Two companies have been fined a total of $155,000 after a worker in Western Sydney was blinded and left with multiple facial and skull fractures when a high-pressure gas hose fitting came loose, according to a report from the New South Wales Government.

 

 

Weldlok operates a large welding and fabrication facility in Yagoona, and Fluid Tech Hydraulics Pty Ltd is based in Lidcombe and does onsite installation and maintenance of fluid gas equipment as well as welding and fabrication. Oct. 13, 2006, 63-year-old shift supervisor Hasib Kamenjasevic was switching over the gas lines from the empty to full high pressure oxygen tanks. An explosion occurred within the hose and fittings connected to the high pressure oxygen tanks. The hoses broke away from the tanks and struck him with considerable force on the face and head. (WCxKit)

 

 

Kamenjasevic sustained significant injuries to his head and face, which resulted in the loss of sight in both eyes, and multiple skull and facial fractures. He also spent months in rehabilitation and his permanent injuries mean he will never be able to return to work. The WorkCover investigation found that both companies had failed to carry out appropriate safety protocols that would most likely have prevented these serious injuries.

 

 

The NSW Industrial Court was told that approximately six months earlier, Kamenjasevic’s employer Weldlok, contracted Fluid Tech to install the high-pressure oxygen line with hose and fittings. The investigation found that Fluid Tech installed a hose designed primarily for hydraulics, and not designed for use with high-pressure oxygen.

 

 

Fluid Tech did not ensure the hose and its fitting was certified for use with high pressure oxygen, nor did they carry out any safety tests on the hose or its fittings to ensure they were safe for use prior to, during or after the installation. Weldlok had also failed to carry out their own risk assessment which the court found would most likely have discovered the incorrect hose and fittings. (WCxKit)

 

 

Fluid Tech Hydraulics Pty., Ltd., and Weldlok were charged with breaches of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2000. Fluid Tech Hydraulics was fined $95,000 and Weldlok fined $60,000.

 

Posted in Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |

 

The U.S. Department of Labor recently marked the 10th anniversary of administering the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

 

 

As the DOL points out, the EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to eligible workers and their survivors who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. The department has administered Part B of the EEOICPA since the program's inception in 2001, and was charged with the implementation of Part E, created by an amendment to the EEOICPA, Oct. 28, 2004. To date, the department has paid more than $7.2 billion in compensation and medical benefits to over 71,400 eligible individuals.(WCxKit)

 

 

"Since the EEOICPA's inception, the Labor Department has been committed to fulfilling the promises made to Cold War veterans," said Rachel Leiton, director of the Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation, which administers the EEOICPA. "I am very proud of the hard work and dedication of our employees. The benefits paid to eligible workers and their families have far exceeded the original expectations from the time the program began. I encourage all individuals who may be entitled to benefits to contact us toll-free at (866) 888-3322 and file a claim."

 

 

Part B of the EEOICPA covers current or former workers who have been diagnosed with cancers, beryllium disease or silicosis, and whose illness was caused by exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica while working directly for the U.S. Department of Energy, DOE contractors or subcontractors, designated Atomic Weapons Employers or beryllium vendors.

 

 

The Labor Department has approved 51,576 claims under Part B of the EEOICPA. Part E of the EEOICPA provides federal compensation and medical benefits to DOE contractors and subcontractors who worked at covered DOE facilities and sustained an illness as a result of exposure to toxic substances. The Part E benefit payout has exceeded $2.3 billion.(WCxKit)

 

 

The EEOICPA also provides additional compensation for uranium workers who worked at facilities covered by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Justice. Additionally, certain survivors of nuclear weapons industry workers are eligible for benefits under Parts B and E. To assist individuals regardless of where they live, the department has 11 stationary resource centers located throughout the country. These resource centers provide an initial point-of-contact for individuals interested in filing a claim under the EEOICPA, and staff provide both in-person and telephone-based assistance.

 

Posted in Management Commitment, Settling WC Claims |

 

While welcoming the fact the government has partially climbed-down from its original proposals, Great Britain's Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said it will still oppose any new plans that would result in compromised safety.

