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Only about a third of patients surveyed at one U.S. medical center said their doctors told them about the possible risks of a CT scan, such as radiation exposure, a new study finds.According to the summary in Reuters Health, researchers, who published their findings in JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday, also found that most patients thought their doctors made the final decision to have the scans.

"I think that sounds pretty consistent of what my experience would be as a patient, physician and with family members," said Dr. Howard Forman, professor of diagnostic radiology and public health at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut, who was not involved with the new study.The new study jibes with previous research that found people are unaware of the radiation risks posed by CT scans.

CT scans are high-powered X-rays that provide clearer images but expose patients to between ten and 100 times as much radiation as a normal head or chest X-ray.

For the new study, Dr. Tanner Caverly, from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, and colleagues surveyed 286 patients getting a CT scan at the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center from November through December 2011. Of the 271 patients that returned their surveys, 35 percent said they discussed the risks of a CT scan with their doctors and 62 percent believed the final decision to have the scan was made by the doctors. Only 17 percent of the patients said they were involved in the decision-making process and discussed risks and benefits with their doctors. But even when doctors were discussing the potential risks, their patients ended up being no more informed than people who didn't talk with their healthcare providers.

"It's likely that many physicians also do not know the risks, and so it's not surprising that even when there are discussions with patients about risks and benefits of the procedure, patients clearly still do not understand the true risk of radiation exposure," wrote Dr. Patrick O'Malley, a deputy editor of the journal, in an note accompanying the new study.

One study from the National Cancer Institute estimated there would be about 29,000 future cancers related to scans done in 2007 alone. That year, Americans had about 72 million total CT scans, which can cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

Forman told Reuters Health there are a few ways to address the problem of patients not being told about the risks of CT scans, including educating doctors and empowering patients to ask questions. "I think we need to empower healthcare consumers/patients much more to have complete understanding and control of their care and its delivery. I think physicians are sometimes offended by patients who ask too many question and I think that's something we need to change," Forman said ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
CompWest Insurance Company has announced the appointment of Gene J. Simpson as vice president of Underwriting and Marketing. Simpson recently joined CompWest's senior management team and is responsible for company-wide underwriting and marketing practices. In this position, Simpson coordinates the development and implementation of company underwriting and marketing programs; manages and directs the execution of all sales plans and production initiatives; as well as the research, strategy and implementation of new markets.

Simpson most recently served as vice president of Workers' Compensation Product Management for Seabright Holdings, Inc. Prior to that, he served as vice president of General Liability and Product Line Manager for Liberty Mutual Insurance and for 11 years in a variety of capacities for Safeco Insurance Company, including assistant vice president of Product Development,; assistant director of Workers' Compensation; commercial manager of National Programs and commercial underwriter of Multiline and Workers' Compensation.

Simpson graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor of Science in applied mathematics and holds the designations of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC). Simpson is an active member of his community, participating in various fundraising efforts to support several charitable organizations with a particular interest in Susan G. Komen for the Cure ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
In an article published by the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee, the newspaper stated that "professional athletes claiming cumulative injuries incurred during the course of their careers have been abusing the California workers' compensation system." That is a notable statement by a typically liberal newspaper which may signal the political appetite in the Sacramento legislature for the elimination of these claims by passage of A.B. 1309.

In an article last week, Los Angeles Times reporter Marc Lifsher described how retired athletes tap into California's generous workers' compensation system to collect six-figure settlements for cumulative trauma, even though they played only a fraction of their games in California, or may never have played here. Many of them are big-name players who earned huge dollars. Others attained neither fame nor fortune.

The Bee article also notes that the California Insurance Guarantee Association is the entity that pays workers' compensation claims when workers' comp insurance companies become insolvent. California employers - not just professional sports teams - pay into the California Insurance Guarantee Association. In a letter to Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, D-Fresno, the association in December said that California residents account for only 373 of its 1,873 claims from professional athletes. The number of claims from retired athletes is growing at an alarming rate - 34 per month, as of December. The association had to add four claims adjusters to handle the influx of athletes' claims.

The CIGA letter cited several issues that should alarm lawmakers, employers and workers. Athletes who played only one day in California, or suited up but sat on the bench, can receive compensation from California's workers' comp system. Athletes can file claims whether or not they were injured on a California field or court. The letter notes that players file claims in their home states and receive compensation. Because of the laxity of California's law, California judges can award full benefits to out-of-state players. Adding to the complexity, the letter noted, "an athlete who last played 20 or 30 years ago is not barred from filing a claim today."

The Bee article goes on to say that "California cannot afford to be the bank for out-of-state athletes and their lawyers. The guarantee association's deficit hovers at $2 billion. California employers - not just sports teams - paid $78 million toward reducing that deficit last year. Since 2002, CIGA has paid $42 million in claims to professional athletes. The cost of processing the claims was $1 million a year. The largest number of claims come from Texas and Florida, states favored by wealthy athletes because, unlike California, they impose no state income tax."

Assembly member Perea has proposed Assembly Bill 1309, which would deny California benefits to pro baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer players whose teams are not based in California and who came here only occasionally for games.

The Bee says that "The fix seems simple - though in the Capitol, nothing ever is easy. California's system should take care of injured athletes who played the bulk of their time California, quickly and fairly. But if they played for teams in Texas, Florida, or any other state, those states need to take responsibility." ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
The San Bernardino County District Attorney reports that Maria Arrieta, 51, of Victorville, has been charged with multiple counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud and perjury.

