Greetings, by special request, this Tip is about employee/employer relationship as it relates to1099 employees/Independent contractors. In general, the FL WC law favors finding these individuals are employees and are covered under Workers Comp unless they can prove certain elements. The statute sets out a set of criteria to be considered an independent contractor, and […]
Greetings, Effective 1/1/25, 105 days from now, the Florida WC fee schedule for surgeries and physician visits is increasing fairly significantly. Surgeries will cost 50% more and doctor’s visits will cost 60% more (see below). Now may be the opportune time to run a Medicare Set Aside on any claims where there are future surgeries […]
Greetings, After a claimant has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI), they can continue to treat in Florida until or unless one of a few things happens: The applicable statutes are below. The first two above require an opinion from the treater. And it is always a balance, the cost of possibly causing litigation versus paying […]
Greetings, A common phrase when discussing claims that appear to be caused by the claimant’s own less than well thought out action is “stupidity is not a defense.” However, on occasion, “stupidity” can cost the claimant money. Under the Florida WC statute, if the injury is caused by the claimant refusing to use a “safety […]
Greetings, Our firm has been recognized by the largest WC TPA as having one the best file duration rates in the country. Today, they asked me to speak to their entire defense attorney panel about what our firm does differently to achieve those results. (And we could not achieve these great results without each of […]
Greetings, (Technically the JCC’s do not “approve” represented settlements in FL, they approve the amount of attorney fees and child support arrearage, but you know what I mean…) Over the last several months there has been a distinct push by the Judges of Compensation Claims to be more discerning on approving claimant’s attorney fees. At […]
Greetings, Well hard to believe we crossed the half-way point in 2024. I thought it would be a good time to look and see where the amount of litigation stands as compared to last year. So, through the first 6 months of 2024, the number of new litigated cases in Florida was down slightly. Number […]
Greetings, as I was planning out my BBQ menu for next week it hit me. July 4th falls on a Thursday; the week looks an awful lot like Thanksgiving week. That means it is ripe for the shenanigans of claimant’s 1-time change requests under 440.13 (2)(f). Due to a series of decisions by the 1st […]
Greetings, yesterday the Governor signed the pending bill SB 362 increasing the FL WC medical fee schedule effective 1/1/2025. The increase for medical services is from 110 percent to 175 percent of the reimbursement amount allowed by Medicare, with surgical procedures increasing from 140 percent of Medicare to 210 percent. Hopefully this will bring more […]
Greetings, Florida has some nuances regarding Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI), so here are some reminders: MMI is defined in the statute as 440.02(10) “Date of maximum medical improvement” means the date after which further recovery from, or lasting improvement to, an injury or disease can no longer reasonably be anticipated, based upon reasonable medical probability. As […]