 

 

According to PCS information, the change means some Coast Guard stations previously threatened with closure will be saved, and all those remaining will stay open 24 hours. This recognizes the need for around-the-clock coverage to preserve the vital local knowledge the government initially claimed would not be lost, but which was proved wrong.(WCxKit)

 

 

Last month's announcement is a partial victory for communities that campaigned to save what is an essential public service they hold dear. But it will be a bitter blow for those still under threat, according to the PCS. The union is concerned the government has made no commitment to prevent compulsory redundancies and concerned that, again, the proposals say nothing about improving pay for coast guards who are the worst paid in the emergency services. These new plans must now be subject to full and meaningful consultation involving staff, unions, the public, and other interested parties.

 

 

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka noted, "We pay tribute to our coast guard members and people in their communities who have fought so hard to defend what is a vital public service.(WCxKit)

 

 

"This fight is not over. We are committed to ensuring we retain the local knowledge of our coastlines that is essential to saving lives, as we are determined to defend all public services and our communities from the government's cuts."

 

Posted in Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |

 

The debate over bundled program services vs. unbundled program services is often a matter of perspective. For readers wondering what we mean, bundled program services are when the self-insured employer gets all claim handling services from one service provider. Unbundled is when the self-insured employer gets claim handling services from multiple providers.

 

 

In addition to claims-adjusting services, there is an array of auxiliary services the self-insured employer will need. These include medical triage, physical therapy, nurse case management, medical bill review, pharmacy benefit manager, special investigations unit (SIU), defense attorneys, risk control/safety services, and data management services. In the bundled program, a single third-party administrator (TPA) will provide all claim handling services to the self-insured employer, while in the unbundled program, the self-insured employer will be dealing with several service providers besides the TPA providing the claims adjusting.(WCxKit)

 

 

When an account executive for an insurance broker's office and an account executive for a large TPA (with all the various services available) talk to a self-insured employer’s risk manager, account executives will place the emphasis of their sales pitch on the convenience of having one TPA administer everything, the seamless coordination of all aspects of claims handling, and the economies of scale having the multifaceted TPA handle everything.

 

 

When an account executive of a small TPA delivers a sales presentation,  emphasis is placed on the better price o be provided without all the large TPA overhead, along with the personalized attention their adjusters and other employees will provide.

 

 

Neither the large nor small TPA will mention leakage (the money you will spend unnecessarily) by having either the bundled program approach or the unbundled program approach. Both approaches have flaws and the account executives for both the bundled and unbundled programs will often not realize the leakage their company's approach to claim services cost the self-insured employer.

 

 

Leakage in the bundled program often results from the fact that it is a bundled program. Without precise guidelines (which account executives definitely do not want), it is way too easy in the bundled program for an adjuster to assign a nurse case manager on a claim where the adjuster could make the same few phone calls to find out an employee's medical status. It is also too easy for the adjuster to refer a claim to the SIU then to take necessary recorded statements from the employee, the employee's supervisor, etc. When a self-insured employer is paying a nurse case manager, the pharmacy benefit manager and the SIU to make phone calls the adjuster should have made, you can have major unnecessary claim-handling expense leakage.

 

 

Another leakage source in the bundled programs is often service cost. If the in-house nurse case manager at a large TPA charges $10 more per hour for the same nurse case management services than the small independent provider of medical management services – that is leakage. All charges to the self-insured employer may be valid, but if the nurse case manager puts in 50 hours of work over the life of the claim, an extra $10 per hour amounts to $500 in leakage.

 

 

Leakage also occurs with unbundled programs. If a TPA has to contact an outside vendor for the claim handling services needed, any communication or follow-through delays can become leakage. For example, if a TPA adjuster has to wait on approval to employ a nurse case manager or an outside surveillance company, a two-day delay is two extra days of indemnity benefits. That may not sound like much, but if the same nurse case manager the adjuster hired recommends a change in medical care and the adjuster has to obtain his supervisor's approval another day is lost. Again it does not sound like much, but the cumulative affect of delays in an unbundled program can bring substantial additional cost.

 

 

Another aspect of the unbundled program to avoid is delegating to the adjuster the responsibility of hiring other vendors . Other vendors in an unbundled program should be designated by the self-insured employer. If not, the adjuster hires his golfing buddy to do surveillance on the claimant with the questionable injury. Or, the adjuster may hire the defense attorney who has the best Christmas party, not the best defense attorney for your work comp claims. When the adjuster is also given the responsibility of reviewing and approving vendor service fees when the adjuster has chosen them herself, the adjuster could be more lenient, resulting in additional leakage through higher-than-necessary service bills.(WCxKit)

 

 

Whether the self-insured employer uses a bundled services approach or unbundled services, it must remain the priority of the self-insured employer to closely scrutinize all service costs to be sure the services are being provided in the most cost-efficient manner and that claims leakage does not occur.

