August 2012 Issue
WE'RE BUILDING A COMMUNITY
Last month in this newsletter we promised an announcement in August about a cool, new feature called Community. We launched it with the idea that people in workers' compensation need their own place to network. Community combines the networking power of Facebook and the professional marketing style of LinkedIn. For an introductory period, Community is free and open to anyone with a WorkCompCentral account, including trial and even expired accounts.
What Is Community?
More than just business networking, Community lets industry people make and find referrals, share our content and services, establish purchasing groups to make WorkCompCentral more affordable, and to create closed networks for private communications. WorkCompCentral is a network of 45,000+ industry professionals and we want people in this industry to be able to leverage that networking power. Community is available only on V2 (blue background) of WorkCompCentral. Classic users will not have Community available (and in fact Classic will be phased out over the next few months).
How Do I Use Community?
Everyone in the WorkCompCentral database has the ability to establish their own Community parameters - from setting up a powerful, searchable profile, to establishing groups and sharing content or other services.
The first step to tap into the power of Community is to set up your profile. There is A LOT to Community, so for this lesson we are only going to review how to set up a profile, since that is the basis for everything you do in Community.
How Do I Set Up a Profile?
The Community toolbar is always at the top of every WorkCompCentral.com page. There are six icons, but the one icon we're going to focus on is the one that looks like a gear in the upper right corner of the Community toolbar.
Icons are across the top. The gear is far right.
First, log in to WorkCompCentral. After getting to your home page click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the page.
The next page will be your Profile page with several tabs denoting various elements of your Community settings and experience. It defaults to the "edit" mode where you can set up your profile.
A completed profile looks like this.
Your profile is full text searchable to anyone using WorkCompCentral's general search engine. For instance, if you searched for "attorney camarillo" you will get the profile of our president, CEO and all around great guy, David DePaolo.
You should input as much information about yourself as you would want others to find you by in your profile. Obviously contact information is important, but you want to add good marketing text in the About and the Specialties fields so that others can find you.
Any time you make a change or add something you should click on the "Save" button.
Privacy
There are several different ways you can set up privacy options, and there are different privacy settings.
If you click on the lock icon a drop down appears with three privacy options: Public, Members Only and Private. Public means that anyone in the whole world that comes to WorkCompCentral and finds you via a Community search can see that information. Members Only restricts the visibility of the information to WorkCompCentral subscribers. Private is the most restrictive, allowing only people who are specifically designated to view the content.
There is a Master Profile Privacy button as well which will apply the same privacy setting to all of the information on your profile. After you set the overall privacy setting of your profile, you can still have different privacy settings for individual items, but any time you change the Master Profile Privacy it will override any specific settings.
Picture
Everyone likes to see a face to associate with communications, so we encourage you to display your photo on your profile.
Doing so is very easy. Mouse over the square space on the left in the Edit Profile tab. Three menu items appear: Select a New Picture, Delete Your Picture and Picture Privacy. Click on Select a New Picture and the normal browser dialogue to upload a picture will appear. Choose a good picture! Our system will automatically reformat the size of the picture to fit the space. If you don't like the picture after uploading you can simply click on Select a New Picture to start over. Of course Picture Privacy works the same as described in the Privacy section above.
That's all there is to getting started with WorkCompCentral Community! Next month we'll go over establishing groups!
NORTH CAROLINA NEXT IN LINE FOR E-BILLING
New rules that would mandate electronic billing between insurance carriers and medical providers in North Carolina could soon be implemented. The North Carolina Medical Society testified on Aug. 6 in support of a rule that will require electronic billing and payment processes to be standardized and mandatory by March 1, 2014.
The commission will accept written comments on the rules changes through Sept. 14.
"We are actually quite excited that the commission is moving down this road," said Conor Brockett, associate general counsel for the North Carolina Medical Society. "We think it’s going to generate lots of savings for payers and medical practices because it will allow everybody involved to streamline how they process medical bills.”
The electronic billing proposal would require carriers and medical providers to use electronic billing and payment in workers’ compensation claims and implement electronic billing and payment processes by January 2014.
OREGON CREATES A CALL LIST FOR CALIF. HEARING REPS
Dan Sheppard with the Oregon Workers' Compensation Division reached out this month to hearing representatives, lien filing and medical and collection companies in Northern and Southern California. Some Oregon residents have workers' compensation claims in California and travel to California for medical treatment, Dan said.
These injured workers need representation and information at the DWC District Offices throughout the state.
