Workers Comp Matters

Workers’ Compensation was the first social reform in America dating back to 1911. On this edition of Workers’ Comp Matters, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, joins Andrew J. Reinhardt from the firm Reinhardt & Harper, PLC, at the Workers’ Compensation Centennial in Boston, Massachusetts, to discuss the latest in workers’ compensation and celebrate 100 years. Andy talks about his work with Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), legislative matters and upcoming congressional hearings in Washington DC pertaining to workers’ compensation.

Social networking has become a popular topic within the workers’ comp community. In this edition of Workers’ Comp Matters, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, welcomes Attorney Jon L. Gelman, to take a look a social networking in the workers’ comp world. Alan and Jon discuss privacy and their clients, client responsibility when it comes to putting up information on social media sites and how social networking can be used as a portal to monitor clients.

Returning to work after a disabling worker’s compensation injury involves many steps. In this edition of Workers’ Comp Matters, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, welcomes Edmund C. Corcoran Jr., Director of Integrated Disability Programs for Raytheon Company and Daniel J. Knight, the Senior Manager of Workers’ Compensation for Raytheon Company, to take a look at the program, the interrelationship between workers’ comp and disability, returning to work, cost containment and safety initiatives.

There is a phenomenon that we all see in workers’ comp cases, whether representing the claimant or the insurer. An insurer or its medical expert might call it symptom magnification. In this edition of Workers’ Comp Matters, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, welcomes Attorney Douglas Jones, founder and Member-in-Charge of the law firm, Jones Dietz, PLLC, to look at the process, discuss related topics such as malingering as opposed to a more legitimate form of pain disorder and touch on the broader subject of fraud, which many people equate to symptom magnification.

The first constitutional workers’ compensation law in the United States was enacted back in 1911, and in recognition of this milestone of law, Massachusetts will host a centennial commemoration in April of 2011. In this edition of Workers’ Comp Matters, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, welcomes the Honorable Richard S. Tirrell with the Department of Industrial Accidents and Attorney Joseph F. Agnelli, Jr., partner at Keches Law Group, P.C, to discuss the early origins of workers’ compensation and look ahead to the Workers’ Compensation Centennial 2011.

In this special edition of Workers' Comp Matters from an ABA TIPS 2010 Conference on National Trends and Emerging Issues in Workers' Compensation, host and Attorney Alan S. Pierce spotlights the intoxication defense in defending a workers' compensation claim. Alan welcomes Attorney Gregory T. Presmanes from Bovis, Kyle & Burch, LLC to discuss how to best investigate these cases, how to educate clients, medical privacy issues and the intoxication defense in other jurisdictions.

In this special edition of Workers' Comp Matters from an ABA TIPS 2010 Conference on National Trends and Emerging Issues in Workers' Compensation, host and Attorney Alan S. Pierce welcomes Jodi Harris from Blue Eagle Investigations, to discuss the pros and cons of workers compensation surveillance. Jodi will give an inside look at surveillance, combating the fraud that exists in the workers' comp system, ethical and privacy issues and the different types of investigations and surveillance when dealing with an illegitimate claim.

Health Care reform continues to be at the forefront of the Obama administration's agenda. Host and Attorney Alan S. Pierce welcomes Jon L. Gelman to discuss health care and workers' compensation and the Occupational Disease Pilot Program: a close look at the delivery of medical benefits when it comes to occupational disease and how workers compensation may or may not fit into the big picture of universal health care or health care reform.

Host and Attorney Alan S. Pierce welcomes Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, Executive Director of the Mass. Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and Stacie A. Sobosik, Esq. from the Law Offices of Martin Kantrovitz in Boston, to discuss access to workers' compensation in the immigrant community and the overwhelming challenges immigrant communities face in the workers' comp system.

Is the Workers’ Compensation system really there to protect us if we are injured on the job? On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce welcomes Dr. Patrice Woeppel to take an inside look at the ins and outs of the workers' compensation system and discuss her new book, Depraved Indifference: the Workers' Compensation System.

