Unnecessary prescription still a challenge

• Injured workers are often prescribed unnecessary drugs, leading to dangerous health conditions and increased complexity of workers’ comp. claim.
• Studies show that injured workers with longer-term opioid prescriptions result in three times longer disability than injured workers with similar injuries who did not receive opioid prescriptions.
• In workers’ compensation, the medical benefits portion of a claim may be open for a number of years or even a lifetime of an injured worker.
• Prescription medications become a bigger portion of the medical expense which is especially true if the injured worker becomes dependent or addicted.
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Underreporting of injuries hinders workers’ comp

• Many workers may encounter challenges in reporting work-related injuries or illnesses to their management or workers’ comp programs.
• A  review by BMC Public Health indicated that 20–91% of workers did not report their injuries or illnesses to management or workers comp programs.
• The review findings indicated that low-wage earners, racial/ethnic minority workers, and workers who perceive a poor psychosocial work environment encounter more barriers to reporting a work-related injury or illness.
• Lack of knowledge regarding reporting, perceptions of injuries as not severe or part of the job, and distrust of reporting consequences.
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Woman files workers comp after amputation at ice cream store

• OSHA is investigating an accident at the Corvallis (Oregon) Cold Stone Creamery where a woman lost three fingers while cleaning an ice cream machine.
• The woman has already filed a workers’ compensation claim in response to the injury and could be pursuing legal action.
• The rotors of an ice cream machine pulled the towel she was using and her hand into the machine’s blades.
• The employees reportedly immediately quit their jobs in response to the incident.
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Texas looking at workers comp measures

• The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation is reviewing all sections in the following chapters in Title 28, Texas Administrative Code.
• Some of these measures include practice and procedure; medical benefits; insurance coverage; and, employer’s report of injury or disease, among other issues.
• The notice of proposed review will be published in the March 31, 2023, issue of the Texas Register. DWC will also post a copy on the TDI website.
• DWC is accepting public comments on whether the reasons for initially adopting these rules continue to exist, and whether these rules should be repealed, readopted, or readopted with amendments.
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