In June 2010, Arrieta was injured as a result of her duties at McDonald's Hamburger Restaurant. She was treated for burns to her hands and released.

"Sometime later, Ms. Arrieta filed a fraudulent workers' compensation claim alleging that she slipped and fell at work while removing a case of meat from the freezer on the same day and had injured her foot," said Jose Guzman, Senior Investigator assigned to the case. "However, she made no mention to the physician who was treating her hand of her slip and fall accident which allegedly occurred earlier the same day as the hand injury."

According to Guzman, approximately nine days earlier to the incident, Arrieta had been seen by her primary care physician and told him that she had sustained her foot injury at home and not at work. Arrieta was ultimately diagnosed with a non-work related medical condition for which she is seeking workers’ compensation benefits.

In Aug. 2010, Arrieta was examined by a specialist in Podiatric Medicine, a Qualified Medical Examiner (QME). "The QME reviewed the medical history questionnaire completed by Arrieta, who advised the doctor that she injured her foot at home on her day off from work," said Guzman. "Again, she made no mention of the injury being work-related."

The QME submitted Employment Development Department (EDD) paperwork indicating a non-work related injury. Arrieta later obtained a workers’ compensation attorney who filed a claim for her in May 2011, alleging the slip and fall foot injury. The insurance company then referred the case to the District Attorney’s Office, Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud Unit in Oct. 2011 for a fraud investigation.

On Feb. 11, 2013, the District Attorney's Office Workers' Compensation Insurance Fraud Unit filed criminal charges against Arrieta for knowingly filing a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim to obtain benefits for a non-work-related injury. Arrieta was taken into custody the next day by District Attorney Investigators at the Santa Ana Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, while awaiting a hearing in her workers’ compensation case. Arrieta was transported to West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga and booked.

Arrieta is scheduled to be arraigned April 18 in Victorville Superior Court. If convicted as charged, she faces 19 years in County Prison. Deputy District Attorney Scott Byrd will prosecute this case ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
Larry Centers and Troy Vincent were among more than 60 former National Football League players suing the organization’s management council to overturn an arbitration decision that bars them from seeking workers compensation in California.

According to the story in Bloomberg News, the players were required under a December arbitration award to withdraw claims in the state and banned from claiming they are entitled to the benefits, according to a complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco. The players contractually waived their rights to file workers’ compensation benefits in California, an NFL arbitrator decided, according to the lawsuit.

The decision must be thrown out because it’s unconstitutional and against public policy and federal labor law, attorneys for the ex-players say in the complaint. The players suing were all injured in California, or claim that injuries they had were aggravated while playing in games or practices in California, according to the complaint.

Greg Aiello, an NFL spokesman, said there are other federal lawsuits involving athletes who played for football teams from outside California, weren’t injured in California and breached contracts they signed promising to file claims in their team’s home state.

"In all those cases, the federal courts threw out the lawsuits and confirmed the award," Aiello said in an e-mail. "In addition to all signing contracts promising to file elsewhere, none of the players listed as plaintiffs in this lawsuit had any specific injury in California and they all played for non-California" teams.

Two similar lawsuits were filed in federal court in San Francisco in December. The case is Centers v. National Football League, 13-882, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco) ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
This week state Senator Jim Beall introduced S.B. 626 - a bill that would roll back many of the provisions of newly enacted S.B. 863.

Theoretically, last year's S.B. 863 was a "balanced" bill that sought to both reduce costs and increased benefits. The balanced approach was forced by Governor Brown who vetoed one sided legislation the previous year that sought to unwind portions of Governor schwarzenegger's S.B. 899. His veto messages asked the legislature to pass a balanced measure that had some benefit for California employers. Thus, the political climate, up until this year, was a state legislature that clearly wanted to grow the benefits of the Worker's Compensation system, balanced by a Governor who considers the impact of increasing a hostile business climate.

However, the November election may have changed that political climate. The Democratic Party has controlled the California Legislature for a nearly unbroken stretch of 42 years. Yet control goes only so far: it takes two-thirds of the Legislature to enact a host of important legislation in this state, meaning that even the diminished Republican Party has been able to easily frustrate Democratic ambitions. But with a swell of electoral victories in November, the Democratic Party has now crossed that boundary and controls two-thirds of both the Senate and the Assembly, giving it the kind of unfettered power that no party has had here for 80 years. With the exception of a few brief lapses caused by vacancies, Democrats could hold a supermajority at least through the end of the decade. A supermajority can override the Governor's veto, and indeed can even call a constitutional convention and re-write the California constitution placing the new version before the voters for final approval.

With the new political climate in mind, S.B. 626 may have a fighting chance for passage this legislative session. Here are the key provisions.

S.B. 863 prohibits a chiropractor from being the treating physician after the employee has received the maximum number of chiropractic visits. S.B. 626 would delete that provision and would instead provide that a chiropractor may remain the patient’s primary treating physician even if additional treatment has been denied as long as the he complies with specified reporting requirements of workers' compensation law..

Currently, physicians who perform utilization review or the new IMR process need not be licensed in California. S.B. 626 would revise these provisions to require that medical treatment utilization reviews and independent medical reviews be conducted by physicians or medical professionals who hold the same California license as the requesting physician. The bill would delete the requirement that independent medical review organization keep the names of the reviewers confidential in all communications with entities or individuals outside the independent medical review organization.

S.B. 863 prohibits a workers’ compensation administrative law judge, the appeals board, or any higher court from making a determination of medical necessity contrary to the determination of the independent medical review organization.S.B. 626 would delete that provision and allow disputed medical issues to proceed to litigation after the IMR process.

