After a Thanksgiving hiatus, Health Wonk Review is back with your biweekly view of what the healthcare policy wonk’s have been blogging about. Brad Wright hosts Health Wonk Review: Holiday Shopping Guide at Wright on Health.
Workers Comp Networks – At Managed Care Matters, Joe Paduda has been front and center covering the matter of Aetna’s exit from workers comp and his post today, Aetna part 2. Also related, his post about Where work comp networks are headed.
UBB Report followup – In followup to yesterday’s post, here is a link to the MSHA Upper Big Branch Investigation Report – it’s a detailed account, including transcripts of interviews.
Bloodborne Pathogens – According to the CDC, about 385,000 sharps-related injuries occur annually among health care workers in hospitals, and the average risk of bloodborne infection following one of these injuries is approximately 1.8%. The NIOSH Science Blog posts about needlestick punctures and bloodborne pathogens, highlighting the film Puncture which is about the personal injury case of Vinessa Shaw, a nurse who contracts AIDS after an accidental stick. The post calls attention to the NIOSH injury prevention initiative, The Stop Sticks Campaign. which is aimed at clinical and nonclinical health care workers and health care administrators in hospitals, doctor’s offices, nursing homes, and home health care agencies.
Pole Dancing: – A Georgia Court recently ruled that Pole Dancers are not independent contractors. “The Judge found the club exercised control over the dancers because the amounts charged by the dancers for certain types of dances were set by the club. The club also established what amounts had to be paid by the dancers to the DJ and to other employees of the club each day at the conclusion of their shift. The club could also fine or fire the dancer for not coming to work or being late. The Judge also noted that every other FLSA case brought by exotic dancers from Alaska to Florida had concluded they were ’employees’, and not ‘independent contractors’.” Note: This is not the first pole dancing issue we’ve covered. My colleague posted about another claim with a pole dancing angle last May. This should lead to some interesting search results in our logs – not to mention some disappointed searchers.
Brain Trauma – the New York Times has a 3-part series on 28-year old professional hockey player Derek Boogard’s death due to repeated head trauma, chronic pain and a deadly drug addiction. Read part 1 A Boy learns to Brawl, Part 2 Blood on the Ice and Part 3 A Brain ‘Going Bad’. There is also a related video: An Enforcer’s Story. For a good resource on preventing, treating and living with traumatic brain injury, we point you to Brainline.org.
Related – In doing our rounds, we note that Dave DePaolo has an excellent post on Professional Sports and the Relevancy of Comp.
In the I-guess-it-doesn’t-go-without-saying department – Slightly off track here, but Bob Wilson has a rather unusual warning that we are passing along as a public service: Beware the Door to Door Breast Examiner.
News Briefs
Posts Tagged ‘bloodborne pathogens’
Health Wonkery, Networks, TBI, Pole Dancers & other news of notes
Thursday, December 8th, 2011A Toke In Time
Friday, January 8th, 2010Six years ago Robin Hove was working as a security guard. The Saskatchewan resident became entangled with a shoplifter. In the course of the struggle, an open cut in the shoplifter’s mouth bled onto Hove: “The blood came pouring out of his mouth, into my eyes and into my mouth and I was just drowning in it.” Ugh.
Hove, suffering from post-traumatic stress, has not worked since the incident. For five years, his doctor prescribed conventional anxiety medications. None worked. Then his doctor prescribed medical marijuana. Bingo. Hove began to enjoy life again. While still incapable of working, he was able to get out of the house and function somewhat normally. A few tokes and he was as good as new.
Unfortunately for Hove, the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board does not recognize medical marijuana as a legitimate medication; marijuana is not listed in the catalogue of approved pharmaceuticals. Hove has to pay for the pot himself. It’s running a whopping $600 per month (and they used to refer to “nickel bags”!).
Hove is appealing the board’s denial of his request that his marijuana expenses be reimbursed. My advice to Hove: don’t hold your breath. The board is unlikely to budge.
Like, Heroic
Hove found himself in the news recently. He was enjoying a coffee at a local restaurant when a robber armed with a machete tried to rob a nearby gas station. Hove reacted instinctively and heroically, helping to subdue the man. He received a commendation from the mayor for his selfless actions.
Hove’s heroism does raise a couple of questions: what is the relationship between his post-traumatic stress and his ability to intervene in a dangerous situation? Was he “stoned” (sorry about that) or unmedicated when he took action? And finally, if he is capable of heroic acts, why can’t he go back to work?
If Hove’s ability to act is directly related to his consumption of pot, he is probably not employable. No employer would or could tolerate an employee constantly functioning under the influence of marijuana. Thus in all likelihood, Hove will continue his spacy path as an individual with a disability. He will find comfort in his drug of choice, but it will take a third of his limited disability income to pay for the medication. There’s a lot of anxiety in the situation, but relief is just a toke away.
