Health Wonk Review’s Research Edition & a roundup of other news

June 24th, 2010 by Julie Ferguson

Brad Wright of Wright on Health has an excellent edition of Health Wonk Review, which shines a spotlight on research. Brad notes that, going forward, research will be incredibly important as health reform is implemented and evaluated. He offers a fine research roundup from leading healthcare bloggers – check it out!
Healthcare – According to a Commonwealth Fund report on healthcare, which assessed and compared data from patient and physician surveys in seven countries in 2007, 2008 and 2009, the U.S. scored sixth out of seven countries on quality issues, yet we spent more than double per person than any other surveyed country. See the full report How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, 2010 Update, which includes both a snapshot chart and an interactive comparison tool. Related: Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008
The importance of timely reporting – In Manucy v. Joe Manucy Racing, The Louisiana Court of Appeal recently ruled that an employee who was injured during horse training was ineligible for benefits because although the injury was immediately apparent, the worker did not file for benefits until about a year and a half after the injury occurred. Louisiana law stipulates a one-year from date of injury filing deadline for injuries that are immediately evident, and two years for injuries that do not develop immediately. In this case, the injury was immediately apparent, requiring ambulance transport and surgery within two months. State law varies on statues of limitations for benefit eligibility, most commonly falling between one and three years from date of injury. Many states offer some exceptions to the statutes – such as starting the clock ticking at date of disability rather than date of injury or allowing exceptions if there is conduct that might be regarded as deceptive on the part of the employer.
Going and coming – As a rule, any injuries that happen to an employee when they are traveling to or from work – ‘going and coming’ – are not compensable, but there are exceptions. Fortney v. AirTran Airways, Inc. deals with one of those exceptions: service/benefit to the employer. In this case, the employee was killed in a plane crash while flying on a reciprocal arrangement with another airline. The Kentucky Supreme Court upheld benefits to the estate of the deceased. At Lexis Nexis Workers’ Comp Community, Roland Legal PLLC summarizes the issues: “Whether an employer uses transportation or transportation expense as an inducement for an employee to accept or continue employment is material to supporting compensability, particularly when the journey is sizeable and when the employer pays all or substantially all of the expense.” See our prior post about common exceptions to the ‘going and coming’ rule.
Medicare – Get your popcorn and follow along as Joe Paduda offers a guide to the status of the Medicare “fix” and looks at various scenarios for how things may play out.
Retroactive Insurance in Georgia – events continue to play out in the wake of the insolvency of Southeastern U.S. Insurance Inc (SEUS) in Georgia (a story in and of itself, and worth a read if you haven’t been following along). After the SEUS demise, many employers were left holding the bag for the open claims of injured workers because they had not paid into the state’s insolvency fund and were therefore ineligible for coverage. New legislation will cover employers retroactively if they pay into the state insolvency fund, but the Georgia’s Insurers Insolvency Pool has filed a challenge to the new law. “The pool is placed in a position of uncertainty as to whether the legislation imposes duties and obligations on the pool retroactively in violation of the Georgia state constitution,” the filing says.
Arizona judge: no raiding the compensation fund – The state of Arizona is considering an appeal to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Larry Grant’s ruling which found that Governor Brewer and legislators ignored the plain language of the law by trying to use $4.7 million from the State Compensation Fund to help balance the budget. According to the judge “The proceeds held by the special fund are insurance proceeds held in the benefit of employees and employers covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act.”
Safety shorts

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