Florida Court Construes Two-Year Limitations Period in § 440.19

PA Claimant’s Benefits Terminated: 18 Months of Home Remedies Did Not Constitute Medical Treatment

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held a WCJ appropriately relied upon the medical opinion of the employer’s examining physician in which the doctor opined that the workers’ compensation claimant had made...

Opinion Mondays: DC’s Hearings Division Has New Job—Choosing a Home Remodeling Contractor

The D.C. Court of Appeals reversed a decision by the District's Compensation Review Board (CRB) that had held the District of Columbia's Adjudication and Hearings Department had no statutory authority...

Medical Provider's Decision to Bill Medicare, Rather than Carrier, Results in NC Employee's Loss of Benefits on Statute of Limitations Grounds

The Court of Appeals of North Carolina affirmed a decision by the state’s Industrial Commission that denied additional medical benefits claimed by an injured worker on statute of limitations grounds...

Minnesota Chiropractor's Inaction Causes Loss of $9K in Medical Care Charges

The Supreme Court of Minnesota recently held that a health care provider who voluntarily declined to intervene in a pending workers’ compensation proceeding after receiving timely and adequate notice of...

Georgia Employee Not Entitled to Change in Physician Since Injury Was Resolved

Where the Georgia Board found that the employee’s work-related injuries had resolved prior to the date the employee requested a change in her treating physician, it was appropriate for the...

Virginia Court Reverses Award of Home Health Care Provided by Spouse

That an employer had paid for home health care by an agency in the past did not necessarily mean the care provided by an injured employee’s spouse was compensable under...

Tourist Medicine May Be Coming to a Comp Claim Near You

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Doctor. I shared a nostalgic conversation last week with a similarly-aged J.D. about our early days of law practice. More than...

Virginia Court Says Fear of Needles Isn’t Enough to Warrant Change in MDs

The Court of Appeals of Virginia recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that denied a claimant’s petition to change her treating physician where the physician indicated...

New Study Says Employer-Directed Choice of MD May Actually Increase Overall Claim Costs

Employer-Controlled Medical Care Drives Claimants to Attorneys, Erasing Savings in Medical Costs A common mantra from the employer-carrier side of the workers’ compensation world goes something like this, “If you...

Louisiana High Court Says Employer—Not Injured Employee—Has Right to Choose Pharmacy

Last Thursday, in a split decision, the Supreme Court of Louisiana held that the choice of pharmacy in a workers’ compensation case belongs to the employer, and not the employee...

Florida Court Reverses Award Requiring Employer to Pay for Kidney Removal Based on Hindrance of Treatment Doctrine

A Florida appellate court recently reversed an order by a Judge of Compensation Claims requiring the employer/carrier to provide Claimant with treatment for a renal mass/cancer to the extent that...