Insights
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.
Topical Medications in Workers' Compensation and Auto Casualty
3 MIN READ
This article is part of our ongoing Quarterly Drug Update series. View our last article on gabapentinoids. Topical medications are an important part of care in the workers’ compensation and auto casualty industries, providing relief for patients in pain. In the past few years, the variety of available topical medications has increased, which has also driven up the number of prescriptions, particularly for new analgesic and local anesthetic drugs. While this variety allows for greater choice, many of the new branded medications are very expensive.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Workers’ Comp
3 MIN READ
PTSD typically starts with exposure to a critical incident. In order to meet the definition of PTSD, symptoms must last 30 days or more and disrupts normal life pursuits. It results from violation of expectations, deeply held beliefs, core beliefs such as belief in a just and fair world, need to trust others, self-esteem-self efficacy, and need for predictable and safe world.
The Realization of Claims Virtualization
Five years ago, if someone mentioned “claims virtualization,” it most likely referred to an insurance carrier’s mobile application, or possibly just conjured visions of VR goggles used for high-tech simulations. These days however, the idea of virtual claims handling, or as Lexis Nexis1 defines it, “photo or video estimating in which no insurance employee physically inspects the vehicle,” has firmly taken hold with touchpoints from First Notice of Loss to Total Loss and all points in between.
The Impact of Calibration Needs on Collision Repair
With the increasing ubiquity of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), comes the increasing need for systems to be properly calibrated to ensure proper functionality after a repair has taken place. In many instances, calibrations are required simply because there is damage in the general area of a particular component, even if it wasn’t directly impacted by the collision event.
Is there a new concern related to Gabapentin use and serious breathing problems?
3 MIN READ
In a drug safety communication from FDA Medwatch, the FDA warns about serious breathing difficulties related to the use of gabapentinoid (GabaP) medications in patients with other respiratory risk factors.1
Average Length of Rental for Repairable Vehicles: Q4 2019
Average Length of Rental (LOR) for Q4 2019 landed at 13.1 days in the United States, an increase of 0.4 days compared to Q4 2018. Once again, there was very little consistency between regions and states or with Q3’s numbers. The Southwest region produced the largest increase at 0.8 days with average LOR ranging from a high of 14.5 days in the Mountain region to a low of 11.7 in the Pacific. At the state level, Rhode Island, Colorado and Wyoming were the high-end outliers at 16.1, 15.7 and 14.9 days, respectively, while North Dakota and Iowa produced the lowest numbers with both at 10.5 days.