Click on over to Healthcare Economist, where Jason Shafrin has posted Health Wonk Review to the “Rescue”, a most excellent edition of health policy wonkery, proving that our regular participants have as many trenchant opinions and observations about healthcare post-reform as they did pre-reform.
And in some other news…
Elation – There aren’t all that many good news stories when you hear about a mine collapse but the world has just witnessed one of the rare exceptions in real time. Reuters put global TV viewership at more than a billion – everyone united to see a different kind of reality TV. The Boston Globe offers a powerful portfolio of rescue photos from the Big Picture, and you can also see an in-depth portfolio from the Chilean Government’s Flickr photostream. Newsweek offered a simple but powerful infographic about the ordeal: What if everything you needed to survive had to fit through this space? and The Telegraph offers excellent diagrams of the mine shaft and the rescue. If you haven’t had a chance to read Wright Thompson’s excellent article in Sports Illustrated, Above and Beyond, make it a point to do so. It’s a well-written article that explores the human story from the perspective of one of the miners, a former soccer star, and it also gives a glimpse into the miners’ ordeal and the engineering challenge of the rescue. Also noteworthy: Ken Ward’s thoughts posted at Coal Tattoo. Ward reports on West Virginia mining matters for the Charleston Gazette and has covered far too many mining stories that did not have happy endings. He writes about what we can learn from the Chilean mine rescue.
More on medical marijuana – “Would a request to pay for marijuana be subject to utilization review? What standards would utilization review use to review it?” These and other issues are considered in a recent article on medical marijuana in Risk & Insurance. In all, 14 states and 27 cities have legalized medial marijuana, which means that employers need to familiarize themselves with the laws governing their work force. Substance abuse expert William J. Judge says that employers should treat medical marijuana just as they would any other drug, such as opiates and amphetamines. He notes that the latter are a class of drugs that are illegal until prescribed.
Lifestyle issues and comp – My colleague Jon has been posting about obesity issues as they play out in real-world scenarios. Meanwhile, a new obesity report by the CDC explains the reason for concern, In 2000, there were no states with an obesity prevalence of 30% or more; now there are 9 states. Also, there is no state with an obesity prevalence of less than 15%. In addition to increased legal challenges around obesity issues, there is the additional factor that obesity hinders recovery. And it is not the only so-called “lifestyle issue” that puts a drag on recovery. The folks at Work Comp Complex Care blog look at smoking and how it impacts complex care recovery.
Social media – managing the risk – Check out More Media, More Opportunity, More Risk: The Upside and Downside of Social Media in this month’s issue of Risk Management Magazine. It’s a series of six articles that cover the benefits and the risks involved in social media, allowing with tips for how to manage the risk.
Free online WC conference – Over at Comp Time, Roberto Ceniceros notes that he will be moderating a free online workers comp conference which will address safety, cost control strategies, alternative risk financing, and comp claim medical costs, among other topics. It’s schedule for December 9, and will run for 5.5 hours.
Tags: HWR, medical marijuana, mining, obesity, Social media
