How COVID-19 Presumption Laws Might Affect the Workers' Compensation Industry
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the discussion of presumption laws to the forefront, as states examine whether workers’ compensation should cover workers if they contract COVID-19 on the job. Many states have passed legislation or executive orders requiring insurers to cover essential workers who test positive for the virus. Depending on the state, the definition of “essential worker” might be limited to just healthcare and frontline workers, or it may include a wide range of occupations.
Specialty Drugs' Impact on Overall Costs in 2019
1 MIN READ
First Script overall prescription trends saw a slight upward shift in 2019. We’ll take a closer look at some of the specialty medication classes and specific drugs driving this shift and their impacts on overall costs, such as those from the hematological class, HIV medications, and one novel topical eye disorder treatment.
Top-Ranking Drug Classes in 2019
5 MIN READ
As part of our annual drug trends series, we’re taking a deeper dive into some of the therapeutic classes showing the biggest increases among the top 10 ranked by cost from our 2019 analysis.
Opioid Trends Continue to Decline in 2019
1 MIN READ
First Script saw continued decreasing opioid trends across our retail and mail-order programs in 2019, even while overall prescription trends saw a slight upward shift in utilization per claim and cost per claim. Even with these changes, opioids remain the #1 therapeutic class by usage and cost, however, 2019 marked the largest reduction of the last 5 years in the percentage of opioid scripts with greater than or equal to 90 MED.
Potential Drug Therapy Treatments for COVID-19: Impact on Workers’ Compensation
5 MIN READ
As response to the COVID-19 pandemic shifts into new phases—parts of the United States are reopening and businesses and many states are considering how to get people back to work—scientists continue to research potential medications that could be used to treat the disease.
2020 mPower Virtual Conference
On-Demand
Over the past several months, the Mitchell | Genex teams have been closely monitoring the developments surrounding COVID-19 and the CDC’s recommended travel guidelines.
Why Use Antidepressants to Treat Pain?
2 MIN READ
Why use antidepressants to treat pain? The nation’s focus on the ongoing opioid epidemic and stricter guidelines on opioid prescribing has led to an increased utilization of non-opioid pain treatments in workers’ compensation. In a previous blog post, we looked at the use of anticonvulsants to treat pain because of their ability to create effective pain relief without the cravings, tolerance, or addiction issues that are typically associated with narcotics. Another therapeutic class commonly used to treat chronic pain is antidepressants, which may even be prescribed when depression is not a diagnosed condition for the injured worker.