Research and Trends News

California Workers’ Comp Medical Payments Declined Again in 2018

Medical payments in California’s workers’ compensation system continued to decline in 2018 as the medical payments per claim decreased, according to a report from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California. The WCIRB released its California Workers’ Compensation Aggregate …

European Flood Trends Vary from North to South

European river flooding has grown more intense in northwestern Europe and decreased in the south over the last half century, according to a study by nearly four dozen researchers. The work, which is the first documentation of long-term flood trends …

Study Links Cheating on Spouse with Professional Misconduct

People who cheat on their spouses are a lot more likely to engage in misconduct in the workplace, according to a new academic study. The researchers looked at the records of police officers, financial advisers, white-collar criminals and senior executives …

Chamber Study Concludes Privacy Lawsuits Benefit Attorneys More than Consumers

Statutes allowing plaintiff lawyers to enforce privacy laws through private rights of action are clogging courts and provide no real benefit to consumers, a report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) claims. By contrast, privacy-related …

Nursing Home Risks Heightened by Staffing Fluctuations

Researchers who discovered large daily staffing fluctuations, low weekend staffing and daily staffing levels that often fall well below the expectations of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) say the situation can increase the risk of adverse events …

Role of Occupational Hazards in Lung Diseases Is Under-Recognized: Researchers

More than 1 in 10 people with a range of non-cancerous lung diseases may be sick as a result of inhaling vapors, gas, dust or fumes at work, according to a joint American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society …

Pedestrian Fatalities Rise to 16% of Traffic Deaths

A new report projects that 6,227 pedestrian fatalities occurred in 2018, the highest number in nearly three decades. Pedestrians will account for 16 percent of all traffic deaths in 2018, compared to 12 percent in 2008. While advancements in motor …

Costs of Cyber Attacks Can Doom Small, Medium Firms: Chubb

The average price tag for a business to recover after a cyber attack is $400,000, which can be fatal for small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to a report published by Chubb. This hefty cost of repairing the business and its reputation …

Do High Health Plan Deductibles Lead to More Workers’ Compensation Claims?

Are employees injured at work more likely to file under workers’ compensation instead of group health insurance when their group health plan has a higher deductible? The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) found evidence they do in a new study …

Facial Surgeons Tend to Fare Well in Malpractice Lawsuits

Southern courts favor physicians in malpractice lawsuits over facial trauma treatment, while courts in the Midwest favor patients, according to a Rutgers study. The study, which was published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, is the first to …