A new NIOSH training and educational DVD, Violence on the Job DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-100d, provides employers, employees, safety professionals, and others with recommendations and resources for preventing work-related homicides and assaults. 

 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act includes a provision establishing the Medicare Integrity Program (MIP). This provision gives the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) authority to enter into contracts with entities to promote the integrity of the Medicare program. The MIP includes a range of Medicare program areas such as cost report auditing, medical review, anti-fraud activities, and the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) program. 

 Payments of Medicare and Medicad are continuing to grow at a rate faster than the nominal gross domestic product. By 20111national health costs will constitute 17% of the GDP, up from the 200 level of 3.2% and will total $2.8 trillion. The Center for Medicare and Medicare Services are actively reviewing payments that should have been made under Workers' Compensation programs and co-ordinating benenfits through a vast network of benefit coordinators and a growing effort of investigation, reporting and enforcement activities.

NEW 2ND INJURY FUND PROCEDURES--Notice to the Bar - June 7, 2004--Effective immediately the Division of Workers’ Compensation will no longer require that a Motion to Yoin the Second Injury Fund be filed and an Order of Joinder be entered. The Second Injury Fund Application and Verified Petition properly filed pursuant_to 14A5-95.l is sufficient to join the Fund in a Workers’ Compensation case.

 The Secondary Claim Development (SCD) Questionnaire is a Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) questionnaire that is sent to obtain information about other insurers that may pay before Medicare. The SCD is mailed when a claim is submitted to Medicare with an explanation of benefits (EOB) attached, a self-report is made by you or your attorney identifying an MSP situation, or a third party payer submits MSP information to a contractor, or the Coordination of Benefits (COB) Contractor. 

 MEDICAL GUIDELINES IN WC CASES APPROVED BY TEXAS SP CT--"In this opinion, we conclude that the Legislature authorized TWCC to set upper limits on reimbursement amounts and establish a reasonable time limitation on requests for medical dispute resolution

NIOSH has prepared the Worker Health Chartbook 2004 as a resource for agencies, organizations, employers, researchers, workers, and others who need to know about occupational injuries and illnesses. This concise, chart-based document consolidates information from the network of tracking systems that forms the cornerstone of injury and illness surveillance in the United States.

Scientific evidence links mold and other factors related to damp conditions in homes and buildings to asthma symptoms in some people with the chronic disorder, as well as to coughing, wheezing, and upper respiratory tract symptoms in otherwise healthy people, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. However, the available evidence does not support an association between either indoor dampness or mold and the wide range of other health complaints that have been ascribed to them, the report says. Given the frequent occurrence of moisture problems in buildings and their links to respiratory problems, excessive indoor dampness should be addressed through a broad range of public health initiatives and changes in how buildings are designed, constructed, and maintained, said the committee that wrote the report. 

The following is a Momorandum issued by Peter J. Calderone, Director and Chief Judge of the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation. It was issued on May 3, 2004.

FRUSTRATIONS OF 9-11 VICTIMS SEEKING WORKERS' COMPENSATION--Many Who Served on 9/11 Are Still Pressing Fight for Workers' Compensation. It is in places like Judge Mark Solomon's workers' compensation courtroom in Brooklyn that lingering questions about the health consequences of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center are fought over day after day.

In 1992, the U.S. Congress passed the Workers' Family Protection Act (Public Law 102-522, 29 U.S.C. 671), which requested that the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety And Health (NIOSH) conduct a study to "evaluate the potential for, prevalence of, and issues related to the contamination of workers' homes with hazardous chemicals and substances...transported from the workplaces of such workers."

Asbestos: Federal Mediation Fails to Reach Accord. AIA remains committed to meaningful reform of deeply flawed litigation system. The following statement is in response to the end of negotiations over legislation to establish a national asbestos victims compensation trust fund (S. 2290). The negotiations were mediated by retired Federal Judge Edward Becker. This statement should be attributed to Robert E. Vagley, president of the American Insurance Association (AIA) 

CMS/MSP New Address --  New Address for Receipt of Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-aside Arrangement (WCMSA) Proposals (and all subsequently requested documents) for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Review. 

 Employers can be sued for more than employment discrimination, whistleblowing or breach of contract. Causes of action that have been brought against employers range from assault and battery to defamation and intentional infliction of emotional stress. In order to successfully litigate an employment tort claim, you need to be aware of the elements of various tort actions and understand the potential impact of workers’ compensation laws and insurance and indemnification issues.  Presented in cooperation with the NJSBA Labor & Employment Law Section 

 A comprehensive analysis of government data shows that a significant number of working Americans in every state do not have health care coverage, with at least 20 million working Americans not having coverage. In six states, at least one in five working adults is uninsured. In 38 other states, at least one working adult in every 10 does not have health insurance. The report further reveals that in every state, adults who do not have health insurance experience significant gaps in medical care compared to those who do. 

Statement by OSHA Administrator John Henshaw On Worker Memorial Day 2004. "Today is Worker Memorial Day, a day to pay tribute to the men and women who have lost their lives on the job. We mourn with their families and friends, and we recognize that the loss of these very special people extends beyond the home; the loss is felt in schools, places of worship, at social gatherings, in local communities, and throughout the entire nation.

ASBESTOS-Take a look at USAction's new cartoon, “Halliburton's Doggone Good Deal.” First war profiteering, now an asbestos bailout scheme orchestrated by a company with oh-so-close relations to the White House.  

DEATH BY WORK. Occupational diseases of the 21st century will be heart attacks, suicide and strokes. Hazards editor Rory O'Neill looks at why so many of us are being worked into the ground. 

 Workers' compensation, implemented in California in 1913, is a no-fault system, entitling workers to compensation for illness or injury arising out of and in the course of work duties, regardless of the blame which might otherwise be placed on the employer or the employee. The workers' compensation system is premised on a bargain between employers and employees: employees are supposed to receive benefits for on-the-job injuries and, in return, the benefits are the exclusive remedy for injured employees against their employer, even when the employer negligently caused the injury.

njured cops and firefighters, their advocates and union leaders today blasted a reported proposal on cutting benefits to injured workers. The injured workers, their advocates and consumer advocates said the proposal would harm those who could least afford it, the injured workers whom the system is supposed to protect.