And S.B. 863 limited the AMA Guide add-ons for psychiatric injury, sleep disorder or sexual dysfunction in cases that were initially a physical injury. S.B. 626 would delete the prohibition on increases in impairment ratings for psychiatric disorder.

The destiny of S.B. 626 will not be known until at least August, the end of the current legislative session. Nonetheless, there is little if any political headwind in the way. It is not inconceivable that S.B. 626 in some form will become law ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
The Audit Unit of the Division of Workers’ Compensation has received an increasing number of complaints from individuals and entities providing services on a lien basis in workers’ compensation claims. The complainants report that some payors have adopted a policy of refusing to discuss negotiating the provider’s liens until the provider of the services demonstrates it has filed a lien with the WCAB and paid the applicable lien filing or activation fee required by the enactment of SB 863. As a result, the DWC published the following admonishment.

"Such a policy is both unsupported by the plain language of Labor Code sections 4903.05 or 4903.06, and directly contrary to the legislative intent of those sections and existing law."

"If a claims administrator has reasonable grounds to contend that nothing is owed, then good faith negotiation does not necessarily require an offer of compromise. In the absence of a good faith contention that nothing is owed, however, a refusal to negotiate prior to payment of the filing fee would not be in good faith".

Additionally, Title 8, California Code of Regulations, section 10109(e) mandates that "[a]ll Insurers, self-insured employers and third-party administrators shall deal fairly and in good faith with all claimants, including lien claimants".

"Title 8 California Code of Regulations, section 10250(b) requires a moving party state under penalty of perjury that the moving party has made a genuine good faith effort to resolve the dispute before filing the Declaration of Readiness (DOR). Forcing a provider to file a lien and pay the filing or activation fee before the payor will discuss informal resolution of their billing amount prevents the provider from complying with this mandate. Such conduct could expose the payor to the imposition of sanctions, attorney’s fees and costs under Labor Code section 5813. This practice also exposes the payor to audit penalties for violation of Title 8, California Code of Regulations, section 10109(e). As is the Audit Unit’s existing practice, the Audit Unit will review all complaints received about this practice during the next random or targeted audit of any payor about whom such a complaint has been received." ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
Two former owners of a Los Angeles-area medical equipment wholesale supply company pleaded guilty this week to conspiring with their customers to defraud Medicare. Rajinder Singh Paul, 69, and Baljit Kaur Paul, 65, of Redlands, Calif., each pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in the Central District of California to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

The Imperial Valley News reports that Rajinder and Baljit Paul admitted that they were the president and vice president, respectively, and shareholders of AHPK Inc., a medical equipment wholesale supply company located in Redlands and Ontario, Calif., and formally known as Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply Inc. The Pauls later sold Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply Inc. to Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply LLC (collectively, "Major’s") and, according to court documents, remained employed at Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply LLC as consultants until they were terminated in February 2009.

During the time the Pauls either owned or worked as consultants for Major’s, Major’s sold durable medical equipment (DME) almost exclusively to customers who owned and operated DME supply companies, according to court documents. A majority of Major’s customers were Medicare providers and relied on Medicare to make money, which they did by billing Medicare for the DME that they purchased from Major’s.

One of the more popular items of DME that the Pauls sold at Major’s were power wheelchairs. Court documents indicate that to attract customers, the Pauls sold power wheelchairs to Major’s customers wholesale for between $850 to $1,000 each. Major’s customers, however, billed these power wheelchairs to Medicare at a rate of between $3,000 to $6,000 per wheelchair.

The Pauls admitted they knew that Major’s customers were dependent on Medicare for their revenue, and that Major’s customers could not pay Major’s unless Medicare paid the customers first. To foster customer loyalty, the Pauls engaged in a variety of conduct over a period of six years that helped Major’s customers defraud Medicare, including by providing Major’s customers with false inventory purchase agreements that showed they had higher credit limits than they really did. Major’s customers submitted these false inventory purchase agreements to Medicare to prove, as required by Medicare, the ability to purchase the volume of DME they billed.

The Pauls also admitted they provided Major’s customers with backdated invoices, knowing customers were billing Medicare for power wheelchairs and DME before the customers actually purchased or delivered the equipment. The Pauls admitted that by backdating these invoices, they provided Major’s customers with the paper trail the customers needed to prove to Medicare that they had both purchased the DME and purchased it before they submitted their claims to Medicare. According to court documents, the Pauls backdated or falsified invoices for more than 100 different customers.

Court documents indicate that two of many customers who conspired with the Pauls to defraud Medicare owned and operated a number of fraudulent DME supply companies in the Los Angeles area, including one customer who used "straw" or nominee owners to operate the customer’s companies. The Pauls admitted they provided these two customers with false inventory purchase agreements and backdated invoices that the customers used to defraud Medicare. The Pauls admitted that as a result of their conduct, these two customers were able to use their fraudulent DME supply companies to submit approximately $16,662,143 in false claims to, and receive approximately $9,743,609.42 in ill-gotten reimbursement payments from, Medicare.

