A Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee held that under the recently enacted pain-management provisions of Tenn. Code Ann. § 50–6–204(j) (2014), pain-management physicians whose offices are within 175 miles of the injured...
A New York appellate court held that the state's Workers' Compensation Board was empowered with the authority to promulgate the state's Non-Acute Pain Medical Treatment Guidelines (“NAPMTG”), and utilizing the guidelines in the case at bar, the Board...
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 Management...
By Deborah G. Kohl, Esq. The last several years have seen the “opioid epidemic” become the hot topic in the workers’ compensation industry. It is a problem that everyone from elected officials, government agencies, insurance carriers, doctors and ultimately...
A New Report Looks at the Early Data in 25 States to See How Opioid Abuse Reform Efforts are Faring in Workers' Compensation Claims In light of the epidemic in deaths caused by prescription opioid overdoses and abuse building since at least the 1990s, reforms...
An Arkansas appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that denied an employee additional medical benefits for continued pain management where the court said the Commission considered the medical evidence, some of which...
By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. Marijuana is used medicinally or recreationally once a year by at least 128 million people in the world since 2012 according to global epidemiology studies. Growing up in California means easy access to marijuana from elementary school...
Two new studies published by Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) show that on average three out of four injured workers in the United States receive opioid prescriptions for pain relief following workplace injuries and that generally, even when...
A federal district court judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed a civil action filed by Travelers Indemnity seeking some $22 million in damages from Cephalon, Inc. over the “off-label” use of two cancer pain medications, determining that Travelers had not sufficiently...
Both utilization review physician and MTUS expressly recommended slow tapering of opioid pain medications The WCAB, in a split panel opinion, rescinded a WCJ’s order denying the applicant’s petition for penalty under Labor Code § 5814 , and held...
A District of Columbia appellate court has affirmed an ALJ’s finding that a claimant did not voluntarily limit her income and was entitled to continue receiving TTD payments related to a work-related injury in spite of the fact that she had been medically cleared...