New analytics tools for workers’ comp data

• The Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau (PCRB) will provide Workers Comp analytics to its 400 member insurers through a new platform.
• The analytics through the Cloverleaf Insurance Intelligence Platform will help PCRB establish a unified platform for claim losses and exposure data.
• The partnership supports PCRB’s mission to be Pennsylvania’s trusted provider of actuarially based information, research, loss costs, and essential educational services for a healthy Workers’ Compensation system, Taylor said in a statement.
• PCRB insurance members can gain access to new self-service analytics about claims loss and exposure data, which allows members to conduct benchmark comparisons against statewide metrics and the broader national industry.
  Read more

Woman denied benefits from dead husband

• A woman appealed the decision of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission in Missouri that denied her petition for death benefits, but the judgment was affirmed.
• She and her husband divorced in 2019, although they continued to live together until he died in a work-related accident.
• While living together, the woman and her ex-husband maintained a joint bank account although the petitioner never deposited any money and her ex-husband paid all the household expenses.
• The court rejected her assertion that the statute’s language created a catch-all category and thus petitioner could not qualify for death benefits after her ex-husband’s death.
  Read more

Fatal work injuries rose 

• A report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found there were 5,486 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2022, a 5.7% increase from 5,190 deaths on the job the prior year.
• In addition,  525 people died specifically from overdoses at work in 2022, up 13.1% from 2021 and 619% from 2011.
• Workers in transportation and material-moving occupations experienced 1,620 fatal work injuries in 2022, an increase of 6.4% from 2021; these workers represent the occupational group with the highest number of fatalities
• Transportation incidents remained the most frequent type of fatal event in 2022 with 2,066 fatal injuries, an increase of 4.2% from 2021; this major category accounted for 37.7% of all work-related fatalities for 2022.
  Read more

Cannabis group has partnership with workers’ comp fund

• The Alabama Medical Cannabis Association has reached a partnership with the Healthcare Workers’ Compensation Fund and Harmon Dennis Bradshaw.
• Qualified employers who are part of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Association can become part of Alabama’s homogeneous healthcare self-insured fund.
• Firms can also provide their employees with workers’ comp coverage and services as they support and care for patients with qualifying, debilitating medical conditions in Alabama.
• HWCF is sponsored by the Alabama Hospital Association and works toward a stable workers’ compensation market, specifically for healthcare and healthcare-related service providers licensed by the State of Alabama.
  Read more