At sentencing, scheduled for July 8, 2013, the Pauls each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This case is being prosecuted by Jonathan T. Baum of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and Cal DOJ and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
A.B. 1301 was introduced this week in the California Assembly by Assembly Insurance Committee Chairman Henry Perea (D-Fresno). If passed into law, it would limit the avalanche of workers compensation claims filed by out of state professional athletes,

This bill would provide that an employee hired outside of this state, his or her dependents, and his or her employer shall be exempt from this state's workers' compensation laws if the employee is a professional athlete, defined, for purposes of these provisions, to include an athlete who is employed at the minor or major league level in the sport of baseball, basketball, football, hockey, or soccer, and that professional athlete is temporarily within this state doing work for his or her employer. Perea's bill would not apply to members of other professions whose work takes them from state to state, such as horse racing jockeys, truck drivers and salesmen.

This bill would deem a professional athlete to be temporarily within the state doing work for his or her employer if, during the 365 days immediately preceding either the professional athlete's date of injury, or, in the case of an occupational disease or cumulative injury claim, the professional athlete's last date of injurious exposure while employed anywhere as a professional athlete, the professional athlete performs less than 90 total days of required services within the state under the direction and control of the employer.

The bill would provide that if the employee is a professional athlete, the date of injury in cases of occupational diseases or cumulative injuries is the date of the employee's last injurious exposure while employed anywhere as a professional athlete, or the date of diagnosis, as defined, by a licensed physician, whichever occurs later.

The bill would also provide that an employer of a professional athlete that is subject to California's workers' compensation laws is not liable for occupational disease or cumulative injury if at the time application for benefits is made the professional athlete performed his or her last year of work in an occupation that exposed him or her to the occupational disease or cumulative injury as an employee of one or more other employers that are exempt from California's workers' compensation laws or pursuant to the above provisions or any other law. The bill would provide that these changes apply to all pending claims for benefits, as specified.

The language of A.B. 1301 does not indicate if these provision are retroactive to claims that have already been filed. California is the only state that makes it relatively easy for long-retired players to claim cumulative trauma injuries. About 4,500 out-of-state players have won judgments or settlements since the early 1980s, according to a study commissioned by the professional sports leagues.

The filing of this bill will commence the arduous process of hearings, debates and amendments to the bill language before there will be any new law on this topic. The proposal is expected to be one of the most hotly debated issues of the legislative session, with team owners lining up against the players' unions and their labor allies. It is likely that there will be a bitter debate in the weeks and months that follow.

Regardless of whether they play for out-of-state teams, said Angie Wei, legislative director of the California Labor Federation, "these players are workers and they deserve to have access to their benefits. They work for short durations of time at an intense level and get injured." ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has posted an updated time of hire pamphlet on its website. The updates reflect changes made to California’s workers’ compensation system by Senate Bill 863, which took effect Jan. 1, 2013.

The pamphlet is posted in English and Spanish versions, and meets the requirements under Labor Code section 3551 to notify new employees about California workers’ compensation rights and benefits either at the time of hire or by the end of the first pay period.

The pamphlet was initially developed in 2011 in response to requests from claims administrators and provides employees with information about what to do if they are injured on the job and ways to resolve disputes over workers’ compensation benefits. In addition, it discusses the role of the primary treating physician and medical provider networks (MPNs). Predesignation forms are included as part of the document.

Changes to the pamphlet prompted by SB 863 include material on permanent disability, temporary disability and supplemental job displacement benefits. This model time of hire pamphlet is offered in "text only" format in English and Spanish, which gives claims administrators the option to more fully customize the presentation. The text of the pamphlet meets the "time of hire" legal requirements.

From the DWC home page, employers, workers and claims administrators can easily find information related to their specific needs ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
Over the last three decades, California's workers' compensation system has awarded millions of dollars in benefits for job-related injuries to thousands of professional athletes. The vast majority worked for out-of-state teams; some played as little as one game in the Golden State. All states allow professional athletes to claim workers' compensation payments for specific job-related injuries - such as a busted knee, torn tendon or ruptured spinal disc - that happened within their borders. But California is one of the few that provides additional payments for the cumulative effect of injuries that occur over years of playing.

A growing roster of athletes are using this provision in California law to claim benefits. Since the early 1980s, an estimated $747 million has been paid out to about 4,500 players, according to an August study commissioned by major professional sports leagues. California taxpayers are not on the hook for these payments. Workers' compensation is an employer-funded program.

But, the Los Angeles Times article says that a major battle is brewing in Sacramento to make out-of-state players ineligible for these benefits, which are paid by the leagues and their insurers. They have hired consultants and lobbyists and expect to unveil legislation next week that would halt the practice. "The system is completely out of whack right now," said Jeff Gewirtz, vice president of the Brooklyn Nets - formerly the New Jersey Nets - of the National Basketball Assn.

Major retired stars who scored six-figure California workers' compensation benefits include Moses Malone, a three-time NBA most valuable player with the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers and other teams. He was awarded $155,000. Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin, formerly with the Dallas Cowboys, received $249,000. The benefits usually are calculated as lump-sum payments but sometimes are accompanied by open-ended agreements to provide lifetime medical services.

Players, their lawyers and their unions plan to mount a political offensive to protect these payouts.

Although the monster salaries of players such as Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning make headlines, few players bring in that kind of money. Most have very short careers. And some, particularly football players, end up with costly, debilitating injuries that haunt them for a lifetime but aren't sufficiently covered by league disability benefits. Retired pros increasingly are turning to California, not only because of its cumulative benefits but also because there's a longer window to file a claim. The statute of limitations in some states expires in as little as a year or two. "California is a last resort for a lot of these guys because they've already been cut off in the other states," said Mel Owens, a former Los Angeles Rams linebacker-turned-workers' compensation lawyer who has represented a number of ex-players.

