First responders could get a boost for workplace trauma
- Oklahoma Sen. Darrell Weaver filed a bill that would cover post-traumatic stress disorder with workers’ compensation benefits for first responders.
- Under Weaver’s proposal, first responders that suffer PTSD because of workplace trauma could be eligible to receive medical treatment for up to one year.
- The Workers’ Compensation Commission would have to approve the benefits.
- A similar measure was voted down last year.
Court denies pre-existing injury claim for workers’ comp
- The Intermediate Court of Appeals in West Virginia upheld a decision to deny a man’s workers’ comp claim for cervical facet injections after he sustained neck and shoulder injuries while driving a dump truck.
- The claimant, James Burgoyne, had noted the new injuries had aggravated a previous shoulder issue.
- His physician suggested cervical facet injections to help this, but the claims administrator denied the injections because they were for pre-existing conditions.
- Burgoyne unsuccessfully protested this decision.
An increase in benefits for injured workers
- The Workers Compensation Board of Canada’s Prince Edward Island has agreed to increase the benefits compensation rate for workplace injuries.
- Compensation rates have increased five points to 90 percent of net earnings from 85 percent, the Board ruled.
- Funeral expenses for workers killed on the job have also doubled to $15,000 from $7,500.
- The lump-sum benefit paid to a worker’s family is increasing to 100 percent from 40 percent.
Inflation and workers’ Compensation medical costs increase
- The NCCI provided new insight into inflation and workers’ compensation medical costs.
- The amount paid per visit and the number of visits per claim prompted changes in medical facility costs.
- Facility-paid cost per claim grew 3.3% annually, with regional averages ranging from 2.5% to 4.1%.
- Increases in the amount paid per visit were the main drivers of increased facility costs for the past decade.