It’s been a hectic week, as we prepare to move our offices, upgrade our marketing material and get ready to announce that webinar series I asked you not to tell anyone about. Today will feature a little different kind of blog post for me, just touching on a few issues and then letting you go on about your way.
So, in other words, I don’t have anything significant to say. For many of you, that will not be a surprise.
Rousmaniere and Disrupting PBM’s:
Peter Rousmaniere wrote a very interesting two-part column this week that has generated a tremendous amount of interest on the site. His review of Pharmacy Benefit Management pricing structures, and discussions of newer “transparency pricing models” proved to be his most popular work since he joined our fledgling Premium Media Services just a few months ago. In fact, Peter’s column was a bit of a record breaker for us. It drew more single day registrations (which are free, by the way) than we had seen since the launch of the service last March.
I have a few thoughts on his observations and research, and will post more on that topic next week. The points he made are timely and relevant, and certainly worthy of a broader discussion.
The Mayor Should’ve Filed for Workers’ Comp:
Last night I got an email from a friend (who finds me moderately irritating at times) with a link to an article about the recently ousted Mayor of San Antonio, Texas. It conveyed the story that the former Mayor, Ivy Taylor, filed an unemployment compensation claim against the city shortly after losing a runoff election in June. She filed her claim with the Texas Workforce Commission.
She was apparently unaware that Texas laws relating to unemployment compensation forbid elected officials from receiving it. I think we now know why she lost her runoff election.
Perhaps she could move to Illinois and become a workers’ comp arbitrator for the state. As I chronicled here a few years ago, there is clearly no restriction preventing those guys from getting injured on the job and filing for compensation.
Wearable Technology Gets a Try in Ohio:
There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about how wearable technology will impact workplace safety and workers’ compensation. I started writing about wearables back in 2014, and as recently as this past Wednesday, CompNewsNetwork writer Phil Yacuboski wrote about it in his article “Tech in Workers’ Comp: Is It Helping, Hurting, or too Early to Tell?” Still, most practical references to wearable tech have been limited to use of Fitbits and other limited monitoring technology.
This morning, however, I read that researchers at Cleveland State University, using a $250,000 grant from Ohio BWC, are employing wearable tech in an effort to reduce workplace injuries in nursing homes and rehabilitative care centers.
According to News 5 Cleveland, “Cleveland State Health Science researchers are working with Northeast Ohio nursing home employees to teach them how they’re moving the wrong way during their day. The article explains that “Researchers are using Kinect, the Xbox equivalent of the Nintendo Wii. They installed the gaming technology in patient rooms and strapped monitors on nursing home employees that would beep when they would move the wrong way.”
The core of the effort is really based in ergonomics, and geared towards training personnel how to avoid movements that will injure them. But they have been able to deploy technology, including wearable devices, that can alert those employees when they are exceeding safe boundaries or making improper movements. I think it is a fascinating concept, and look forward to learning their results.
Besides, I just know that buying the domain name blackboxwearables.com is going to pay off someday….
So, those are my rambling thoughts this Friday morning. You are now free to go about your day.
Have a nice weekend, and we will see you next week.