To understand how it works, consider the career of Ernie Conwell. A former tight end for the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints, he was paid $1.6 million for his last season in 2006. Conwell said that during his 11-year career, he underwent about 18 surgeries, including 11 knee operations. Now 40, he works for the NFL players union and lives in Nashville. Hobbled by injuries, he filed for workers' compensation in Louisiana and got $181,000 in benefits to cover his last, career-ending knee surgery in 2006, according to the Saints. The team said it also provided $195,000 in injury-related benefits as part of a collective-bargaining agreement with the players union.

But such workers' compensation benefits paid by Louisiana cover only specific injuries. So, to deal with what he expects to be the costs of ongoing health problems that he said affect his arms, legs, muscles, bones and head, Conwell filed for compensation in California and won ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has issued a notice of public hearing for the Independent Bill Review (IBR) regulations. A public hearing on the proposed regulations has been scheduled at 10 a.m., April 9, in the auditorium of the Elihu Harris Building, 1515 Clay Street, Oakland, CA, 94612. Members of the public may also submit written comment on the regulations until 5 p.m. that day.

The proposed rulemaking is to permanently adopt the IBR emergency regulations which became effective on Jan. 1, 2013. The IBR regulations implement Senate Bill (SB) 863’s mandate to establish an efficient procedure to resolve medical treatment and medical-legal billing disputes in the workers’ compensation system. Prior to this year, such disputes could only be resolved through litigation after the filing of a lien with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. Under the proposed regulations, for dates of service on or after Jan. 1, 2013, a medical provider who disputes the amount of payment made on a bill must first submit a timely request to the claims administrator for a second review.

If the provider disagrees with the outcome of the second review, they may request further review by an independent, conflict-free medical payment and billing expert applying fee schedules adopted by DWC. The regulations detail the IBR process, and include the timeframes and manner for a medical provider to seek a second review and IBR, the forms that must be completed, the billing documents that must be filed, and the IBR fee. Additionally, the regulations update and clarify the standard for the electronic submission of medical treatment bills, and amend the Medical-Legal Fee Schedule to conform to statutory changes made by SB 863.

DWC will consider all public comments, and may modify the proposed regulations for consideration during an additional 15-day public comment period. The notice of rulemaking, text of the regulations, and the initial statement of reasons can be found at on the DWC rulemaking page ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
The owner of a San Mateo pest and janitorial services company who prosecutors say under-reported more than $10 million of payroll to avoid paying more than $2 million in workers’ compensation insurance was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to repay the money.

The SM Daily Journal reports that Teresa Reif, 34, faced up to 17 years in prison after pleading no contest in April to eight various counts of fraud without any sentencing promises. On Tuesday, Judge Craig Parson instead handed down the year jail followed by five years supervised probation. She must also repay $1,651,148 to the State Compensation Insurance Fund and $451,310 to Berkshire Hathaway.

Defense attorney Chuck Smith said he was "disappointed" in the sentence, calling the case a "sad, unfortunate situation" in which his client didn’t profit a nickel but insurance companies will now receive an extra $2 million. Prison was never a realistic concern, he said, but five years incarceration rather than the financial penalty would affect the life of her husband and three children much less significantly. "She was given financial penalties akin to an inside trader," Smith said. "This is unfair and far beyond the conduct that she committed."

Smith had requested house arrest for Reif and said the Probation Department recommended the same.

The prosecution was pleased with the outcome, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Reif has operated the business with her brother since 2003 as the fourth-generation offshoot of the family business, according to the company’s website. The site also notes it has 'grown by providing superior service, at a reasonable price, with honesty and reliability for over 80 years.'

Between 2004 and 2009, Reif purchased workers compensation insurance through Redwood Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and the State Compensation Insurance Fund for her business, Genesis Building Services. In 2008, the insurance company said it received conflicting data from Genesis staff about the number of employees and began suspecting it was under-reporting its payroll by approximately $544,440. Further investigation by the California Department of Insurance placed the under-reported amount at $10,657,776.69 which resulted in Reif avoiding paying $2,957,089.20 in insurance premiums.

The CDI claims Reif misrepresented both the number of employees and its payroll when applying for insurance, while insured and during annual audits conducted by the carriers. Genesis allegedly employed more than 140 employees but Reif reported less than half the staff and gave auditors fraudulent paperwork to support the false monthly reports. During a search of the business, investigators actually found the fraudulent books, according to prosecutors.
...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
Two new studies from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest ways to improve surgical treatment for a debilitating condition caused by compressed nerves in the neck and shoulder. The condition, neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome, causes pain, numbness or tingling in the shoulder, arm or hand and is perhaps best known for affecting baseball pitchers and other elite athletes. Patients often describe pain and tension in the neck and upper back, numbness and tingling in the fingers, headaches and perceived muscle weakness in the affected limb.

Treatment begins with physical therapy and sometimes medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants. When these treatments fail to improve symptoms and there is substantial disability in the use of the affected upper extremity, surgery can help relieve pressure on the nerves, often by removing the first rib and other structures thought to be causing the compression.

According to the summary in Science Daily, one of the studies showed that certain patients may do just as well with a minimally invasive procedure done on an outpatient basis as those who require the traditional surgery. The traditional procedure has an average five-day hospital stay. This study looked at 200 patients treated for neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome from 2008 through 2011. To determine the best surgical approach for each patient, the doctor examined two locations of potential nerve compression -- the side of the neck above the collarbone and the upper chest just below the collarbone, near the shoulder.

