Monthly Archives: <span>November 2017</span>

In Workers’ Comp, It’s Quality Not Quantity That Matters

Is this claimant supposed to be off work? Did I get enough discount on the services? Were those services even necessary? I would argue that the question everyone should be asking instead is: Who is your doctor? After all, the …

Insurers Could Pay up to $1B for Las Vegas Massacre

The deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history is adding to soaring costs for insurance companies, which are already taking a beating this year from an onslaught of hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires. The industry may have to shell out more …

Paper Investigates Texas Dam Safety

The earthen dam on the outskirts of this Williamson County city certainly does not look flimsy. The Austin American-Statesman reports at 35 feet high and nearly a third of a mile long, it has done a reliable job of holding …

CompPharma: Workers’ Comp Drug Spend Continues to Decline

A new survey shows an 11 percent reduction in worker’s compensation payers’ year-over-year drug spend. The decline is associated with a 13.3 percent reduction in opioid cost, according to CompPharma’s 14th Annual Survey of Prescription Drug Management. Total workers’ compensation …

Firebreaks Permit Requirement in Southern New Jersey Sparks Concern

Some New Jersey residents are expressing concerns about a proposed change they fear could hamper creation of firebreaks in the New Jersey Pinelands. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Pinelands Commission is considering changes to its comprehensive management plan requiring …

Study Finds Women Less Likely to Get CPR From Bystanders

Women are less likely than men to get CPR from a bystander and more likely to die, a new study suggests, and researchers think reluctance to touch a woman’s chest might be one reason. Only 39 percent of women suffering …

Business News: AIG, Willis Towers Watson, Betterview

AIG Introduces Blackboard, New Brand for Data Enabled, Digital Subsidiary American International Group, Inc. introduced Blackboard, the new brand name and logo for its technology-focused subsidiary, formerly operating under the Hamilton USA brand. AIG completed the acquisition of Hamilton USA …

Las Vegas Crash Highlights Risks of Sharing Road With Robots

It only took a few hours for the first self-driving taxi shuttling people around Las Vegas to collide with a vehicle being driven by a human doing something it didn’t expect. The driverless passenger van was on its first day …

Employees May Soon Be Taking Climate Leave

Even the workplace has to adapt to the warming world. As climate change creates more intense storms, companies have started preparing for work disruptions due to extreme weather. In a sign of the times, Fog Creek, a software company based …

Oregon’s North Coast Planners Question Development in Tsunami Zone

This fall a child care center moved into a building in Astoria that Oregon State Police had left because it was in the tsunami inundation zone. This summer, Patrick Corcoran, a coastal hazards specialist with Oregon State University’s Sea Grant …