Anyone who wishes to be listed as a contact with the Oregon Division may contact Dan at here. To learn more, call his office, (503) 947-7684.
SOCIAL MEDIA SITE CHECKS - THE ISSUES EXPLAINED
The September "One on One @ 1" webinar series answers the question, "What personal information on Facebook can be used as evidence by an employer or a hired investigator?" It's a good question, and even we don't know that answer yet.
Investigator Richard Harer will present, "The Legal, Ethical and Evidentiary Issues of Using Social Media to Investigate" at 1 p.m. Pacific time on Sept. 4. He is a certified licensed investigator and a professional insurance investigator and holds a Workers' Compensation Claims Associate designation.
One credit hour is available to California Bar members, workers' comp legal specialists and California claims professionals. The program is part of the monthly "One on One at 1" continuing-education series from WorkCompCentral Education.
Learn more and register by clicking here.
ONE OF THE HARDER INJURIES TO EVALUATE
The psychological component of a industrial claim might be the hardest claim to prove. Unlike a physical injury that can be X-ray or isolated on an MRI, a psyche injury can be recognized by a trained professional, not a machine.
That's why we created "What Makes a Good Psyche Report, Anyway?" for workers' comp practitioners in Orange County and surrounding metro areas on Sept. 15. Instructor Dr. Julie Armstrong is a longtime psyche professional, with a practice in west Los Angeles. She acts as a Qualified Medical Evaluator and an Agreed Medical Evaluator in the California comp system. She also is a forensic psychologist and a psychology expert on Investigation Discovery's "Wicked Attractions," explaining the psychological underpinnings of murderous behavior in cases of perpetrators who work in pairs.
Continuing-education credit is available for QMEs, California Bar members and California Claims Professionals. No CE hours are available with the state Board of Psychology, however. Everyone who registers and attends this live seminar will receive a copy of "Sullivan on Comp: Chapter 5 Injury."
The seminar starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15 at National University in Costa Mesa. Cost is $329, which includes a copy of "Sullivan on Comp Chapter 5: Injury." Learn more at Learn more. Our seminars are all-inclusive and include continental breakfast, lunch and all learning materials.
CALIFORNIA REFORM: the little bills
The powers that be in California are pushing a package of workers' comp reforms, Senate Bill 863. The bill remains a mystery wrapped in speculation since this reform legislation was introduced within the past 7 days. (The California Legislature adjourns on Friday.)
This much is certain though. The Legislature has sent Gov. Jerry Brown three workers' comp bills for his signature. They are:
- Assembly Bill 2451: Authored by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, D-Los Angeles. Survivors of a police officer or firefighter who dies from a specified condition must file for death benefits within 480 weeks from the date of injury, doubling the current 240-week deadline.
- Assembly Bill 2493 authorizes the Division of Workers’ Compensation to certify and maintain a list of interpreters for medical exams and administrative hearings.
- Senate Bill 1513 would allow State Fund to invest up to 20% of its surplus in stocks, mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, as well as in stock of the Federal Home Loan Bank.
For full coverage of comp reform in Sacramento, read us daily.
NEWS DIGEST
Florida: NCCI Calls for 3rd Consecutive Rate Increase: 08/24/12
Florida: Employers Calling for Change to Stem Rise in Outpatient Fees: 08/15/12
Illinois: Insurers Praise, Doctors Deplore Repackaged Drug Rule Decision: 07/26/12
Michigan: Proposed Rules on Repackaged Drugs Moving Forward: 08/29/12
Missouri: MO High Court Expands 2nd Injury Fund Liability for Dependent Claims: 08/02/12
Maine: Judge Rejects Bankruptcy Plan to Release Comp Trust Funds: 08/30/12
New Jersey: DWC Drops Set-Aside Approval Requirement for Settlements: 07/16/12
SPECIAL REPORT: N.Y. State Comp System Still Big, Busy, Embattled: 08/06/12
Texas: Attorneys Ask Supreme Court to Reconsider Ruttiger Bad-Faith Case: 08/14/12
Texas: Carriers Study DWC's Latest Utilization Review Rules Proposal: 08/17/12
Read the full articles with a WorkCompCentral subscription or buy the individual article.
Subscribe to WorkCompCentral.
Buy Any Article using the News search tool on our web site. (Hint: type in the article headline.)
HAPPY LABOR DAY CELEBRATION
This year marks the 130th observance of Labor Day, though it didn't start out as a national holiday. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on a citywide scale in New York on September 5, 1882.