Halloween edition of Health Wonk Review; other news notes from the blogs
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Our local neighbor Tinker Ready of Boston Health News has done a most excellent job in her illustrated Halloween edition of Health Wonk Review – she even included photos from her local haunted house. Go visit now: Health Wonk Review: Killer viruses and the undead public option – lots of good posts in an entertaining format.
Other news from the blogosphere
Is the party over in workers comp? – Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters sees a lot of similarities between market conditions today and back in the dread late 1990s – lengthy soft market, premium rates that have dropped by two-thirds over five years, continued increase in medical severity … he doesn’t see a soft landing as likely.
FDA issues list of fraudulent H1N1 flu products and websites – “This list is intended to alert consumers about Web sites that are or were illegally marketing unapproved, uncleared, or unauthorized products in relation to the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus (sometimes referred to as the “swine flu” virus). Note that until evidence to the contrary is presented to FDA, the owner of the listed Web site is considered responsible for promoting the unapproved, uncleared, or unauthorized products. The uses related to the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus are not necessarily being promoted by the manufacturers of the products.” (Thanks to Gooznews for the pointer.
Could integrating comp medical care into group health could save big bucks? That’s a question that Roberto Ceniceros examines at CompTime in light of a recent California study that says savings could be achieved.
Judge Robert Vonada has been frequently updating Pennsylvannia Workers’ Compensation Journal of late. We particularly enjoyed a recent post entitled an entertaining primer on mediation, in which he points to and comments on a list of thirty things to say in mediation – or as he puts it, a list of things you will hear yourself say and wish you hadn’t.
CDC NIOSH Science Blog offers workplace safety & health tips for tattooists and piercers – a group of workers who are at hgh risk for exposure to bloodborne pathogens. They’ve created a Body Art Topic Page for more information.
We’ve recently been discussing the issue of injuries inflicted by animals and workers comp in the light of the chimp that attacked a CT woman. Risk Monitor features a posting called when circus animals kill that focuses on risks related to wild animals in the entertainment industry.
BLR’s Safety Daily Advisor reminds us that OSHA gives your employees 14 specific workplace rights. See OSHA’s 14-Point Employee Bill of Rights
Quickies
- Conning Research and Consulting – Workers’ Compensation Public Options Outperform Private Industry
- Edmonton hostage recalls ordeal in last week’s Workers Comp Board hostage taking incident
- Advisen – Recession Will Keep Commercial Insurance Premiums Under Pressure in 2010 (pdf)
- Business Insurance – No hard market in sight: Reinsurers’ meeting
- DOT Announces Driver Pre-Employment Screening Program
Cavalcade of Risk #66 and sundry workers comp news notes
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008Cavalcade of Risk #66 is posted at Political Calculations, where the blogger who goes under the alias of Ironman takes an innovative approach by offering two editions with all posts presented in a grid-like format, applying a blog post rating system. See Investment Grade and Kit and Caboodle versions for this week’s entries.
State cost variations – Risk & Insurance looked at variations in state workers comp costs for employers in all 50 states and determined that in this regard, Arizona is the most favorable place for employers. Other states with low workers’ comp costs include Arkansas, Indiana, Virginia, North Dakota and South Dakota. Michael Keating reports on survey results and discusses various structural factors within a state system that contribute to workers compensation costs. Note: my colleague Jon Coppelman was quoted in the article.
Ohio – another scandal brewing? – According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Federal agents are investigating links between Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo and a politically connected firm that manages medical claims of injured workers and employed Russo’s son, according to subpoenas and interviews.” It’s a complicated story, and apparently part of a larger story on a federal investigation into Cuyahoga County corruption.
The $18 million fraud charge – The CEO and CFO of Staffing Services, a firm based in southern California, are being charged with conspiracy to defraud the State Compensation Insurance Fund of $18 million in premium payments. While news reports aren’t specific as to how, the pair are being charged with providing false information. While we can’t know specifics in this case, such charges often relate to misclassification of employees. The stakes for this type of fraud are high – if convicted, each of the two men face the potential for 20 years in prison and up to $40 million in fines.
Weathering the storm – worth your time: The Financial Crisis & the P/C Insurance Industry: Challenges Amid the Economic Storm – a presentation and analysis by Robert Hartwig of the Insurance Information Institute. This was presented to the Excess/Surplus Lines Claims Association in late September.
Blood-borne disease and healthcare workers – the Centers for Disease Control has recently issued the results of a study showing that health care workers face an increased risk of dying from blood-borne diseases, such as HIV, and related illnesses compared with workers in other fields. The study encompassed data over a 20-year period, including 248,550 deaths from HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, liver cancer and cirrhosis. Researchers were unable to determine how much of the increased risk is related to occupational versus non-occupational exposure.