If patients experienced pain and tenderness in both places, they were offered the traditional procedure that includes removing the first rib and scalene muscles in the neck and detaching the tendon of the pectoralis minor muscle, which connects to the top and front of the shoulder blade. Of the 200 patients, 143 underwent this procedure.

When symptoms occurred exclusively under the collarbone, patients only received detachment of the pectoralis minor tendon as a minimally invasive procedure. The remaining 57 participants in the study underwent this outpatient procedure.

To determine outcomes, the researchers compared various measures of the patients' arm and shoulder function before surgery and again three months after surgery. Both sets of patients improved significantly after surgery, and the extent of their improvement was not statistically different. At the three-month mark, about 75 percent of patients in both groups demonstrated improved function in the affected areas.

"The ideal candidate for the minimally invasive procedure would be a patient with characteristic and debilitating symptoms, no response to physical therapy and clinical exam findings that were completely localized to the pectoralis minor tendon," Thompson says. "That's the really exciting subset of patients. You might be able to have a big impact with a minor outpatient procedure. The trick is to properly identify these patients. We still have to rely primarily on the experience of the physician and old-fashioned diagnosis by physical exam -- knowing the anatomy, knowing what we're feeling and what elicits symptoms." ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
An $87,500 bill for a 20-minute knee procedure is just an extreme example of high amounts that insurers are billed by out-of-network surgery centers, experts say. Insurers are starting to fight back.

A Southern California surgery center charged a Long Beach Unified School District teacher $87,500 for a routine, 20-minute knee operation that normally costs about $3,000. According to the report in the Los Angeles Times, despite the huge markup, the Long Beach Unified School District and its insurer, Blue Shield of California, paid virtually all of the bill from Advanced Surgical Partners in Costa Mesa. Blue Shield mailed the $84,800 check to the high school Spanish teacher last month and told her to sign it over to the surgery center.

This case points to a growing battle nationwide over billing by outpatient surgery centers. Industry experts say some of these surgery centers seek out well-insured patients, sometimes by waiving their copays and deductibles, and then bill their insurers exorbitant amounts for out-of-network care. All too often, critics say, insurers pay these large sums and then cite high medical bills for why insurance premiums keep rising for businesses and consumers.

In response to questions from The Times, Blue Shield defended its $84,800 payment as proper. Advanced Surgical Partners, through its lawyer, said the bill was excessive. Amid the scrutiny, the two sides agreed to a lower amount this week. Henry Fenton, an attorney for the surgery center, said this bill "was excessive and not correct. I'm sure they will be more careful in the future." Blue Shield said its typical rate for this arthroscopic knee procedure in Southern California is about $3,000 among in-network providers.

"This surgery center is charging 30 times the average by remaining out of network to advance this outrageous and anti-consumer practice," said Blue Shield spokesman Steve Shivinsky. "This is a national problem." Yet the company said it was obligated to pay nearly all of Advanced Surgical's bill because it is bound by the health plan rules set by the teacher's employer, the Long Beach school district. The school system is self-insured, meaning it pays its own medical bills and uses Blue Shield to administer its benefits and process claims.

In other situations involving out-of-network care, it's common for insurers to pay only about 60% of what's deemed to be "usual and customary" charges or some percentage of Medicare rates. Insurers and out-of-network medical providers routinely spar over what constitutes a reasonable amount. Kominski, a UCLA professor, said he faulted both Blue Shield and the school district for "dropping the ball on this. There were lots of opportunities for red flags to go off on such an outlandish bill."

Nationwide, some insurers have begun to challenge these bills from outpatient centers. Last year, a unit of insurance giant Aetna Inc. sued several surgery centers in Northern California and accused them of overbilling the insurer more than $20 million. It has pursued similar actions against providers in New Jersey and Texas. Other insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc. have filed similar suits in California.

In one instance, Aetna said, a California surgery center charged $73,536 for a kidney stone procedure when the average in-network charge was $7,612. Aetna said it paid some of these bills before disputing them in court.

Doctors and surgery centers say the criticism is unjustified. Surgery centers say they have helped reduce healthcare costs by offering convenient care at a fraction of what hospitals charge for colonoscopies, cataract surgeries and other outpatient procedures. These facilities now handle up to 40% of all outpatient surgeries, according to the Ambulatory Surgery Center Assn ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
Now there are 135. That's how many medical tests, treatments and other procedures - many used for decades - physicians have now identified as almost always unnecessary and often harmful, and which doctors and patients should therefore avoid or at least seriously question. According to the story in Reuters Health, the lists of procedures, released on Thursday by the professional societies of 17 medical specialties ranging from neurology and ophthalmology to thoracic surgery, are part of a campaign called Choosing Wisely. Organized by the American Board of Internal Medicine's foundation, it aims to get doctors to stop performing useless procedures and spread the word to patients that some don't help and might hurt.

"Americans' view of healthcare is that more is better," said Dr Glenn Stream, a family physician in Spokane, Washington, and board chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, which has identified 10 unnecessary procedures. "But there are a lot of things that are done frequently but don't contribute to people's health and may be harmful."

For the most part, the medical specialty groups did not consider cost when they made their lists. If their advice is followed, however, it would save billions of dollars a year in wasteful spending, said Dr John Santa, director of Consumer Reports' Health Ratings Center and a partner in Choosing Wisely. One large medical group with 300,000 patients, Santa said, calculated that following the Choosing Wisely advice on just two procedures, superfluous EKGs (electrocardiograms) and bone-density scans, would reduce its billings by $1 million a year. Nationally, that translates into some $1 billion in savings.

