Work Comp Win: RateFast Receives a Patent!

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Every day, people come up with quite useful ideas. Some of the ideas are genius. The problem is that nobody will ever know that the idea is genius if they never see it!

And simply because one has a great idea, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the idea is eligible for a patent.

To go along with the benefits of having the government recognize the fruits of your labor, there’s a certain… je ne sais quoi about having an official patent for a product that you’ve made. Suffice to say, RateFast is quite pleased that we have patented our product!
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Workers’ Comp: the Central Issue in California’s Battle over Prop 22

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Hector Castellanos, a full-time driver for rideshare giants Uber and Lyft, was injured in the course of work when he was struck by another car “I was hit by another driver while I was working, ended up needing the surgery and months of physical therapy, and I had to stop working for about a year,”

This issue was taken to court after Castellanos alleged that he had been promised a pay raise and increased healthcare by the company, a promise that had not been fulfilled.

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Rate-fast.com Is Going National, and We Are Open During Construction

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RateFast is excited to announce that we are going national!

Over the past few years, RateFast has provided AMA Guides 5th Edition impairment ratings and workers’ comp solutions for providers, insurance administrators, and other stakeholders in California. But soon, the RateFast platform will be updated to provide anybody in the U.S. with quality impairment ratings, reviews, and reporting services.

All RateFast ratings will adhere to the state’s rule set for determining impairment/permanent partial disability, or each state’s designated version of the AMA Guides.

RateFast will adapt its impairment rating forms to each of the state’s specifications, and provide a consistent reporting format in states which do not provide forms.

Our goal is to become the one-stop workers’ compensation for medical providers, insurance carriers, attorneys, employers, workers. To date, RateFast has already expanded into Florida, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

For Providers

Although we’re still updating our online platform to accommodate states other than California, we have worked with providers and insurance carriers in other states.

We can provide you with products and services customized to your state, AMA Guides version, and workflows, regardless of your location.

For Insurance Carriers

Please check out a list of our services here.

Questions?

To find out how RateFast can help, please contact us for more information.

Try RateFast Express today!

The Las Vegas Shooting and Why Police Officers Were Denied Workers’ Comp

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Acting in the face of imminent death merits a huge deal of honor, but as several courts in California have shown, it doesn’t obligate a county to supply workers’ compensation benefits.

The story

On October 1st, a lone gunman fired rounds of ammunition into the crowd of a festival with tens of thousands of attendees. This was the deadliest mass shooting conducted by an individual in the United States at the writing of this article.

The Las Vegas police who responded to the scene were quickly joined by off duty Los Angeles police officers who were attending the festival. Along with hundreds of others, some of these L.A. police officers incurred injuries from the shooter.

Returning to Los Angeles, the officers—having responded and been injured in the action—filed for workers’ compensation benefits. A few days later, their requests were denied.
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Automation Is Coming to Workers’ Compensation: Could Your Job Be Done by a Robot?

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“We are coming closer to the point where not only cashiers but surgeons might be at least partially replaced by A.I.,” said former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a recent interview.

The rapid integration of automation in all industries is undeniable. The surprising news is that there are many jobs that have traditionally required an expert—a highly trained human professional—that can be better performed by robots, at least in part.

Workers’ compensation is no exception. As the sun sets on the age of the expert and rises on the age of the machine, workman’s comp is a critical example of a field that will benefit from automation.

Continue reading Automation Is Coming to Workers’ Compensation: Could Your Job Be Done by a Robot?

Top 5 Articles of 2016

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From how to use an inclinometer correctly to understanding why a panel QME gets involved in a work injury, read up on the best workers’ compensation content of the past year.

  1. What’s A QME?
  2. Muscle Atrophy
  3.  Exacerbation vs. Aggravation
  4. Activities of Daily Living
  5. How to use an Inclinometer

Do you have a workers’ compensation topic you’d like to see covered? Email us and we’ll put our best people on it!

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Playing the Game of Chicken in Workers’ Comp

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The price that grocery stores pay for chicken is based on a particular index. This Washington Post article reveals how our entire nation agrees to pay the price of chicken based on this index. The newsworthy claim of the article is that if we really look at the open market, the stores are paying a price for chicken that is completely arbitrary, rather than the correct or natural price of chicken.

This is problematic not only for the consumer but for the industry as a whole.

As fascinating as this is, why are we discussing this on our workers’ compensation blog? What are the implications of this concept for work comp in California? Read on to find out.

chicken

“Chicken” by Thomas Vlerick is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

Continue reading Playing the Game of Chicken in Workers’ Comp

NueMD ICD-10 Code Lookup Tool

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If part of your workflow involves looking up ICD-10 codes, you should check out NueMD’s ICD-10 Code Lookup tool.

This might be old news if you’re in the coding business, as the website is actually ranked #1 in Google’s search results when you search “icd-10 code lookup tool.”

It’s easy to see why. NueMD’s code lookup tool sports a clean interface and modern features that are geared toward engaging and keeping users.

When you create a free account, you can save your favorite codes in your own personal categories.

NueMD ICD-10

Other bells and whistles that are not often featured on other web-based coding tools include training in the form of several coding games, and the ability to search for common codes by your specialty—dermatology, infectious disease, podiatry, and others.

NueMD allows you to find codes by common abbreviations and keywords, giving it clear leg up when compared with one-way code search sites such as www.icd10codesearch.com/. NueMD’s site is also less cluttered and less spammy than other tools like www.findacode.com.

The actual content about each code seems comparable to the code information provided by other services. I’m not a professional biller, but I didn’t notice any significant differences between NueMD and www.icd10data.com for the codes that I searched. However, NueMD has clearly put effort into making their tool stand out.

Conclusion

If you ever need to lookup codes online, NueMD’s app is worth a whirl. It has features and design-values that billers and other professionals in medicine should demand from their software.

Have you used NueMD’s ICD-10 code search tool? What was your experience? Do you have a different favorite tool for looking up codes? Let us know. Contact us by email or on social media.

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