Andrew Reinhardt and Joanne Marcus discuss the benefits of pooled special needs trusts for injured workers with disabilities.

Samsung Electronics is set to pay workers’ compensation to a number of employees whose health has been compromised while working in their factory. 

Hundreds of Samsung Electronics factory workers in South Korea have developed serious illnesses and several have died as a result of exposure to harmful chemicals during the production of memory chips and liquid crystal displays.

How does the saying go? Lift with your…legs. 

Yet improper lifting, which usually involves using your back to lift instead of your legs, is still one of the biggest causes of back injuries in the workplace. 

While the causes and types of back injuries in the workplace are numerous, we’ve found the most common of these injuries to be back strain, back sprain and herniated discs.

Below is an image of a true denial letter from CMS. The following document is a Medicare Summary Notice sent to a Medicare beneficiary. On page 2, you can see that a service was not approved, and looking at footnote E, CMS explains:

“Your claim has been denied by Medicare because you may have funds set aside from your settlement to pay for your future medical expenses and prescription drug treatment related to your injury(ies).”

Injured individuals across the country are settling claims every day and often they have no idea how much a professional administrator could help maximize the money they receive for their ongoing medical care. 

So in spite of the headline “Restoring the Death Penalty and other Reasonable Solutions to Workers’ Compensation Fraud”, I found myself agreeing with Robert Wilson’s post about increasing the criminal penalties for some forms of workers’ compensation fraud.

Microsoft Office 365 is growing in popularity as one of the most professional and functional cloud software suites available.  Microsoft estimates it is now being used by 1 in 5 business users, putting this cloud-based service on the radar of cybercriminals.  The greatest popularity of Office 365 resides in the financial services and manufacturing sectors, which are rich with potential plunder for these criminals.

With marijuana becoming increasingly legalized nationwide, it’s also becoming more of an issue in matters of workers’ compensation. For this reason, lawmakers and workers’ compensation lawyers can no longer ignore the issue.

A 2014 survey by Summit Pharmacy, Inc. found that more than a third (37%) of Americans believe individuals who claim workers’ compensation are using it as an excuse to get out of work.

Years of diligently studying law can certainly leave you feeling as though you’re ready to take on any case presented to you. While you may be able to handle it, it’s likely in your best interest to focus on one specific avenue of law. Workers’ compensation cases can be complex. It may not be the best idea for you or your practice to hone in on these cases as a general practitioner of law. Why is it important to be board certified in workers’ compensation if you plan to focus primarily on these cases?