The medical specialty groups each came up with five procedures to "question," but most of the items begin with an emphatic "don't." The targeted procedures range from the common to the esoteric. Anyone who has ever had surgery while in generally good health can sympathize with the recommendation against multiple pre-op tests: Ophthalmologists now advise against EKGs and blood glucose measurements before eye surgery, except for patients with heart disease or diabetes.

Physicians recommend against many procedures patients have come to expect, including imaging for low back pain (unless it has lasted more than six weeks) and any cardiac screening, including EKGs, in patients without heart symptoms.

The widely used "DEXA" X-ray screening for osteoporosis landed in rheumatologists' crosshairs. It should not be done more than once every two years, they advise, because changes in bone density over shorter periods are typically less than the machines' measurement error, which can cause women to think they're losing bone mass when they're not.

If doctors adopt the recommendations of their specialty, doctor visits for some chronic diseases would be very different. Patients with recurrent headaches would not get EEGs (electroencephalography); they don't improve outcomes. And rheumatologists would not use MRIs to monitor joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis; a clinical assessment is just as good.

Many business groups have signed on to Choosing Wisely, hoping it will reduce soaring healthcare costs. For instance, the National Business Council on Health, with 7,000 employer members, and the National Business Group on Health, representing Fortune 500 companies and other large employers, are distributing to their members educational material developed by Consumer Reports, a partner in Choosing Wisely. They are careful to emphasize that the advice comes from doctors. "If employers say you shouldn't have all these tests or procedures, it'll inevitably be seen as 'my employer doesn't want to spend the money to cover them,'" said Helen Darling, president of the Business Group.

The pages and pages of lists raise an obvious question: How did so many worthless and even dangerous procedures become so widely used? For one thing, there is no regulatory requirement that physicians prove a new procedure helps patients, as drug makers must do before selling a new pharmaceutical. For another, "Americans want the latest, newest thing," said Dr Howard Brody of the University of Texas Medical Branch, whose 2010 challenge to physicians to identify worthless tests and treatments inspired Choosing Wisely. "Technological enthusiasm on the part of physicians and the general public makes them willing to adopt new things without rigorous testing. Only years later, and only if studies are done, do we see that it's no good." ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
A San Leandro medical center has been shut down and one of its doctors is facing criminal charges. Authorities say they investigated the As Soon As Possible (ASAP) Medical Clinic for two years. The facility employed Dr. Sultan Said Hamid as well as acupuncturists and chiropractors. It primarily handled worker compensation and automobile accident patients.

According to the story in the San Leandro Patch, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, along with California Insurance Commissioner David Jones, announced they have filed a civil action against the As Soon As Possible Medical Center. Authorities have closed the center at 1460 150th Ave. as well as its other clinics in Hayward, Vacaville and Fairfield.

Officials say they have also filed a criminal complaint against Dr. Sultan Said Hamid. The charges accuse Hamid of insurance fraud, perjury, filing false documents and conspiracy to dispense prescription drugs and other controlled substances by non-authorized personnel. Assistant District Attorney Larry Blazer said Hamid was dispensing drugs such as muscle relaxtants, anti-inflammatory agents and creams to patients who did not need them. "It seems everyone who walked in there walked out with two, three or four of these things," said Blazer.The main purpose for the fraud, Blazer said, was to drive up insurance payments.

Hamid's attorney, Ivan Golde, said Thursday his 75-year-old client is making arrangements to pay $100,000 bail. He expected it would be weeks before Hamid is arraigned. Golde said he hadn't seen all the evidence yet, but he felt the case was not a criminal matter. If anything, he said, it is something for a medical board to investigate. Golde said he doubts there are any patients who are claiming they were harmed. He said the case centers on undercover officers going into the clinic and posing as patients. "Is that what we want law enforcement in Alameda County doing?," he asked.

Authorities also filed a civil complaint against the clinic and its co-owner, Thomas Vamvouris. Vamvouris set up the corporation in 2004 with himself as a 49 percent owner and Hamid as a 51 percent owner. In reality, Barnes said, Vamvouris was the majority owner and that violates California law requiring a medical professional to be the primary owner of a medical facility. Authorities say Vamvouris has agreed to pay $450,000 in penalties, costs and restitution. He will also be prohibited from owning this type of facility in the future. No criminal charges are pending against Vamvouris.

Vamvouris' attorney, Daniel Horowitz. said his client agreed to pay the $450,000 in penalties because he believed there was some "gray area" in the situation at the medical clinic and the payment was a compromise to settle the case. Horowitz said Vamvouris also had no knowledge of any of the illegal activities Hamid is accused of engaging in."He was running the business side of things," said Horowitz ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
The owners of a restaurant in San Marcos, Calif. have been charged with felony counts of workers’ compensation fraud and forgery following a referral by the California Labor Commissioner’s criminal investigation unit to the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.

The Insurance Journal reports that the district attorney’s charges, filed in San Diego Superior Court allege that Rhythm City Grill owners John Fletcher Johnson and Annette Lucille Thomas each committed two felony counts of forgery of a workers comp insurance policy and a misdemeanor charge of conducting business without workers’ compensation insurance. Johnson was also charged with an additional felony for submitting a false document to a government agency. He and Thomas were arraigned Feb. 14.