 

 

Posted in Assessment & Diagnostics, Implementation and Rolling Out Your Program, TPA and Claims Administration |

 

When an employer gets a loss run from the carrier, he may glance at it before tossing it into the recycling bin. Most do not review it as they should. A lag report can show many good things and many bad things. It can show injury dates, dollars paid out, claimant information, and so on. But most importantly, it shows the lag time between the alleged injury date and when the carrier received the actual claim and had it set up and ready to investigate. It is within this realm that information really, really counts. Lag time can count for a lot of wasted claims dollars. We go over the importance of reviewing a lag report below.

 

 

It comes down to time. In the adjuster's world, time is critical. Time is what can kill your defenses on a claim. Time can mean accrued lost wages before the adjuster even gets a claim. Lag time means medical treatment that has already happened may or may not be important to the rehabilitation of an injured worker. Lag time contributes to losing certain defenses an adjuster may have, depending on the jurisdiction of the claim being handled. It's all about time, time, time. (WCxKit)

 

 

You can take any one of the issues mentioned in the paragraph above and tell an adjuster. Watch them cringe with discomfort. All of these aspects hurt our defenses handling a claim. Adjusters like to be involved from the very beginning. This way they can steer the worker toward an occupational clinic. They can get an injured worker back to work in the light duty program, eliminating wage loss exposure.

 

 

Adjusters can decrease wasted medical treatment dollars by not covering unauthorized treatment. All of these things mean fewer claim dollars paid out in one capacity or another.  The bottom line is… the sooner the adjuster gets the claim, the better chance you have of saving money. And not just on one claim. Think in the scale of years. Over the course of a year, if you took the expenses paid out when an adjuster gets a claim the day after an injury, and compare it to the costs associated when an adjuster gets a claim 30 days after a reported injury, the results are night and day. Call your claims in right away so the professionals can do their job. Don’t bleed money and claim expense dollars over nothing.

 

 

It is not just a big deal, it is a HUGE deal. As mentioned above, every single one of those issues is a major expense and can lead to large exposures. Some employers do not even call a claim in until a worker is heading for surgery. This means months and months of treatment have gone by without the proper person monitoring it — the adjuster. Most lag reports are broken down by whether the delay was between the injury and reporting to the employer or from the reporting to employer to reporting to the carrier. If the employee is late in reporting the claim to the employer, there could be a problem with the post-injury response. If there is a delay in reporting by the employer to the carrier, there could be a problem with staffing in the department charged with calling in the claims. Either situation is fixable, if you have taken the time to analyze the report. Review of a lag report is a standard part of a cost containment assessment. Consultants will want the lag report broken down by division.

 

 

The adjuster loses out on chances to form a defense from the very beginning when a claim is reported late. There can be other medical costs associated that did not even need to be considered. If a person is in chiropractic care for eight weeks, and not improving, the adjuster would have been monitoring the situation. There is a correlation between increased claim costs and every day that goes by when it is not reported to your carrier. You need to file those claims as soon as possible, to save your own money.

 

 

It is easy. Call claims in to your carrier. And do not wait until next week, do it now. Do not wait for your agent or broker to call it in for you; just call it in. That way it is off your desk, and in the hands of the people whose job it is to handle claims every day. This simple act, calling the claim in as soon as it is reported, can save you a ton. It speeds everything up. The adjuster is involved from the very beginning, and the injured worker knows what to do because they have been in contact with their adjuster. If the injured worker know what to do, knows the claim is being handled, it is much less likely that person will hire an attorney. Once an attorney is hired, the cost of a claim nearly doubles.

 

 

The doctors know what treatment is authorized and what treatment is not, so they can provide only authorized treatment. Everyone wins the sooner a carrier gets a claim. This is what they do everyday, and they are good at doing it. Calling a claim in does not take that long. Some carriers allow you to email or fax claims in.

 

 

Everyone is busy these days. A common excuse given when a claim is called in late is, “I forgot.” Unfortunately, that is not acceptable. By forgetting, not only did you potentially ruin the defense of a claim, but you may have opened yourself up for a state fine, depending on the jurisdiction. So no more excuses!

