virtual conference, in vocalizing high praise for America’s agriculture community amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Secretary of California’s Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Karen Ross stated, “I hope that every American that uses a knife, spoon, and a fork on a daily […]
There are a lot of paths that people take before landing in workers’ compensation as a profession. Most paths are unexpected and mostly underwhelming. Not so for Cynthia Ortiz, Captain in the U.S. Army and Utilization Review Nurse for Risico Total Managed Care. Her journey to workers’ compensation has been nothing short of heroic […]
Academics have been fervently working to uncover trustworthy scientific evidence on which to base COVID-19 treatment protocols and business response recommendations. ReedGroup’s MDGuidelines, publishers of the evidence-based occupational medicine practice guidelines independently researched and developed by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), announced this week its publication of the very first […]
During their 40th Annual Forum in Monterey, California, the Agricultural Personnel Management Association (APMA) took a deep dive into the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019 (H.R. 5038). The bill is aimed at modernizing the H-2A temporary agricultural employment of foreign workers, or guest worker program. The conversation on 5038 is meaningful as thirty-three […]
I’m continuously inspired by the journeys that leaders in workers’ compensation take on their path to the industry. Such rich, diverse, and in some cases heartbreaking backgrounds serve as the ideal bedrock for a system that serves people who have been injured on the job left feeling vulnerable, mourning, and in dire need of […]
The nation’s largest workers’ compensation community came together recently in Dana Point, California to attend one of the country’s more prominent trade conferences. To kick off the event, a panel of work comp subject matter experts, representing system stakeholders and employers, was assembled to address issues ranging from California’s chief public official’s appetite to […]
The California Applicants’ Attorney Association (CAAA) is promoting AB 1107 to California Legislators in hopes of materially modifying utilization review exemptions for medical treatment. CAAA has gone on the record stating that they are “dealing with a system that is broken and has failed to deliver the necessary medical care to workers who suffer […]
Another deadline has come and gone for the California workers’ compensation community. “A utilization review process that modifies or denies requests for authorization of medical treatment,” according to newly modified Labor Code section 4610(g)(4), “shall be accredited on or before July 1, 2018” by an independent, nonprofit organization that establishes and monitors UR performance […]
The workers’ compensation system looks much differently today than it did a decade ago, partly due to the opioid epidemic. Tragedies of this scale have a way of spurring unexpected outcomes bringing people together from all walks of life and disciplines. Workers’ compensation stakeholders have, and continue to experience, numerous paradigm shifts among insurers, […]
Many minds in the workers’ compensation community have been monopolized by California’s King v. CompPartners, Inc. case. On August 23rd, the State’s Supreme Court issued their ruling on the high-profile dispute: Workers’ compensation law provides the exclusive remedy for an employee who alleges injuries caused by a utilization reviewer’s denial of medical treatment. This […]