A history of this celebration of the achievements of American workers can be read here.
Last month in this newsletter we promised an announcement in August about a cool, new feature called Community. We launched it with the idea that people in workers' compensation need their own place to network. Community combines the networking power of Facebook and the professional marketing style of LinkedIn. For an introductory period, Community is free and open to anyone with a WorkCompCentral account, including trial and even expired accounts.
What Is Community?
More than just business networking, Community lets industry people make and find referrals, share our content and services, establish purchasing groups to make WorkCompCentral more affordable, and to create closed networks for private communications. WorkCompCentral is a network of 45,000+ industry professionals and we want people in this industry to be able to leverage that networking power. Community is available only on V2 (blue background) of WorkCompCentral. Classic users will not have Community available (and in fact Classic will be phased out over the next few months).
How Do I Use Community?
Everyone in the WorkCompCentral database has the ability to establish their own Community parameters - from setting up a powerful, searchable profile, to establishing groups and sharing content or other services.
The first step to tap into the power of Community is to set up your profile. There is A LOT to Community, so for this lesson we are only going to review how to set up a profile, since that is the basis for everything you do in Community.
How Do I Set Up a Profile?
The Community toolbar is always at the top of every WorkCompCentral.com page. There are six icons, but the one icon we're going to focus on is the one that looks like a gear in the upper right corner of the Community toolbar.
First, log in to WorkCompCentral. After getting to your home page click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the page.
The next page will be your Profile page with several tabs denoting various elements of your Community settings and experience. It defaults to the "edit" mode where you can set up your profile.
Your profile is full text searchable to anyone using WorkCompCentral's general search engine. For instance, if you searched for "attorney camarillo" you will get the profile of our president, CEO and all around great guy, David DePaolo.
You should input as much information about yourself as you would want others to find you by in your profile. Obviously contact information is important, but you want to add good marketing text in the About and the Specialties fields so that others can find you.
Any time you make a change or add something you should click on the "Save" button.
Privacy
There are several different ways you can set up privacy options, and there are different privacy settings.
If you click on the lock icon a drop down appears with three privacy options: Public, Members Only and Private. Public means that anyone in the whole world that comes to WorkCompCentral and finds you via a Community search can see that information. Members Only restricts the visibility of the information to WorkCompCentral subscribers. Private is the most restrictive, allowing only people who are specifically designated to view the content.
There is a Master Profile Privacy button as well which will apply the same privacy setting to all of the information on your profile. After you set the overall privacy setting of your profile, you can still have different privacy settings for individual items, but any time you change the Master Profile Privacy it will override any specific settings.
Picture
Everyone likes to see a face to associate with communications, so we encourage you to display your photo on your profile.
Doing so is very easy. Mouse over the square space on the left in the Edit Profile tab. Three menu items appear: Select a New Picture, Delete Your Picture and Picture Privacy. Click on Select a New Picture and the normal browser dialogue to upload a picture will appear. Choose a good picture! Our system will automatically reformat the size of the picture to fit the space. If you don't like the picture after uploading you can simply click on Select a New Picture to start over. Of course Picture Privacy works the same as described in the Privacy section above.
That's all there is to getting started with WorkCompCentral Community! Next month we'll go over establishing groups!
NORTH CAROLINA NEXT IN LINE FOR E-BILLING
New rules that would mandate electronic billing between insurance carriers and medical providers in North Carolina could soon be implemented. The North Carolina Medical Society testified on Aug. 6 in support of a rule that will require electronic billing and payment processes to be standardized and mandatory by March 1, 2014.
The commission will accept written comments on the rules changes through Sept. 14.
"We are actually quite excited that the commission is moving down this road," said Conor Brockett, associate general counsel for the North Carolina Medical Society. "We think it’s going to generate lots of savings for payers and medical practices because it will allow everybody involved to streamline how they process medical bills.”
The electronic billing proposal would require carriers and medical providers to use electronic billing and payment in workers’ compensation claims and implement electronic billing and payment processes by January 2014.
OREGON CREATES A CALL LIST FOR CALIF. HEARING REPS
Dan Sheppard with the Oregon Workers' Compensation Division reached out this month to hearing representatives, lien filing and medical and collection companies in Northern and Southern California. Some Oregon residents have workers' compensation claims in California and travel to California for medical treatment, Dan said.
These injured workers need representation and information at the DWC District Offices throughout the state.
Anyone who wishes to be listed as a contact with the Oregon Division may contact Dan at here. To learn more, call his office, (503) 947-7684.
