Rural Claims See Better Initial Visits With PAs

WC claims initiated by nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) didn’t necessarily lead to negative outcomes, with some instances showing improved time to treatment, particularly in rural areas.
A recent study by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) looked at those cases compared to claims initially treated by primary care physicians, tracking claims from 29 states between 2013 and 2022.
In certain scenarios, particularly in rural areas, claims initiated by NPs and PAs showed faster time to initial non-emergency services compared to claims initially managed by primary care physicians.
The study examined several key measures, including time to first non-emergency office visit, number of medical visits, use and timing of specialty care, MRI use within six weeks, medical and indemnity payments, and duration of temporary disability.
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Virginia is set to reduce its workers’ compensation insurance rates, as with the National Council on Compensation Insurance proposing an overall average decrease of 8.6% for policies where employers can shop around, and an identical 8.6% increase on the assigned-risk policies for firms that can’t because of their past experience.
The council’s filing with the state corporation commission shows that medical claims accounted for 61.5 cents of every dollar of premium, down from 85.9 cents in 2018.
Employers with more than two employees are required to have workers’ compensation insurance.
Virginia employers on average have the country’s second-lowest WC rates, paying an average 54 cents for each $100 of payroll, according to the National Academy of Social Insurance’s latest annual survey, based on 2022 rates.
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Matthew Coleman has been appointed as an employee member of the Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Board, according to an announcement from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office.
The board consists of nine members appointed by the governor, with three members representing employees, three representing employers, and three representing medical providers.
Coleman is currently a partner and head of the work injury group at Chicago’s Parente & Norem, P.C.
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Bayer is adding $1.37 billion to its reserves to address ongoing U.S. litigation over week killer Roundup, Reuters reported.
The chemicals maker has already paid about $10 billion to settle disputed claims that Roundup, based on glyphosate, causes cancer.
Plaintiffs, including agriculture workers and groundskeeping staffers have said they developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other forms of cancer due to using Roundup, made by Bayer’s Monsanto subsidiary.
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