 

 

You may get these reports every two weeks or once a month. They can provide you with a lot of information. It can show trending in injuries. It can show that a certain department is having a streak of slip/falls, automatically telling you that you should analyze what is going on at that facility before someone gets seriously  injured; it's time for a hazard analysis.

 

 

It shows you injury dates, injury details, claimant names, dollars spent to date, dollars reserved for the life of the claim, etc. It really takes a lot of time to compile that information in a nice, neat report and send it to you. The carrier monitors these reports very closely, as a way to see how they are doing and what claims they have out there for each employer. Carriers take a lot of time to analyze the injuries, and the associated costs.

 

 

So for you to toss it aside, you are doing a great disservice to your own company. If you do not know how to read it, call your adjuster or broker. Make an appointment to go over it with them in person. Develop that relationship with your carrier and adjuster. This is what helps your claims environment run smoothly. In the end, just do not toss it aside. Take the time to look at it, and know what you are looking at.

 

 

You have identified some injury trends and you need to know how to correct the problem. First off, good for you – knowing is half the battle! By coming to this conclusion, you are already helping improve your claims exposure. The first step is identification.

 

 

The next step is to talk with your carrier or adjuster to see what tools they have to help you. Carriers have loss-prevention departments, and these people can come out to your shop to take a look at what is going on, and recommend ways to decrease claims and injury exposure. Sometimes ergonomic consultants can be brought in to view your workstations to make them easier on your employees. Not only does this help you from a claims standpoint, it can also help your employees become more productive while decreasing the stress and strain on their bodies. And that is a win-win combination. (WCxKit)

 

 

When you get that lag report or loss run, take the time to go over it. Know what it means, and how it can help you identify problems you can improve on. Nobody wants to get hurt, and no employer wants to lose money paying for claims. Decrease your exposure, increase your knowledge, increase your chances of defending a claim by getting your losses to your carrier as quickly as you can, and increase your productivity for your workers. This creates a winning environment for all involved.

 

 

Posted in Claim Management |

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation to protect volunteer drivers from being denied auto coverage or paying extra for car insurance premiums simply because the driver is a volunteer.

 

 

According to information from Gov. Quinn’s office, House Bill 1378 also prohibits insurers from imposing a surcharge on or increasing the rate for a vehicle policy solely due to one or more of the  drivers being a volunteer.

 

 

“Many seniors rely on others when they need to go to the grocery store, pick up prescriptions, or visit the doctor, and it is important their volunteer drivers have the insurance coverage they need,” Gov. Quinn said. “This legislation clears hurdles for the volunteer drivers who are helping our seniors maintain their independence.”

 

 

Illinois is home to more than two million adults ages 60 and older. Through the Department on Aging, the state administers programs to assist the most vulnerable seniors to remain independent. With more seniors relying on transportation services to remain active and independent, a number of alternative transportation programs for seniors have been established in Illinois.

 

 

One such program is the Independent Transportation Network America (ITN), a public-private partnership with 16 affiliates in 12 states. The ITN service allows seniors who are unable to or no longer wish to drive to donate their cars to ITN in exchange for rides from volunteers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Many ITN volunteer drivers use their own vehicles to transport or run errands for seniors.

 

 

Volunteer drivers must verify they hold the proper liability insurance, but differing policies among insurers have in some cases limited the number of available drivers. HB 1378 removes an impediment to the operation of nationally-affiliated transportation networks.

 

 

This legislation will help expand the pool of volunteer drivers for organizations operating in the city of Chicago and the counties of Bureau, Henderson, Henry, Knox, LaSalle, McDonough, Mercer, Putnam, Rock Island, and Warren. While insurers in these areas may not refuse or impose a surcharge based solely upon volunteer driver status, HB 1378 does not prevent the insurer from considering factors other than volunteer status when issuing policies or setting rates for volunteer drivers.(WCxKit)

 

House Bill 1378, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Lyons, D-Chicago, and Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Cicero, goes into effect immediately.

Posted in Insurance Issues, Rates, Premiums |

Ontario is helping ensure worker safety by conducting a summer blitz of construction sites across Ontario, according to a report from the Ministry of Labor.(WCxKit)

 

 

This month, the safety blitz will focus on hazards involving access equipment such as ladders, work platforms, or other elevating devices. The blitz will help keep construction sites safe by checking on practices related to access equipment, including:

1.      Worker training.

2.      Safe use, inspection and testing.

3.      Maintenance records and other documentation.

4.      Rescue and emergency procedures.

 

 

Protecting construction workers is part of the government's continued commitment to prevent workplace injuries through its Safe at Work Ontario  strategy.

