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A person killed in a two-alarm fire at a home in Walnut Creekearly this morning has been initially identified as an elderly man, according to Contra Costa Fire Protection District officials.The man - whose name and age haven't been released - was amongthree people who lived at the two-story home at 714 Mandarin Lane in WalnutCreek, according to Contra Costa Fire Protection District Capt. Steve Aubert.The fire was first reported at 12:45 a.m. today and dispatch saidat least one rescue was underway shortly after crews arrived on the scene.Aubert said the elderly man was found dead by fire crews upon arrival at the residence. The two other residents have been transported toJohn Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek with moderate injuries ranging fromlacerations to smoke inhalation.Aubert said the cause of the fire is under investigation and theresidence suffered enough fire damage to likely be considered a total loss.No further information was immediately available. … [Read more...] about One person killed overnight in Walnut Creek fire

To what extent are utilization reviewers care providers? That was NOT the central question argued yesterday in the King v CompPartners case before the California Supreme Court. The case appears straightforward; the plaintiff was prescribed Kolonopin, which was denied after going through the UR and IMR process. When he stopped taking the drug, he suffered several grand mal seizures which led to additional injury. The plaintiffs are arguing the UR physician who wrote the final denial should have authorized or otherwise recommended a gradual withdrawal, as seizures are not uncommon when patients suddenly stop taking Klonopin (Mr King had been taking it for two years).  In the view of the plaintiffs, failing to do that amounted to medical malpractice . The central legal issue in this case is the exclusive remedy nature of workers’ comp, with the defendant arguing that he cannot be charged with malpractice as the UR determination and related processes took place within … [Read more...] about King v CompPartners and the Duty of Care

The headlines were comforting – not much change in the number of Americans without health insurance. Before you breathe that sigh of relief, you’d be well-advised to dig a bit deeper, because there’s plenty of bad news just under the headline. While the national number of uninsured stayed about the same, that’s irrelevant to you – because healthcare is local. Here’s what I’d be worried about. Young adults are almost twice as likely as older adults to be uninsured – about one in six younger adults don’t have coverage. Takeaway – no health insurance = more incentive to file work comp claims  Over a quarter of working-age Texans don’t have coverage. Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina are not far behind Takeaway – no health insurance = poorer health status, more comorbidities, more charity care for providers thus more incentive to cost- and claim-shift. 44% of working-age adults were covered by … [Read more...] about Health insurance status and workers’ comp

The best was saved for last at NCCI’s Annual Issues Symposium. After Gen (ret) Colin Powell warmed up the crowd, NCCI’s Barry Lipton and CWCI’s Alex Swedlow took to the stage to educate us on networks and outcomes. First, California. Average medical costs have gone up 4.3x in CA since 1990; while there have been lots of regulatory and legislative efforts to add guidelines, enable managed care, and increase network usage, ultimate medical costs now are over $37k. Network penetration in CA is now around 84% for physician services – where it looks like it has peaked.  Along with this increase has come an increase in administrative expenses.  WC Admin expense in CA now accounts for 53% of work comp costs, more than twice the average across the nation. 41% of those costs are for med management (31% for defense attorney expense). Bill review and network account for 47% of those medical management costs, UR is the remainder. (these percentages have been … [Read more...] about Swedlow on work comp networks…they are NOT equal

Sunday, May 20, 2018 by: Mike Adams Tags: arsenic, cadmium, cwc labs, Health Ranger, Heavy metals, lab science, lab tests, Lead, mercury, Mike Adams, toxic elements (Natural News) If you’ve purchased a heavy metals lab test kit from the Health Ranger Store, you’ll receive a report listing the ppb (parts per billion) concentrations for over 20 elements, including lead, zinc, magnesium, cadmium and more. We use ICP-MS instrumentation (“mass spec”) to test heavy metals down to single-digit ppb concentrations. See the full list of elements we measure at this CWC Labs link. I’ve published a video that explains how to interpret these lab test results. You can watch the full video below. People use these heavy metals lab tests to measure the precise concentrations of heavy metals and nutritive elements in: Nutritional supplements Body hair (can tell your mercury exposure) Well water or municipal water Soils Cosmetics (there’s often lead in lipstick) … [Read more...] about How to interpret heavy metals lab test results from CWC Labs