Enactment by the Illinois Legislature of the 2005 amendments to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act, specifically 820 ILCS 305/8, and the enactment of a new section 8.2 did not alter the important underlying policy in Illinois — that... Read More

Minn. Stat. § 176.83, subd. 5(c), and accompanying rules, under which an employer or workers’ compensation carrier may not be forced to pay chiropractic benefits beyond a 12-week period, does not prevent the injured worker from seeking reimbursement... Read More

A Florida appellate court held a judge of compensation claims had no authority to order an employer to pay the claimant's authorized physician, since reimbursement was handled under § 440.13(7), Fla. Stat., and all reimbursement disputes fell... Read More

In a decision that cast some light on the issue of medical marijuana use by workers’ compensation claimants in New Hampshire, but which did not answer all pertinent questions definitively, the state’s Supreme Court held that the Appeals Board... Read More

A New York appellate court recently affirmed the Board's decision that claimant’s continued use of Amrix—a muscle relaxant—was medically necessary in spite of the employer/carrier’s argument that the Board's Non-Acute Pain... Read More

Beginning January 1, 2012, the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) will begin its six month collection of data to assess insurance carriers for Performance Based Oversight (PBO). The PBO period will last until June 30, 2011. The PBO measures... Read More

A Nebraska appellate court has affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court that limited an injured employee’s medical benefits to the costs of his first medical appointment where it found that the employee thereafter... Read More

A Missouri appellate court held that the state’s Industrial Relations Commission’s power to order an employee (and his spouse) to repay some $41,000 in medical benefits following the successful settlement of a third-party civil action for... Read More

The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission did not commit error when it determined that the running blade prosthetic device requested by claimant was not medically necessary under Va. Code Ann. § 65.2-603. Claimant had suffered a work-related... Read More

In a memorandum decision, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the denial of continued use of OxyContin to an injured worker who sustained a back injury in August 1992, yet who complained of continuing back pain 23 years later, at the... Read More

In Logudice v. Mimi’s Café , 2015 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS --, a WCAB panel affirmed the WCJ’s finding that the defendant was liable for residential relocation, moving costs, rent differential, and housekeeping services as reasonable... Read More

Resolving a split among the state’s judges of compensation claims, a Florida appellate court held that an employer/carrier’s failure to respond timely to a request for a one-time change of physician does not entitle the employee to a physician... Read More

A worker who has a dispute about collecting a worker's compensation award must rely upon civil remedies and does not have an independent tort claim to recover punitive damages and pain and suffering, according to a new decision from the court of appeals... Read More

Where a claimant established a claim for multiple work-related injuries as a result of a stroke that rendered him hemiplegic and wheelchair bound and, as a result of his injuries, claimant was in need of home health care services, some of which were authorized... Read More

An employee, whose left hand was severely injured in an industrial accident, should not only receive a mechanical prosthetic device that allowed him to manipulate his thumb and index finger; he should also receive a “passive” prosthetic left... Read More