Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
It’s that time of year – the annual gathering of the work comp experts/geeks in Boston to hear the latest research from those who are really the experts. Along with discussions of physician dispensing of drugs (can we PLEASE kill … Continue reading Headed to WCRI…
Read More...On holiday this week, hiking in Arizona. Hope your week is fabulous, unless you are a physician dispensing advocate or opioid overuse apologist, in which case I hope it is anything but. Speaking of which, opioid guidelines are becoming more … Continue reading Catch up Monday
Read More...Welcome to the war, everyone. Okay, so work comp is not the most progressive industry. We are – often justifiably – seen as slow-moving, overly conservative, reluctant to adopt change and averse to innovation. Except when it comes to opioids, … Continue reading Workers’ comp is leading the way on opioids
Read More...Made it home from warm and sunny Baton Rouge yesterday just in time to escape the travel disaster unfolding across the east coast. Hope you and yours are warm and snug and home. The big news-that-wasn’t was the completion of … Continue reading Friday catch up
Read More...Health insurance is a classic mature industry; consolidating, dominated by a few very large players, very difficult to enter, price-driven. Big insurers have many advantages over new entrants: their market share enables them to drive hard bargains with doctors and hospitals, … Continue reading Marco Rubio and the risk corridor
Read More...Each year I publicly prognosticate about the year to come – and, being one committed to personal responsibility, I report back 12 months later. Here’s how prescient I was this time around. 1. Aetna will NOT be able to sell … Continue reading 2015 Work Comp predictions – how’d I do?
Read More...Health care costs accounted for 17.5% of GDP last year after a 5.3% increase in spending. The overall spending increase, which followed 5 years of relatively low inflation, was attributed primarily to the addition of 8.7 million people to the rolls … Continue reading Health care spending up 5.3% in 2014
Read More...ProPublica and NPR have a new investigative report out on Opt-Out, the nascent industry seeking to allow employers to “opt-out” of workers comp. Perhaps more accurately, PP/NPR focused on one individual in the Opt-Out industry, concentrating their attention on Bill Minick, his … Continue reading ProPublica’s Opt-Out reporting
Read More...CompPharma, a consortium of workers’ comp pharmacy benefit managers, released the 12th Annual Survey of Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Comp yesterday. The Survey is an in-depth look at the issue based on telephonic interviews with 21 TPAs, insurers, state … Continue reading Workers’ comp pharmacy costs – Survey says…
Read More...And that is good news indeed. WorkCompCentral reported this morning that the state legislature passed the enabling bill late yesterday; the Governor will sign it. California will join four other states that have formularies in place today, and it is … Continue reading California’s going to have a work comp drug formulary
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