SOCIAL MEDIA SITE CHECKS - THE ISSUES EXPLAINED
The September "One on One @ 1" webinar series answers the question, "What personal information on Facebook can be used as evidence by an employer or a hired investigator?" It's a good question, and even we don't know that answer yet.
Investigator Richard Harer will present, "The Legal, Ethical and Evidentiary Issues of Using Social Media to Investigate" at 1 p.m. Pacific time on Sept. 4. He is a certified licensed investigator and a professional insurance investigator and holds a Workers' Compensation Claims Associate designation.
One credit hour is available to California Bar members, workers' comp legal specialists and California claims professionals. The program is part of the monthly "One on One at 1" continuing-education series from WorkCompCentral Education.
Learn more and register by clicking here.
ONE OF THE HARDER INJURIES TO EVALUATE
The psychological component of a industrial claim might be the hardest claim to prove. Unlike a physical injury that can be X-ray or isolated on an MRI, a psyche injury can be recognized by a trained professional, not a machine.
That's why we created "What Makes a Good Psyche Report, Anyway?" for workers' comp practitioners in Orange County and surrounding metro areas on Sept. 15. Instructor Dr. Julie Armstrong is a longtime psyche professional, with a practice in west Los Angeles. She acts as a Qualified Medical Evaluator and an Agreed Medical Evaluator in the California comp system. She also is a forensic psychologist and a psychology expert on Investigation Discovery's "Wicked Attractions," explaining the psychological underpinnings of murderous behavior in cases of perpetrators who work in pairs.
Continuing-education credit is available for QMEs, California Bar members and California Claims Professionals. No CE hours are available with the state Board of Psychology, however. Everyone who registers and attends this live seminar will receive a copy of "Sullivan on Comp: Chapter 5 Injury."
The seminar starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15 at National University in Costa Mesa. Cost is $329, which includes a copy of "Sullivan on Comp Chapter 5: Injury." Learn more at Learn more. Our seminars are all-inclusive and include continental breakfast, lunch and all learning materials.
CALIFORNIA REFORM: the little bills
The powers that be in California are pushing a package of workers' comp reforms, Senate Bill 863. The bill remains a mystery wrapped in speculation since this reform legislation was introduced within the past 7 days. (The California Legislature adjourns on Friday.)
This much is certain though. The Legislature has sent Gov. Jerry Brown three workers' comp bills for his signature. They are:
- Assembly Bill 2451: Authored by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, D-Los Angeles. Survivors of a police officer or firefighter who dies from a specified condition must file for death benefits within 480 weeks from the date of injury, doubling the current 240-week deadline.
- Assembly Bill 2493 authorizes the Division of Workers’ Compensation to certify and maintain a list of interpreters for medical exams and administrative hearings.
- Senate Bill 1513 would allow State Fund to invest up to 20% of its surplus in stocks, mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, as well as in stock of the Federal Home Loan Bank.
For full coverage of comp reform in Sacramento, read us daily.
NEWS DIGEST
Florida: NCCI Calls for 3rd Consecutive Rate Increase: 08/24/12
Florida: Employers Calling for Change to Stem Rise in Outpatient Fees: 08/15/12
Illinois: Insurers Praise, Doctors Deplore Repackaged Drug Rule Decision: 07/26/12
Michigan: Proposed Rules on Repackaged Drugs Moving Forward: 08/29/12
Missouri: MO High Court Expands 2nd Injury Fund Liability for Dependent Claims: 08/02/12
Maine: Judge Rejects Bankruptcy Plan to Release Comp Trust Funds: 08/30/12
New Jersey: DWC Drops Set-Aside Approval Requirement for Settlements: 07/16/12
SPECIAL REPORT: N.Y. State Comp System Still Big, Busy, Embattled: 08/06/12
Texas: Attorneys Ask Supreme Court to Reconsider Ruttiger Bad-Faith Case: 08/14/12
Texas: Carriers Study DWC's Latest Utilization Review Rules Proposal: 08/17/12
Read the full articles with a WorkCompCentral subscription or buy the individual article.
Subscribe to WorkCompCentral.
Buy Any Article using the News search tool on our web site. (Hint: type in the article headline.)
HAPPY LABOR DAY CELEBRATION
This year marks the 130th observance of Labor Day, though it didn't start out as a national holiday. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on a citywide scale in New York on September 5, 1882.
A history of this celebration of the achievements of American workers can be read here.
