Cigna’s purchase of healthcare pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts last month was just the latest insurer/PBM acquisition in an effort to control rising medical treatment and drug costs. There’s been quite a few pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) acquisitions in healthcare …
Kenny Lawson loved being a garbage collector. The Germantown, Ohio, resident enjoyed working outdoors alongside his family, throwing his “solid as a horse” frame into physical labor that made people’s lives better. One customer left a cooler near the curb …
With issues like the opioid crisis and inflating drug costs at the forefront of discussion in workers’ compensation, several states, including Indiana and Pennsylvania, are currently considering legislation to establish workers’ compensation drug formularies. Some debate has arisen as to …
An Arkansas House panel advanced a proposal Tuesday to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, as lawmakers began a special session focused primarily on addressing a cut in reimbursements rates pharmacists have seen. The House Insurance and Commerce Committee endorsed a proposal …
New data on the Independent Medical Review (IMR) process used to resolve California workers’ comp medical disputes show that IMR volume dipped for the first time ever in 2017, but the outcomes were unchanged as IMR physicians again upheld 91.2 …
Opioids remain the most common type of prescription drug used to treat California injured workers with lost-time injuries, but sustained efforts to curb their use are paying off as new data show that in the past decade they fell from …
Over 20 years, Brian Komoto built a thriving pharmacy in California’s Central Valley. Each day, his nurses would travel the vast agricultural region’s roads to help hepatitis C patients take a grueling regimen of shots. Then, in 2016, 20 percent …
Too often workers’ compensation legacy claims that linger are the result of a status quo mentality, according to workers’ compensation experts. When claims are on autopilot and claimants refuse to settle, there are strategies that can be employed to move …
Edward “Lefty” Grimes was in pain. It had been an hour since he’d arrived at the Clifton police station with what should have been a straightforward question: Where could he legally smoke his medical marijuana? One officer on duty knew, …
The effectiveness of therapeutic virtual reality (VR) and wearable technology to manage pain associated with acute orthopedic injuries of the lower back and extremities will be explored by Travelers, Cedars-Sinai, Samsung Electronics America, Bayer and applied VR. The Cedars-Sinai’s Center …