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Apr
4

A worthy research project.

How many work comp claimants died from opioid overdoses last year in your state?

How many of your claimants died?

As far as I can tell we only know this figure for one state – Washington.  And we only know that because Gary Franklin, the state fund’s medical director did a lot of analysis of a lot of data. That analysis was a major factor in the state’s adoption of strong laws around opioid prescribing, laws that have been directly responsible for a 50 percent reduction in the number of opioid-related deaths of work comp claimants.

So. How many claimants are dying in your state?


3 thoughts on “A worthy research project.”

  1. The cold truth is that if they are not pursuing death benefits, no one investigates the cause of death. This is not tracked. The file is simply closed.

  2. California has a proposed bill, SB62, which will require coroners to make a report when information is received that indicates the death may be the result of prescription drug use. It’s a start..

  3. I read the recent Florida Court of Appeals case wherein the courts overturned the Department of Labor’s decision and granted Prescription Partners the right of assignment of the claim. My question is: are these collection agencies (such as Prescripton Partners) also assigned the liability associated with death claims due to drug overdoses?

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Joe Paduda is the principal of Health Strategy Associates

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A national consulting firm specializing in managed care for workers’ compensation, group health and auto, and health care cost containment. We serve insurers, employers and health care providers.

 

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