Washington state moves further on from pandemic
- Washington state COVID-19 emergency orders put in place by Gov. Jay Inslee during the pandemic ended at the end of October.
- Coronavirus remains a workplace hazard and employers must continue taking precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
- Every employer must assess their specific workplace for COVID-19 hazards and take steps to prevent employee exposure based on that assessment.
- Workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 should be kept out of the workplace for at least five days per Washington State Department of Health guidance.
Webinar assesses workers comp market
- The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) will host a free 30-minute webinar on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, at 2 p.m. ET on its study Trends in the Delaware Workers’ Compensation System, 2015–2020.
- The webinar will address what impact did the 2014 legislation have on total costs per claim.
- It will also discuss whether the 2014 legislation achieve its goal of lowering medical payments per claim and what were the changes in prescription drug payments per claim between 2015 and 2020,
- The webinar also delved into how did medical utilization and duration of temporary disability change in 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Preventing. injuries, cutting costs
- Research from Liberty Mutual Insurance shows that workplace injuries can cost U.S. businesses more than $1 billion a week.
- OSHA sets safety standards and provides resources like educational programming to ensure the safety of workers.
- They require personal protective equipment to be worn on-site, which, in heavy industries, means more than just a mask and can include high-visibility vests, eyewear, and a hard hat.
- Medical bills can cost as much as $600,000 to $1.8 million per case depending on the physical and emotional toll on the injured employee, their family, and co-workers.
AG says healthcare company to pay $15 to settle claims
- Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said OptumRx, a huge pharmacy middleman, has agreed to pay Ohio $15 million to settle claims against it.
- The company says there’s no settlement and that it continues to dispute Yost’s claims.
- OptumRx, a huge pharmacy middleman agreed to pay the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation the money to settle claims that it overbilled the system between 2015 and 2018.
- Optum denied that it had settled the nearly four-year-old case.