 

 

“Hazards involving improper use of access equipment put workers at needless risk. The McGuinty government is committed to eliminating workplace injuries. Workers have a right to return home each day, safe and sound,” said Charles Sousa, minister of Labor.

 

 
Since 2008, Ontario safety inspectors have made more than 266,000 field visits and conducted 33 inspection blitzes. Inspectors have issued more than 425,000 compliance orders since 2008.

 

 

Posted in Management Commitment, Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |

 

An employer will always know a lot about her employees. Depending on the size of your shop, the boss sees her workers every workday. She talks to them about their weekends. She asks about their kids and families. Over time one really can find out a lot about employees.

 

 

You may think it is only the “bad” employees who get injured or complain about being injured at work — that they are the ones filing the claims and making a big deal about being sore at the end of the day – you are probably wrong. The complainers aren’t always the ones to watch out for.(WCxKit)

 

 

Not exactly. An adjuster will tell you often it is “good” employees who can pull off a bad claim and make it stick. After all, they know exactly what to say, who to say it to, and what to do after alleging an injury. Most often a “good” employee is the one who knows how to work the system. So, the lesson here is to watch out for ALL injuries. Here are some ways employees can fool you and the adjuster:

 

 

Any employee of more than a year can pose a threat. They have been around long enough to see a other employees get hurt, make a claim, get some time off, and try to get their claim accepted. Most often, going on work comp is not as glamorous as it seems. It can really be more bothersome to a person’s daily routine. After all, you get less money, you miss time from work, you lose out on personal time as you go from doctor to doctor, and from therapy appointment to therapy appointment. It is really no fun at all.

 

 

But, if a long-term employee wants to make a work injury claim, it can probably be done. Any repetitive job has the exposure to start an injury off on the “right” foot. If you do the same job, on the same machine, day after day, then, of course, it makes sense that you could potentially become injured. A lot of the time these claims are for tendonitis. Shoulders get sore, elbows hurt, and it gets harder and harder to work all those hours every week in that same job.

 

 

On paper, when adjusters receive a new claim they look at the type of injury, then they look at the person’s date of hire. It can make perfect sense that a five-year employee can get tendonitis from work duties. And, if the medical evidence is there, adjusters lose ammo to fight the claim. These claims are accepted all the time. It is later down the road, when these people do not get any better four months after they reported their injury, that the adjuster really digs in to see what is going on.

 

 

Maybe the injury is a combination of work and arthritis. Then the correlation has to be made between what is work related, and what is there due to normal arthritis. Maybe none of this was actually work related, and it is all a worsening of a person’s arthritic condition. The adjuster will find out in the end, but it takes some time to get to this diagnosis and proclamation.

 

 

New employees will run to their supervisor right away and start talking about how something job-related is hurting them. Some of these new employees wait a few months to see if the condition will go away. A lot of times these claims can be based on new job duties, since maybe the worker was unemployed for two years prior to coming to your workplace and they are just out of shape. I do not come across too many employees who have worked somewhere for two weeks, and immediately make a repetitive injury claim. The claim that has the most merit is a traumatic injury claim from a laceration, or a contusion from falling down or being hit by something.

 

 

But older employees will play their cards differently. They start off by telling some coworkers about their pain. Then maybe they go to some other supervisors and talk about a job task that is bothering their shoulder. Then finally they make their way to the HR office to actually file the claim. Now, the worker has the backup of all of these other employees supporting their story of ongoing pain over the last few months. This helps them legitimize their story, and it makes it seem less fraudulent. And in some cases they may be right, but that does not mean that their injury is actually caused by work duties. That is for the adjuster to decide.

 

 

The occupational physician will ask the employee what the job consists of, and what is done on an average day. Workers who have repetitive jobs will sometimes inflate duties to come off as more credible. But physicians will also ask how long they have been there, and how often per day they are doing these tasks. The long-term employee again thinks seniority is on their side and they have more evidence to add to their claim. And, again, that may be true, but it is for the adjuster to decide what is compensable and what is not based on the medical evidence.

 

 

One thing seen in medical reports is employees telling doctors they have never had pain like this before in 15 years of work. That is all well and good, if it is true. Chances are it is not. The statements that employees make to their doctors do not hold a lot of weight in the adjuster’s world. Adjusters look at medical evidence, and causal relation. They get job descriptions from the employer, to see if it matches up with the employee statements. And if they do not, that is one red flag raised to show something else is going on with the claim.

