The practice of physician repackaging prescription drugs and selling to their patients has become an issue in a number of states (e.g. Florida) and now is the subject of reform legislation broadly supported by the business community in Pennsylvania. A recent study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) found that physician-dispensed medications account for 29% [...]
Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Jorge E. Cueto issued an opinion on August 13th declaring that Florida's exclusive remedy statute was facially unconstitutional (see attached). In a wide ranging opinion the judge reviews federal and state court cases going back to 1917. The decision responds to a request for declaratory relief from intervenor parties Florida Workers' [...]
The US Senate today passed legislation to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act by an overwhelming bi-partisan vote of 93 -4 with 3 not voting. The bill, S 2244, may be found at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113s2244rs/pdf/BILLS-113s2244rs.pdf. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2014 amends the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 to extend the Terrorism Insurance [...]
In a letter dated July 14, 2014, six senators from both parties signed a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), reviewing the delayed implementation of several aspects of the SMART Act signed into law in January of 2013. (See attached) Senators signing the letter included Rob Portman (OH), [...]
In a surprisingly overwhelming show of support in the Pennsylvania House and Senate, HB 2081 has passed through both houses and the vote today in support of the bill on the floor of the Senate was 46-0 with 4 no votes. The sponsor of the bill, Representative William (Billy) Adolph, who chairs the House Appropriations committee, [...]
The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (S 2244) has gathered 16 co-sponsors, including the Chairman (Tim Johnson D-SD) and Ranking Member (Michael Crapo R-ID) of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee of the Senate. See http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c113:./temp/~c113alUTIB The bill is expected to receive a mark up by the committee as early as June this year. [...]
The Rand Corporation has released its study of the impact on federal spending of failure to extend the provisions of TRIA. The study may be accessed through a link at http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR611.html?utm_source=Ennouncements+5-1-2014&utm_campaign=Ennouncements+5-01-14&utm_medium=email Key findings of the study include: For terrorist attacks with losses less than about $50 billion, having the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) in place [...]
Read UWC Comments filed on March 28, 2014 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on February 11th that it is seeking comments on the manner in which CMS plans to expand the Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) re-review process. See : http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coordination-of-Benefits-and-Recovery/Workers-Compensation-Medicare-Set-Aside-Arrangements/Downloads/WCMSA-Re-review-Expansion.pdf. Currently, CMS has a limited re-review process for WCMSA amounts [...]
In addition to issues related to access to workers’ compensation information by SSA, FECA Reform, and increased DBA monitoring, that I noted in my e-mail on March 7th, the budget also includes funding for an extension of TRIA in some form and increased monitoring of misclassification of workers for workers’ compensation. See the budget language below. [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on December 27, 2013 published proposed rules with respect to the Right of Appeal for Medicare Secondary Payer Determination Relating to Liability Insurance (including Self-Insurance), No Fault Insurance, and Workers’ Compensation Laws and Plans. The proposed rules may be found at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-12-27/pdf/2013-30661.pdf#! and provide for comments to be [...]