I've spoken a great deal on changing the style and depth of communication within the workers' compensation industry. Better communication will yield better results for the employers and injured workers that we serve. We had a terrific example this week, showing what we say and how we say it – even by accident – can…
The Virility of Viralness, Visionaries and Morons from the Virtual Soapbox
I read posts from two different bloggers recently that made me think about the reach and effectiveness of what we do. One article was from a blogger discussing what it felt like to have one of her articles “go viral”. She had written about a particular programming language that may have applications in the insurance…
I Would Have Sent a Stern Letter
We discuss many types of jobs and injuries in this blog. Rarely though, do we find a job related injury to be intentional in nature while based in pure, raw emotion. This is the reality of today’s topic du jour. There is no easy way to say it, so here goes. A self mutilating performance…
Right Answer, Wrong Answer: PA Court Decision Shows the Peril of Special Presumptions
A case last week resulting in the award of workers’ compensation benefits to a police officer may not have been wrong based on the argument; instead I question whether the argument was correct to begin with. Pennsylvania Trooper Philip Payes suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after striking and killing a 28 year old woman who ran…
Anal Probing in the Gland of Enchantment
New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, certainly generates more than its fair share of odd stories given its relatively light population base, and for some reason the oddest ones occur near my scheduled trips to the state. I was there a couple weeks ago and will be returning again immediately following the national workers' comp…
IDS CompMark Claims Data Benchmarking System is Outstanding Idea, Long Overdue
Several of us in the workers’ comp blogosphere have lamented that the industry has lacked, and could truly benefit from, a claims history database offering clear, anonymized data from multiple operations; provided in a useful platform that would allow us to truly gauge and improve our effectiveness as an industry. Lament no more. That system…
Assault with a Dead Weapon
In what has to go down in the annals of bar brawling as the “Worst Bar Fight Ever”, a potential tragedy was avoided last week when a man who had been slapped for inappropriately touching another man's chest had his revenge seeking chainsaw stall before he could do anyone harm. And to round out the…
Compensability for Sexual Thunder Blunder Down Under Cast Asunder
Even though my friend, Alabama Attorney Mike Fish, beat me to the punch with this morning's missive on our Blogwire, I simply had to weigh in. After all, I had a great deal to say about this when it happened last year, and regular readers would surely expect me to follow up with my special…
Disproving Workers Comp Fraud by Dying
Fraud is something that is discussed a great deal in our industry. Indeed, it is a matter of great concern, and at times is not pursued as aggressively as we might wish. Still, we occasionally come across a story that should serve as a lesson to us all; that allegations of fraud are simply that,…
Oh Boise, Was I Wrong About Entitlement Numbers
Last week I gave a presentation at the Idaho Industrial Commission Annual Workers' Compensation Seminar called “Breaking the Cycle of Entitlement: How Do We Get Better?” In that presentation I discussed the rapidly expanding growth of SSDI, and how workers' comp can reduce the number of people we feed into that particular system. I also,…