Author: WorkCompAcademy

Diagnostic services provider LabCorp said it would make its COVID-19 tests available at workplaces, as employers across the United States look to bring people back to work safely.

The company said it would provide customized services for workplaces including temperature checks, COVID-19 test collection at offices, access to its at-home sample collection kit, antibody test, as well as flu vaccinations in the fall.

With millions of Americans out of work in a coronavirus-battered economy, a growing number of states are relaxing the restrictions put in place to slow the outbreak even as the number of infections continues to rise.

Public health experts have warned that rushing to relax the restrictions, without having vastly expanded testing and other precautions firmly in place would risk the resurgence of the virus.

LabCorp currently provides lab tests, antibody blood tests that can tell whether a person has ever been infected, as well as kits that allow people to mail in their own nasal swab samples, reducing risks of further transmission.

Earlier this week, the company expanded delivery of the at-home collection kits to all customers, after having limited availability to healthcare workers during the launch last month.

LabCorp said its “return to work” offerings would also include wellness services such as biometric screening.

The Division of Workers’ Compensation has posted an order dated May 7, 2020, adjusting the Physician and Non-Physician Practitioner Services section of the Official Medical Fee Schedule (OMFS) to conform to additional Medicare fee schedule changes pursuant to Labor Code section 5307.1. The order includes technical updates and provisions to support expanded access to telehealth services.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued an Interim Final Rule to adopt additional temporary modifications to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to improve access to medical care through telehealth during the public health emergency.

The Interim Final Rule adopts an expanded list of medical services (“Covered Telehealth Services for PHE for the COVID-19 pandemic effective March 1 2020-updated April 30 2020“) that may be billed for telehealth using video and audio technology, and includes identification of services that could be provided through audio-only where medically appropriate. DWC has retroactively adopted the revised telehealth list for services rendered on or after March 1, 2020, and has also adopted a retroactive revision to the Place of Service Code, which may result in an increase in fees for telehealth services if the physician provides the service in a “non-facility” setting.

The CMS Interim Final Rule temporarily increases fees for three telephone evaluation and management codes (CPT codes 99441, 99442, 99443) retroactive to March 1, 2020 to provide parity between these codes and evaluation and management codes for services rendered in person or by audio/video telehealth. DWC has adopted the retroactive increases for these three codes, which will support the provision of medical care for injured workers and further the goal of maintaining social distancing.

The Administrative Director order also adopts the CMS revised 2020 Relative Value Unit file, “RVU20B (Updated 05/01/2020),” which replaces the initial quarter two RVU20B file. The revised file is substantially identical to the original file. The significant change for workers’ compensation services is the increase of the relative values for CPT codes 99441 through 99443 discussed above.

Workers’ compensation claims administrators should adjust payment systems in light of the retroactive changes, and set up a process to reevaluate claims for services rendered on or after March 1, 2020 that may have additional payment due so that the balance owing is remitted to the provider. If a provider believes that the revised fee schedule would result in an increased payment for services rendered, they may submit a corrected bill or request for second review as appropriate.

The order adopting the updated Physician and Non-Physician Practitioner fee schedule can be found on the DWC fee schedule web page.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is restarting the company’s California factory in defiance of local government efforts to contain the coronavirus. In a tweet Monday, Musk practically dared authorities to arrest him, writing that he would be on the assembly line and if anyone is taken into custody, it should be him.

State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders. The plant in Fremont, a city of more than 230,000 people south of San Francisco, had been closed since March 23.

KCRA reports that early Monday, the parking lot was nearly full at the massive factory, which employs 10,000 workers, and semis were driving off loaded with vehicles that may have been produced before the shutdown.

The restart defied orders from the Alameda County Public Health Department, which has deemed the factory a nonessential business that can’t open under virus restrictions. The department said Monday it warned the company was operating in violation of the county health order, and hoped Tesla will “comply without further enforcement measures” until the county approves a site-specific plan required by the state.

The department said it expects Tesla to submit such a plan by 5 p.m. Monday. “We look forward to reviewing Tesla’s plan and coming to agreement on protocol and a timeline to reopen safely,” the statement read.

No agency appeared ready to enforce the order against Tesla. County Sheriff Sgt. Ray Kelly said any enforcement would come from Fremont police. Geneva Bosques, Fremont police spokeswoman, said officers would take action at the direction of the county health officer.

County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who represents Fremont, said he’s been working on the issue for weeks trying to find a way for Tesla to reopen in a way that satisfies the health officer. He said officials were moving toward allowing Tesla to restart May 18, but he suspects Musk wanted to restart stamping operations to make body parts needed to resume assembling electric vehicles.

