Joe Paduda hosts The Superhero Edition of Health Wonk Review, in which he attributes superpowers to our regular health wonk contributors and cites them for doing battle with tough issues. My question is when are we going to get the costumes, Joe?
By the way, while you are at Joe’s blog, don’t overlook his smoking gun post Physican dispensing – boy do we have a deal for you!
Good news – DOL reports that private industry workplace injuries and illnesses declined in 2010. They fell to a rate of 3.5 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, down from 3.6 cases in 2009. But the more serious cases are holding constant: More than one-half of the 3.1 million private industry injury and illness cases reported nationally in 2010 were of a more serious nature that involved days away from work, job transfer, or restriction–commonly referred to as DART cases.
Wellness – Ezra Klein covers Cleveland Clinic’s wellness program in Health Care’s Brave New World of Compulsory Wellness. The program is not without some controversy, but it appears to be working: “Not only has the clinic cut its health-care costs, but its employees are also getting healthier in measurable ways. Workers have lost a collective 250,000 pounds since 2005. Their blood pressure is lower than it was three years ago. Smoking has declined from 15.4 percent of employees to 6.8 percent.”
See you there? – we’re getting close to two important industry events, and we’ll be at both. From November 9 to 10, we’ll be at the National Workers Compensation & Disability Conference in Las Vegas. If you are attending, why not meet up at Mark Walls’ Link UP reception at 5 pm on Wednesday? We’ll also be at the WCRI’s 28th Annual Issues & Research Conference in Boston on November 16 and 17. We’re looking forward to both. Drop us a line if you will be attending too.
Sneak peek – Business Insurance has had a redesign and is offering an “open house” through the 31st of the month. Here’s the workers’ comp section – if you read Workers Comp Insider regularly, you know we are a Roberto Ceniceros fan. The whole publication is worth a glance, BI has an excellent staff of reporters many of whom have been with the publication for years.
Get your fright on – In honor of Halloween weekend, we thought this feature on 8 Terrifying Robots Now Stalking Your Local Hospital was appropriate – but be warned, the feature appears on an irreverent site and if you are at work, it might trigger your company’s net nanny filter. Also on a scary theme, we noted this recent study on Psychopathic bosses.
News Briefs
- Scent-Free Policy for the Workplace
- Workplace Bullying: Make it stop
- Cancer Victim Allowed to Sue for Retaliation
- Want to quit smoking? There’s an app for that.
- Investigators: Better security needed at oil storage tanks to stop deaths
- Next Frontier in Credit Scores: Predicting Personal Behavior
Tags: doctors, DOL, physician dispensing, wellness