On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce and Attorney Michael I. Fish, founding member of the Birmingham insurance defense law firm of Fish Nelson, LLC, will talk about the F word-fraud. It is something that makes workers comp attorneys on both sides of any case cringe. They will highlight employer fraud and hone in on premium misclassification and failure to obtain coverage by citing real life cases.

Did you ever want to know what goes on in an Independent Medical Evaluation (IME)? On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce and Dr. David Cooper from the Knee Center, will take an in-depth look at the elements of the IME. They will discuss the Waddell signs, how long a comprehensive physical examination should take and the relevance of records from insurance companies.

Hear how to properly settle a workers’ comp case and comply with statutory requirements to create a medicare set aside program, allocation or trust. On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, and Attorney Neal Winston from the firm, Moschella & Winston LLP, update Medicare Set-aside issues and discuss the implemented changes that will affect liability cases in 2009.

Cardiac injury claims in workers comp cases can be tricky. On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, turns to Dr. Julian M. Aroesty, cardiologist from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, to explore the basics of proving and defending a work related cardiac injury claim focusing on basic causation issues, the importance of accurate history and a look at the role of a pre-existing condition.

Join host and Attorney Alan S. Pierce at the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Section (TIPS) conference in Chicago recently for a candid discussion of the AMA Guides to Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 6th Edition in this Workers Comp Matters. Join Alan with special guests, Dr. Christopher Brigham, board certified in Occupational Medicine, President of Brigham and Associates and Senior Contributing Editor to AMA Guides effective now in 2008 and Attorney Todd McFarren, partner at Rucka, O’Boyle, Lombardo and McKenna and past president of the Work Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG). What’s the importance of the Guides in workers comp cases as a standard to define the impact of an injury or illness? And hear the recent criticism from some lawyers in the plaintiff bar across the U.S. Hear the issues and answers!

The future of Workers Compensation laws are changing. Trends show the laws are being reformed making it more difficult for employees and easier for big corporations when it comes to Workers Comp. Is there a trend to federalize the laws? The questions are raised during Attorney Alan S. Pierce’s Workers Comp Matters program discussed before an audience at the recent ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) conference in Chicago. Listen as expert guests, Professor Ed Welch, School of Labor & Industrial Relations at Michigan State University and Professor John F. Burton, Jr., School of Management & Labor Relations at Rutgers University join Alan in this peek at the future and where we go from here in Workers Comp legal issues. Special thanks to TIPS Chair & Attorney Len Nason for inviting LegalTalkNetwork to the conference.

On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, turns to an expert to discuss the serious health problems of the World Trade Center rescue and the virtual collapse of the workers compensation system. Alan welcomes, Peter Rousmaniere, workers’ compensation consultant and author, who will discuss his in-depth article in Risk & Insurance magazine entitled Breach of Trust and explore the lives of the workers and workers compensation system six years after 911.

On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, is joined by one of the leading experts on representing the federal employee in workers comp cases. Alan welcomes, Attorney Daniel Shapiro of Shapiro & Associates, as they discuss the basics of federal workers compensation cases, the fate of the injured federal employee, representing the federal employee, the work of the OWCP and Attorney Shapiro’s involvement in these cases.

Workers’ Comp Matters, hosted by Attorney Alan S. Pierce, devotes this show to disability prevention vs. disability management. Alan turns to the expert, Dr. Jennifer Christian of Webility.md to discuss this hot topic. Dr. Christian is Founder, President and Chief Medical Officer of Webility.md and chief designer of the business. She has a foundation of clinical expertise acquired during her 25 year career as a board-certified occupational medicine specialist. Don’t miss this discussion!

On this Workers’ Comp Matters program, host Attorney Alan S. Pierce, turns to an expert to discuss Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Repetitive Stress Injuries. Alan welcomes, Dr. J. Mark Melhorn, an occupational orthopedic physician who specializes in hands and the upper extremities. In addition to his practice in orthopedics at the Hand Center in Wichita, Kansas, Dr. Melhorn is a Clinical Assistant Professor, in the Section of Orthopedics, Department of Surgery at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. Be sure to listen!