Greetings, hope everyone had a good 4th. Couple of pending pitfalls today and later this month: Today- look out for 1 time changes from late Thursday or over the weekend. Review everything carefully, watch out for anything saying “an alternative physician” or simply “a physician per 440.13(2)(f)”. I got one at 4:30 Thursday, after we […]
Greetings, Before the numbers, a few tidbits that came up already today: Testing- I am hearing of physicians requiring claimants to get tested for COVID before surgery. We will likely have to pay for the test under surgical clearance, unless there are free testing sites. I would argue against any treatment, even under hinderance to […]
Greetings, On May 29th, the 1st DCA issued a ruling in a case involving what satisfies a 1-time change request, and certified a question to the Florida Supreme Court on the matter. The case is City of Bartow v. Flores, link attached. The facts are as follows: On 6/20/ 2017, the claimant requested a 1-time […]
Greetings, As businesses start to reopen and claimants start to return to their light duty or modified positions, I foresee some issues we will have to deal with from a WC perspective. As always I recommend any light duty offers be in writing. Even if there was a prior offer of light duty, reiterating a […]
Greetings, In Florida, Unemployment benefits are an offset to any TPD owed and a bar to TTD. More than 1.2 million Floridians have filed for Unemployment since March 15. That is a staggering number. And what is worse, I am sure many of you have heard of the inability of the Unemployment website and the DEO to […]
Greetings, Florida has made the decision to enter Phase 1 of re-opening starting Monday May 4th (except for 3 counties, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach). One of the issues affecting our claims has been the delay in surgeries and medical treatment due to the Exec Order putting elective procedures on hold. The Order from the […]
Greetings, hope everyone is well and staying sane. I am receiving several daily questions about compensability of COVID-19 claims under 440.151 Occupational Disease. A point to remember, unless someone actual has contracted the virus, there is no “injury” and therefore no claim. And even after, it then needs to be evaluated as to whether or […]
Greetings, I hope you are doing as well as can be under the circumstances. I have received a number of questions about the status of the FL WC system. In essence it is still functioning on schedule. All State Mediations are occurring by phone through 4/30. Motion hearings are by phone as well. Private mediations […]
Greetings, On 4/6, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (which all of you know from paying close attention during our 5 hr law and ethics CEU) issued an informational memo: TO ALL INSURERS AND ENTITIES REGULATED BY THE FLORIDA OFFICE OF INSURANCE REGULATION AUTHORIZED TO WRITE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION INSURANCE regarding COVID-19 and WC. Basically it […]
Greetings, The CFO of Florida yesterday put out the attached directive extending WC coverage to “Frontline State Employees” who have tested positive for COVID-19 as an occupational disease. The Directive states in essence it is a presumption of compensability unless the State of Florida can show by preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not) […]