An Ohio appellate court held that where medical factors alone precluded an injured worker from enjoying sustained remunerative employment, there was no practical purpose for the Commission to consider non-medical factors such as vocational rehabilitation or the...
A compensation judge’s determination that a claimant was no longer a "qualified employee” entitled to receive rehabilitation benefits under Minnesota Rule 5220.0100, subps. 22 and 34 (2015), in light of her part-time job with a new employer was erroneous,...
In Minnesota, once a rehabilitation plan is approved, TTD benefits generally may be terminated when a job offer is refused. Where an employee tendered to her employer a notice of resignation that was to become effective at the end of a three-month period and she...
The Supreme Court of Hawaii, vacating a lower court decision, held that substantial evidence showed that a new type of neuromonics device was “reasonably needed” for treating an injured worker’s tinnitus, and that based on this finding, the worker was not medically...
A new analysis of 2015 independent medical review (IMR) outcomes shows there was no significant reduction in IMR volume in the first quarter of this year, even though the independent medical reviewers continue to concur with the utilization review (UR) physician’s...
A new analysis of independent medical review decisions issued in 2014 suggests that the medical dispute resolution process mandated by the workers’ compensation reform bill enacted in 2012 is working to assure that the treatment provided to California injured...
This list of recent noteworthy cases was compiled by Keith J. Kasper of McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Buchard, PC. The long awaited proposed re-write of the VT WC Rules has been unveiled and will be ready for public comment soon. DEPARTMENT DECISIONS...
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...
Injured employees who are off work for a significant amount of time are often out of physical shape and are not physically ready to return to work when they have reached their maximum medical improvement. Work hardening, which is performed by physical therapists...
A decision by a rehabilitation counseling professor to seek out and follow a physical therapy regime utilizing a “Thera-Band” (a resistive latex exercise band), in spite of the fact that her treating physician told her that she did not need such therapy, meant...