The leaps in technology used for medicine is staggering. In the past few years, machines like the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) show how cancer cells can be eliminated using sound waves alone. Every day, a new breakthrough has been found, or is in the process of testing.

… but it still takes doctors up to a month to speak to each other in order to get a patient the treatment that they need for their workplace injury.

Continue reading Utilization Review: Phone Tag, but With Fax Machines

California is a desirable place to live. Is known for its dynamic landscape, unique flora and fauna, access to the Pacific Ocean, temperate climate, etc. As long as California has been charted, media like movies and music have touted the marvels of the land. On top of all of this, the state is an economic giant for entertainment media, agriculture, and tech.

Continue reading The Astronomical Costs of California Work Comp, Explained

Imagine that you were able to know whether or not your claim was going to drag out due to errors in writing workers’ comp reports. How much time would it save you to go back and correct a few simple mistakes?

Data Integrity, a unique feature of RateFast, does exactly that.

Continue reading Grading Your Reports: Data Integrity, Completeness, and Quality

We’ve now mentioned the many different stakeholders that can enter a workers’ comp claim. The stakeholders in any and every work comp claim are the injured worker, the PTP (Primary Treating Physician), and the insurance adjuster. In California, if a claim gets tricky, an attorney and a QME can join the claim.

Still more stakeholders can join the claim in order to help things along. The nurse case manager is one such stakeholder.
Continue reading Nurse Case Managers in California Workers’ Comp

Every week, several news stories surface about another person, or group of people, being caught for workers’ comp fraud. Those are just the stories that are being published. While it may be true that there are still people getting away with it here and there, this people are just one investigation away from dire penalties.
Continue reading Workers’ Comp Fraud: It Isn’t Worth the Consequences

If You Need Emergency Medical Assistance, Dial 9-1-1

This guide is intended for employees who wants to know what to do if they sustain a workplace injury or illness. This article series goes beyond the moment of injury, and gives a picture of what to expect when choosing a doctor, getting treatment, and beyond. This guide is specific to California, but many of the steps described cross state lines.

This is the second part of the series covering what a worker should do in the event that they have suffered an injury or illness in the workplace. If you have recently been injured or have fallen ill due to an event or conditions at work, and have not yet filed a workers’ compensation claim with your employer, please see part 1 of this series. If you have filed a workers’ comp claim with your employer, read on.

Now that your claim has been filed with your employer, there are still steps that you must take to ensure that you receive your benefits (and partial pay for time off work, if applicable). This the beginning of your journey through the workers’ compensation system.
Continue reading A Worker’s Guide to Workers’ Comp Part II: Making the Most of Your Injury

Some workers’ compensation claims need future care after reaching MMI (Maximum Medical Improvement). The need for future care means that the claim stays open while the injured worker gets treatment. Sometimes treatment is needed indefinitely.

The patient who we interviewed, we’ll call him David, was injured at work in 2012 and has been receiving future care since his case reached MMI in 2014. His claim involved a personal injury to his spine, which continues to affect his ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) to this day.

His claim represents a fairly common snapshot of what an injured worker experiences when their injury results in lasting impairment. It shows a larger picture of the workers’ comp machine in motion, and the ingredients that make the system so resource intensive for all stakeholders.

Continue reading Beyond MMI: The Workers’ Comp System from a Workers’ Perspective