Reading Room

 Effective July 1, 2008 the Centers for Medicare and Medicad (CMS) will exclusively use the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Table 1 (Life Table for Total Population) when determining life expectancy in Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Asides (WCMSA) proposals.

 Navigating the Medicare recovery system just became a whole lot easier with the deployment of the new website launched by the new national MSP Recovery Contractor (MSPRC).

Congressional interest in the disability claims backlog and SSA's need for adequate funding continues. On April 23, 2008, a four-hour hearing was held by the full House Ways and Means Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) .

Medical benefits continue to soar in the workers compensation arena. They constitute the largest and most significant factor in the payment of workers' compensation claims. At a recent meeting of NCCI Holdings Inc. it was announced that data reflects a huge increase in the medical component.

An amendment has been proposed, which has received bipartisan support, to stop the raiing of the second injury trust funds and their diversion to the general treasury. Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney has proposed a constitutional amendment [SCR-60] requiring contributions collected from assessments on wages to be used for employee benefits and prohibiting use of the contributions for any other purpose.

On the eve the NJ Senate's investigation into New Jersey's workers' compensation system, the question lingers on how to evaluate its health. New Jersey has always had a very large and very dedicated workforce A recent newspaper series by Star-Ledger reporters Dunstan McNichol and John P. Martin revealed that the system is serious flawed and that it is in need of a "complete overhaul."

Resistance continues to mount against adoption of the AMA Guides to Impairment 6th edition. Opposition was expressed by a leading expert in workers' compensation and the Attorney General of Tennessee issued an opinion against adoption of the 6th Edition.

At a recent meeting of the American Academy of Neurology a report was presented demonstrating a 34% higher risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease as a result of exposure to formaldehyde.

The NJ Star-Ledger newspaper conducted an eight-month survey involving hundreds of thousands of workers compensation claims pending before the New Jersey Division of Workers Compensation. The Star Ledger series ran for three days and exposed huge difficulties in the NJ workers' compensation system.

The great debate continues over whether the AMA Guides have any place in the workers' compensation system. During a recent interview with Dr. Christopher Brigham, Senior contributing editor of the AMA Guides 6th Edition and Todd McFarren, past President of the Work Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG) and president-elect of CAAA, the issues were crystallized.