"Not only did the owners fail to carry any workers’ comp coverage for their employees, they were willing to lie to authorities to evade the responsibilities that every law-abiding business owner in the state takes seriously," the Labor Commissioner said in a statement. "Those businesses that cheat hurt working people and make it costlier for honest businesses. These criminal charges are a signal that this type of behavior has no place in the State of California."

The Labor Commissioner's office launched an investigation at Rhythm City Grill in January 2012 after receiving an anonymous complaint that the restaurant did not have workers’ comp insurance as required by law. On Feb. 1, 2012, following a visit to the restaurant, authorities issued a civil citation with penalties totaling $18,000 against Johnson and Thomas for failing to insure their 12 employees. A follow-up inspection on Feb. 13 resulted in another notice of labor law violation, after the owners claimed to have coverage but did not produce the documentation.

According to the charges, Johnson prepared a false paper and, with Thomas, forged an insurance certificate showing workers’ comp insurance that they did not have. They were also charged with failure to secure payment of insurance.

If convicted, Johnson and Thomas face up to 16 years in prison for the felony charges. The failure to secure workers’ comp insurance carries a misdemeanor charge of 1 year and a fine.

Under state law, businesses not carrying valid workers’ compensation coverage are considered uninsured and face a "Stop Notice and Penalty Assessment" from the Labor Commissioner and fines of $1,500 per employee, up to $100,000. If an injury occurs, the fine increases to $10,000 per employee. A worker injured while working for an uninsured employer can sue for damages and the employer is presumed negligent in such cases ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
Taking umbrage at Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign to lure California businesses, the Sacramento Bee swiped at Texas in an editorial stating that among its shortcomings, Texas is last in workers’ compensation coverage.

The radio ad by the Texas governor said "Building a business is tough, but I hear building a business in California is next to impossible," the Republican governor says in the ad. "This is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and I have a message for California businesses: Come check out Texas."

And the Sacramento Bee editorial responded by saying "Yes, come check out Texas. Check out a state that ranks dead last in the percent of its population with high school diplomas. Come check out a state that is last in mental health expenditures and workers' compensation coverage. Come check out a state that ranks first in the number of executions, first in the number of uninsured, first in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted and first in the amount of toxic chemicals released into water."

Fact checkers soon joined the battle.

Stuart Leavenworth, who edits the Bee’s editorial page, offered as a basis for this claim a February 2011 report, "Texas on the Brink," issued by a Texas House caucus called the Legislative Study Group. The basis for the report’s ranking on "workers’ compensation coverage" was 2006 data on the percentage of workers covered in each state that came from the National Academy of Social Insurance, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group that researches such issues.

And herein lies an important anomaly: Texas is the only state that does not require all employers to obtain workers’ compensation coverage. Experts we consulted agreed this is the reason why Texas consistently ranks last and well behind other states in the proportion of workers covered.

There are exceptions; the National Federation of Independent Business says in an online comparison of such state laws that those include government construction contracts. In those cases, workers can file compensation claims, a right that employees usually give up in workers’ compensation agreements, "if they think they have a genuine case and the employer is still refusing to pay monetary benefits," the summary says. And other states exempt certain employers.

The academy’s most recent data on the percentage of workers covered in each state comes from 2010. As charted in an August 2012 report, it shows that while Texas had 78.6 percent of workers covered, no other state had less than 94.9 percent covered. Thirteen states -- including California -- had 100 percent covered.

Jennifer Wolf, executive director of an association representing state and provincial workers’ compensation systems in the U.S. and Canada, said there can be "quite a bit of difference" between states, especially "when you are comparing different types of benefits (temporary, permanent partial, permanent total)." Wolf’s group, the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, is based in Madison, Wis.

Wolf and Amy Lee, a Texas Department of Insurance expert on workers’ compensation at the Texas Department of Insurance said that most states’ systems have gradually come into line with a set of federal recommendations issued in 1972. Wolf said the most recent check on compliance with those guidelines was a Jan. 1, 2004, report from a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor. States averaged compliance with 12.83 of the 19 recommendations, the report said; Texas’ compliance was slightly below average, at 12.5 ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News
A Glendale police officer has filed a lawsuit against the city and the police department claiming he was the victim of repeated retaliation after he reported alleged work-related health violations.

The article in the Los Angeles Times says that Officer John Schmidt alleges that he and another officer were exposed to "blood-borne pathogens" while on duty, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Jan. 22. He reported the incident on Sept. 28, 2011, to the city and the police department, alleging that he believed they failed to comply with California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health regulations. That resulted "in a serious threat to their and other officers' health and safety," according to the lawsuit. Schmidt's complaint does not specify which Cal-OSHA regulations were allegedly violated, nor does it go into detail about his exposure to any purported pathogens. His attorney, Marla Brown, declined to comment about the complaint.

City Atty. Michael Garcia denied the allegations and disputed "the contention that the city retaliated against the plaintiff in any manner."

Schmidt alleges that because he reported the violations, co-workers and the defendants ostracized him, and that he was subjected to an unwarranted internal affairs investigation. He also claims that he was denied or discouraged from applying from certain job positions, and was turned down for a special evaluation and a chance to attend Special Weapons and Tactics school. Schmidt alleges that he was deprived of opportunities for overtime pay and was reportedly subjected to an unwarranted evaluation and denied merit pay, according to the lawsuit.Police and city officials also allegedly made false statements, which Schmidt claims "are reasonably calculated to harm or destroy" his reputation, according to the lawsuit.

Schmidt is seeking a judgment for the anguish he suffered, healthcare expenses and loss of wages, as well as attorney fees ...
/ 2013 News, Daily News