 

 

Good, long-term employees think they have seniority to fly under the radar. Especially true again with subjective, repetitive injury claims. In the mind of the worker, they may think years on the job are all the evidence they need to pull off a claim. Even more so if they have no prior claims filed with this employer. But, again, this is not always the case. It does not matter how long you have been there, congenital issues can contribute to any injury.

 

 

It is just a matter of when that shoulder finally gives out. It very well could be at work, but that does not mean that work actually caused the injury. Just because you are at work when something happens, that does not mean it is actually work-related, and the cause of your issues are 100 percent due to actual work.

 

 

Finally, the good long-term employees think they can file a claim with no problems. They think they are great employees, with good work histories. They do not complain a lot, they work hard every day. So why was their claim denied? The answer is a combination of all of the above. Congenital issues contribute to every claim.

 

 

A subjective claim is an uphill battle. The worker has to show that despite arthritis, the non-occupational shoulder surgery they had five years ago, their medical leave for some other kind of surgery, despite the fact that they are a two-pack a day smoker, despite the fact they are 90 pounds overweight —  their claim is legit because they are a good guy. Chances are, things are not going to turn out the way they hope with that claim they filed. Even if you as the owner of a company believe 100 percent that this claim is probably work related, the adjuster may just have a different point of view. (WCxKit)

 

 

You may think that long-term workers get a free pass when filing a claim, based on the factors listed above. But the world of insurance is a nitpicky, finicky world, going over everything with a fine-tooth comb. And those claims you would think would be accepted, sometimes get denied. It does not matter that you are a hard worker and a long-term employee. The medical speaks for itself, and that is what the adjuster uses to make a decision. Period.

 

 

Posted in Fraud and Abuse |

 

The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers Compensation (TDI-DWC), is now offering workers compensation system data online.

 

 

Interactive tools allow users to create customized graphics and download the charts and data from the on-line site.

 

On the site, users can find:

1.      Workers compensation claims data.

2.      Income and death benefit information.

3.      Dispute resolution.

4.      Medical fee disputes.

5.      Designated doctor appointments.

6.      Medical benefits.

 

Rod Bordelon, commissioner of workers compensation said, “We are pleased to provide information in an interactive format that allows system participants to more easily access aggregate claims information.”

 

 

The report contains information from 2006 through 2010 and eliminates the need for workers comp system participants to submit open records requests for the information.(WCxKit)

 

It is available for free here.

 

Posted in Assessment & Diagnostics, Benchmarking & FTE & Operational Comparison |

The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers Compensation (TDI-DWC), recently issued disciplinary orders under the Commissioner of Workers Compensation Rod Bordelon. The actions are related to violations of the Texas labor code.

 

Among the many disciplinary orders posted for 2011 are the following:(WCxKit)

 

 

Ace American Insurance Co. of Philadelphia, Penn., was fined $40,000 for failing to timely pay a medical bill and failure to pay for preauthorized medical services.

 

 

For failing to accurately report medical bill and payment data to the TDI-DWC America First Lloyds Insurance Company of Richardson was fined $9,000.

 

 

A fine of $2,500 was levied against the Connecticut Indemnity Company of Addison, Texas, for failing to pay an order awarding benefits; and failing to comply with an order of the Commissioner or TDI-DWC.

 

EBI, LLC of Parisippany, NJ, was fined $2,500 for improperly billing injured employee for provided workers compensation medical services provided.

 

 

FedEx Freight, Inc., of Memphis, Tenn., was fined $7,500, for failing to accurately report medical bill and payment data to the TDI-DWC.

 

 

A fine of $2,500 was levied against Netherlands Insurance Company of Boston, Mass., for failing to accurately submit pay income benefits to injured employee.

 

 

And Valdez, Anthony Francis M.D. of El Paso was ordered to cease and desist from participating in the workers compensation system because he provided health care and received remuneration for services to injured employees after being denied admission to approved doctors list.

 

 

Alpha Dental Programs, Inc., of Flower Mound was fined $25,000 for failing to pay clean claims in a timely manner.(WCxKit)

 

 

To read more violations, check the TFI-DWC website here.

 

 

Posted in Employment Law Issues, Legal Doctrines |