Risk, repackaged drugs, bizarre cases and other news notes

January 11th, 2012 by Julie Ferguson

Risk RoundupPolitical Calculations blog hosts this week’s Cavalcade of Risk, replete with a post rating system. Check it out.
Florida repackaged drugs issue redux – Dave DePaolo posts about a new effort to put a price cap on Florida’s repackaged drugs. He posits that changing economic and regulatory conditions might create a more favorable climate for passage. He also talks about how “capping the price of drugs has been hotly contested by the Florida Medical Association (FMA) and a company called Automated Healthcare Solutions (AHCS).” AHCS is a firm whose executives have contributed heavily to politicians to prevent such legislation. A Tampa Bay news report talks about how the state’s pill mill crackdown was held up by proponents of doc dispensing, including AHCS principals: “The two Miramar workers’ compensation doctors have helped pump about $3 million into the political system through a dozen companies in the past year.” A story in the Florida Independent covers an earnings report for top lobbyists, noting that, “Among the companies to have spent the most on lobbying is Automated HealthCare Solutions, a group whose co-chairmen have become fixtures on the political scene. According to the Current, Automated HealthCare has posted minimum lobbying expenditures greater than $300,000.” For more on why repackaging controls are needed, see Joe Paduda’s posts: Drug Dispensing by Docs and Repackagers and the myth of AWP.
The big five – Roberto Ceniceros reports that Top 5 workplace injury causes make up 72% of direct workers comp costs, according to a research report by Liberty Mutual Group. “Overexertion–or injuries caused by lifting, pushing, pulling, holding and carrying–costs businesses $12.5 billion in direct annual expenses and accounts for more than 25% of the national burden.” This was followed by falls on the same level, falls to a lower level, bodily reaction, and struck by object.
Violence in Nursing – In When it hurts to help, Victoria Ison reports on workplace violence in nursing. Many might assume most violence is perpetrated by patients or intruders but not so: “Assistant nursing professor Cindy Thomas said the most common form of violence currently seen in health care occurs between nurses. She said violence between physicians and nurses is second, and violence between patients and nurses is actually third most common.”
Strange suitsTop 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2011. From an eye-related injury after hitting a bowling ball with a sledge hammer to a fall from a helicopter while attempting to capture a deer with a net – read Thomas Robinson’s picks for workers comp lawsuits with strange circumstances. Robinson reminds us that, “one must always be respectful of the fact that while a case might be bizarre in an academic sense, it was intensely real, affecting real lives and real families.”
Brief takes

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