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An employer need not pay the cost of supplying an injured employee with a spinal cord stimulator where both the employee’s testimony and that of the employer’s medical experts indicated the stimulator did not alleviate the pain associated...

Roger Rabb, J.D., Special Correspondent for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter As physicians continue to prescribe opioids such as Vicodin, OxyContin, and codeine to help patients with chronic pain, there is a growing concern that...

Far too often we hear about pill mill doctors who are shut down or even arrested. Rachel Aviv’s article “ Prescription for Disaster ” ( The New Yorker , May 5, 2014) (subscription only) provides insight into the disturbing details of...

Employers are scoring victories by using injured workers’ disclosures in their medical marijuana cards to help defeat claims for workers’ compensation benefits. Note: Trial level decisions, while not binding authority, often deal with cutting...

Today's post comes to us from Walt Schmittinger, offering up the outcome of a UR appeals case tried to the Board in Milford two weeks ago. The appeal was from a UR non-cert of chiropractic care with Dr. Michael Gandolfo. Here is what Walt had to say...

Karen C. Yotis, Esq., a Feature Resident Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter , provides insights into workplace issues and the nuts and bolts of the workers’ comp world. How risky would it be if your mailroom...

A Michigan Survey Suggests That Medical Marijuana Patients Are Decreasing Opioid Use to Treat Chronic Pain Two topics that have received a great deal of attention in recent years regarding the medical treatment of chronic pain have been the use and...

Patients with such disorders 28 times more likely to become addicted to opioids Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter , is a leading commentator and expert on the law of...

By Robert G. Rassp. Esq. “Pain is relevant to mental impairment, since mental illness may change the perception of pain, for example, making it the object of an obsession or a somatic (bodily) expression of an emotional problem. However, it can...

By Ronald E. Weiss, Esq. and Ronald Balter, Esq. 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the enactment of New York’s Workers’ (then Workmens’) Compensation Law. It is well known that the death of so many workers in the horrific Triangle...

The bad news is that opioid abuse related to treating chronic pain remains a serious problem for every workers’ compensation system participant. The good news is that many workers’ compensation jurisdictions are increasing their efforts to...

By John Stahl, Esq. A November 12, 2013 webinar that peer review and drug management firm CID Management of Westlake Village, California sponsored summarized the results of a CID survey of front-line employees and executives in the workers’ compensation...

I have come to realize that there are no easy solutions for the MSP problems we face in claims because the MSP is not the problem. Our MSP issues are collateral damage of more systemic societal problems we face as a nation. We clearly do not know how...

According to the Department of Industrial Relations Director Christine Baker, “ opioid misuse is a national concern ”. As a result of this “misuse”, the Division of Workers’ Compensation recently posted proposed “ Guidelines...

An examination of ACOEM’s newly revised opioid practice guidelines for treatment of pain By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. We hate statistics but policymakers can’t live without them. For example, 100 million residents of the United States...