Greetings, Don’t forget to scour everything you received on Wednesday and over the break for 1-time change requests. Watch out for anything referencing “an alternative” doctor or anything citing 440.13(2)(f). You must respond by 4:59 pm today, Monday, 11/30/20. DOAH has released its annual report, the usual treasure trove of statistics about the FL WC […]
Greetings, hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week. It’s been a year to remember, but don’t forget to stay on the look-out for 1-time changes. As a reminder, any requests received before 5 pm EST on Wednesday before Thanksgiving (11/25) need to be answered by 5 pm on Monday after Thanksgiving (11/30). Also: “Received” means […]
Greetings, hope everyone is doing well. Litigation is slowly starting to increase back to pre-pandemic levels, and so is the flood of PFB’s. Since April, the number of new litigated WC claims in Florida is down 13% compared to 2019. However, since September its only down 7%, so the numbers are increasing. Along with that […]
Greetings, the 1st DCA issued a ruling last week clarifying-ish Major Contributing Cause and the 120 day rule in Sanchez v. Yellow Transport, 1D19-4231. The crux of the case was the E/C had authorized treatment over the years for the “lumbar spine”, and had never delineated that they were accepting a lumbar strain or any […]
Greetings, the Florida Division of Workers’ Comp just put out a report summarizing the data from the COVID-19 claims through August 31. A link to the full report is below. My colleague We Heim in our Tampa office will be doing a deeper dive in an upcoming article, but here are a few things that […]
Greetings, One of the impacts of the Coronavirus on litigation is the delay on the ability to do the level of discovery that is really essential in defeating or driving down the value in WC claims. Getting our arms around a claimant’s past medical history, prior accidents, income, preexisting conditions, etc…are key components to our […]
Greetings, last week, Florida announced it will apply to participate in the Federal Lost Wages Assistance Program created by the President’s Executive Order. The CARES Act additional $600 in unemployment benefits expired on 7/31, and mostly everyone on unemployment has been receiving the Florida $275 a week maximum since then. Florida opting to participate in […]
Greetings, this is true not only of how things go in 2020, but also in calculating Florida Impairment ratings. For Impairment ratings, Florida physicians are supposed to use the 1996 Florida Uniform Permanent Impairment Rating Schedule (or FUPIRS for short*). The guide has a chart on pages 116-117 for combining multiple body parts, and 2 […]
Greetings, The $600 weekly Federal boost to State Unemployment benefits expires on Friday, 7/31/20. The U.S. Congress is still negotiating an extension, with the Democrats current plan to extend the $600 to the end of the year, and the Republican plan (unveiled today) being $200 for two months and then switching to a 70% of […]
Greetings, I have received a few questions regarding COVID-19 claims that have been accepted as compensable as occupational disease claims, but no actual treatment is needed. By one report, 85% of those testing positive have little to no symptoms, and no treatment. Meaning the claimants don’t return to the doctor for MMI. (The CDC recommendations […]