Welcome to the Roundtable Roundup, the most active discussions, highlights and summary of all the action on the Workers Compensation Roundtable Linked In Group. We appreciate your thoughts, comments, and participation in the WC Roundtable.
If you are not currently a member, join the WC Roundtable here: http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=1922050
FOR INJURED RESTAURANT SERVER, DELAY DEFINES WORKERS COMPENSATION
My father in law has been a widower for many years, and since he lives alone my wife and I try to meet him for a meal out a couple times a week. One of those meals has turned in to a regular event, and we meet him early every Sunday morning for breakfast before he goes to church. We’ve been dining in the same restaurant for years, and have become expected regulars. This restaurant is part of a large and presumably self insured chain, well known throughout the midwest and Florida. We’ve had the same server, (we’ll call her Carol) who presets the same booth in preparation for our arrival, for the last couple years.
Comment Highlights:
- Must have been a newbie work comp person.
- As a physician, I cannot fathom that that would be any kind of a rule
- Is it caused in part by a shortage of physicians, in general or on the “approved list?”
- David, great question. She told us the restaurant had another employee one week after hers who had a similar injury after they moved some equipment and he ran into it.
- This is why, as agents, it is our responsibility to place our customers with exceptional carriers.
- Unfortunately, I think this is all too typical.
- That is a monkey wrench in the works.
- These type of situations are way too common.
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS
A consistent and recurrent, if not recently increasing, when a patient is referred to my practice for pain and depression, s/he has a more pressing agenda: “problems with the workers’ compensation system.”
Comment Highlights:
- Very interesting. Tough subject.
- I think the adjuster and the nurse case manager should stay out of it and defer to the physician, directing questions along these lines. Interesting angle
- Good post, thought provoking
SPECIALTY DRUG COSTS TO JUMP 23%
A survey of 60 leading health care vendors conducted by Aon, a major human resources consulting firm, shows that the cost of prescription drugs is on pace to increase by 10 percent in the next year, up from the estimated 6.3 increase over the past year. The cost of specialty pharmacy drugs is rising even faster — 22.7 percent in the coming year versus the estimated 18.2 percent rise over the past 12 months.
Comment highlights:
- All this makes me think is “wow,” what an increase!
- What is most shocking about this article is the increases in generics, that’s alarming.
EMPLOYERS BEWARE: ACA’S HIGH COST PLAN (CADILLAC) TAX IS COMING!
Although seemingly contrary to the goals of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), since for the most part the changes resulting from the ACA tax will result in employees paying for a greater share of their health care out-of-pocket, the study indicates that “the HCPT was a central component of ACA’s mission of raising revenue to fund the cost of coverage expansion under ACA.” Therefore, from its inception, “the HCPT was intended to discourage employers from offering overly-generous benefit plans and help to contain health care spending.
Comment highlights:
- Actually had someone at a conference ask what the ACA had to do with automobiles.
The Roundtable Roundup is brought to you by your group managers:
Michael Stack & Rebecca Shafer; Founders of COMPClub (http://workerscompclub.com); Authors of Amaxx Workers Comp Resource Center (http://reduceyourworkerscomp.com) and Your Ultimate Guide to Mastering Workers Comp Costs (http://wcmanual.com)
Bob Wilson; Author of Bob’s Cluttered Desk (http://www.workerscompensation.com/compnewsnetwork/from-bobs-cluttered-desk/index.1.html) and CEO of Workerscompensation.com – The Workers Comp Compliance Center (http://workerscompensation.com)