Tesla planned to maintain worker safety, including the wearing of gloves and masks and social distancing. Haggerty said the company initially pushed back on checking employee temperatures before boarding a company bus to get to work. But Tesla relented, he said, and agreed to check workers.

“I’m seeing emails going back and forth between the plant and our public health department so I’m encouraged by that, and that’s what I mean by cooler heads,” he said. “There’s a lot of people whose lives depend on that plant opening safely.”

The restart came two days after Tesla sued the county health department seeking to overturn its order, and Musk threatened to move Tesla’s manufacturing operations and headquarters from the state.

“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk wrote in a now-deleted Saturday tweet. “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately.”

A scientific breakthrough has given a man in Ohio the chance to reclaim a major part of his life after a devastating injury.

Ian Burkhart suffered a severe spinal cord injury in 2010 while on vacation from Ohio University. He dove into a wave and struck an unseen sandbar that paralyzed him instantly. Since 2014, researchers at the nonprofit, Battelle, and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have been working on new technologies to help restore the use of Burkhart’s right arm.

In a new report, published in the journal Cell, the researchers have succeeded in connecting neural signals between Burkhart’s brain and arm. The breakthrough system is able to harness signals that are usually too small to perceive, enhances them, and sends them to the patient.

“We’re taking subperceptual touch events and boosting them into conscious perception,” Battelle research scientist Patrick Ganzer said in a statement. “It was a big eureka moment when we first restored the participant’s sense of touch.”

The brain-computer interface (BCI) system implants a small computer chip in the brain and places a series of electrodes on the patient’s skin. After the connection is made to Burkhart’s arm, wires route the movement signals from his brain straight to the muscles – avoiding the damage caused by the 28-year-old’s spinal injury.

Thanks to the BCI, researchers say Burkhart has enough control over his arm now to lift a cup, swipe a credit card, or even play video games like Guitar Hero. Ganzer says that patients who have suffered a “clinically complete” spinal cord injury still have a few remnants of nerve fiber that survive the injury. The BCI helps the body boost the signals from those remaining fibers and gets the to brain respond to them.

The Ohio researchers add that their system works very much like how a cell phone or video game controller lets the user know something is going on. Using “haptic feedback,” a vibration or other force a machine produces to get a user’s attention, the BCI helps the touch signals coming from the patient’s skin to reach the brain as understandable haptic feedback.

The success with Ian Burkhart have also led to several improvements in the BCI system. The researchers say the 28-year-old has been able to detect an object by touch alone, without having to see it. He’s also been able to experience movement and the sense of touch at the same time and can sense how much pressure to apply to an object he’s holding – depending on if it’s light or heavy.

“It has been amazing to see the possibilities of sensory information coming from a device that was originally created to only allow me to control my hand in a one-way direction,” Burkhart explained.

The scientists are now hoping to design a BCI that can be worn like a sleeve at home and can be easily taken on or off.

As California prepares to enter Stage 2 of the gradual reopening of the state this Friday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that workers who contract COVID-19 while on the job may be eligible to receive workers’ compensation. The Governor signed an executive order that creates a time-limited rebuttable presumption for accessing workers’ compensation benefits applicable to Californians who must work outside of their homes during the stay at home order.

“We are removing a burden for workers on the front lines, who risk their own health and safety to deliver critical services to our fellow Californians, so that they can access benefits, and be able to focus on their recovery,” said Governor Newsom. “Workers’ compensation is a critical piece to reopening the state and it will help workers get the care they need to get healthy, and in turn, protect public health.”

Those eligible will have the rebuttable presumption if they tested positive for COVID-19 or were diagnosed with COVID-19 and confirmed by a positive test within 14 days of performing a labor or service at a place of work after the stay at home order was issued on March 19, 2020. The presumption will stay in place for 60 days after issuance of the executive order.

The Governor also signed an executive order that waives penalties for property taxes paid after April 10 for taxpayers who demonstrate they have experienced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic through May 6, 2021. This will apply to residential properties and small businesses. Additionally, the executive order will extend the deadline for certain businesses to file Business Personal Property Statements from tomorrow to May 31, 2020, to avoid penalties.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives and livelihoods of many, and as we look toward opening our local communities and economies, we want to make sure that those that have been most impacted have the ability to get back on their feet,” said Governor Newsom.

Since declaring a state of emergency due to COVID-19 on March 4, 2020, Governor Newsom has taken several actions to benefit workers on the front lines, including paid sick leave benefits for food sector workers that are subject to a quarantine or isolation order; critical child support services for essential workers and vulnerable populations; additional weekly unemployment benefits; and needed assistance in the form of loans for small businesses and job opportunities in critical industries for workers that have been displaced by the pandemic.