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Since 2010, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) has utilized Medical Treatment Guidelines (MTGs) to establish a universal standard of care for injured workers. This system has grown increasingly complex, shifting from paper-based processes to a high-speed digital environment.
Although these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they describe two very different categories of cases. Understanding the distinction is critical for claims management professionals, as the strategies, resources, and outcomes involved can vary dramatically.
In workers’ compensation, some of the most important legal concepts are also the least understood. Terms like sole remedy, exclusive remedy, and grave injury often surface in high-stakes cases—but unless you’ve dealt with them directly, they can feel abstract. Here’s a quick guide to what these terms mean, how they’re connected, and why they matter.
Viscardi, Inc. Achieves Prestigious URAC Accreditation, Underscoring Commitment to Quality and Excellence in Workers’ Compensation Services
In recent years, mental health has taken a more prominent role in workplace injury discussions. With the passage of new legislation in New York, workers’ compensation adjusters and claims professionals must now navigate an evolving landscape where psychological injuries—particularly those not tied to a physical event—are increasingly compensable.
At Viscardi, we’re constantly looking for the most powerful tools to help us effectively manage claims and get injured workers back to work. One tool we’ve consistently used is the Official Disability Guidelines (ODG) by MCG Health. ODG helps us navigate complex cases, make informed decisions, and ultimately ensure better outcomes for injured workers and our clients. But like any system, there are aspects we love—and areas where we see room for improvement.
When an employee becomes sick or injured on the job, ensuring they receive prompt and appropriate treatment is crucial. A medical case manager facilitates this care, guiding both the employee and employer through New York's Medical Treatment Guidelines and supporting a safe return to work.
When you manage workers’ compensation for a company, you have two priorities: get your employee the care they need and get them back to work ASAP. Here, we outline four ways to create a faster claims reporting process for employees, setting you up for a faster, more streamlined case.
After more than 15 years spearheading complex cases, here are the three elements we’ve discovered are critical to successful collaborative case management.
Established in 2010 by the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board as a single standard of medical care for the treatment of injured workers, the New York State Medical Treatment Guidelines continue to evolve with the rapidly shifting industry.
…we’ve seen companies promote employee wellness through a number of initiatives, including step count challenges, unlimited PTO, better maternity and paternity policies, personal and professional development training, speakers series and lunchtime yoga classes.
These initiatives provide employees with opportunities to connect with one another, reduce stress levels and hit pause for a few minutes before returning to their day. But we sometimes feel our collective approach to employee wellness (we’re learning alongside the companies we support, after all!) is just a drop in the bucket compared to the overwhelming numbers on post-COVID employee burnout and stress, which all point to the same thing: Our struggle with mental health.
In the first season of VISTV, we explored the theme of leadership: What does good leadership look like? How did COVID-19 change our leadership approach? In this second season of VISTV, we dug even deeper by asking professionals about their personal experiences with wellness in the workplace.
We were lucky enough to speak to a speech language pathologist, an international opera singer, a loan officer, a licensed clinical social worker and host of E! Famously Single and a registered dietitian. We asked: What about your relationship with work are you actively working through? Where have you most recently struggled? Here’s what Kathyrn Tarner, Zachary Nelson and Brooke Evans shared with us.
After spending our first season exploring the topic of leadership, we used this season to speak to professionals about their own approach to work and wellness. We asked: What are you doing to take care of yourself? What about your relationship with work are you actively working through? What do you want to see organizations do better? Over a series of three articles, we’re compiling and sharing the very best of what they told us.
It’s critical for the health of employees—and the business—that leaders put wellness at the very center of their plans. But how? Here, we share tactical ways to support the physical, emotional and social health of employees and build a culture of wellness, inspired by companies leading the charge and our own work addressing these three areas here at Viscardi.
Here are a few examples of companies that have been proactive about addressing and reducing workplace injuries and fatalities—and how they’re going about it.
Here’s what you need to know about navigating the medical management process for employees injured in NY and living elsewhere.
With the likelihood of a workplace opioid overdose at an all-time high, what can you do to ensure that employees at all levels of your company are equipped to handle an incident?
If your organization has begun prioritizing safety initiatives but you’re still not seeing results, here are three ways your corporate culture might be contributing to your out-of-work employees.
The Workers’ Compensation Board has a fairly comprehensive rundown on its Ongoing Maintenance Care program here. If you have any questions specific to your case or know you need some OMC experts to help navigate the process, shoot us an email. We’d be happy to help.
Medical case managers play a critical role in getting injured workers healthy and back to work, while acting as a trusted liaison between HR teams, insurance companies, doctors and more. Here, we take a closer look at how medical case managers support multiple stakeholders in the aftermath of a workplace injury.
Here are 10 revealing statistics about the current state of the telemedicine industry post-pandemic and how patients and providers are successfully using telemedicine.
While catastrophic injuries (thankfully) account for a small portion of workers’ compensation claims, they represent a large portion of total workers’ compensation losses. Here’s what to do when a catastrophic injury takes place at work.
In Part Three of our Language of Workers’ Compensation series, we outline the leading challenges non-English speaking employees face when they get hurt on the job and how, as an employer, it’s critical that you put proactive practices in place to better support their recovery.
We’re tackling the most important acronyms to help employers, carriers and injured workers more easily navigate the workers’ comp industry here in New York.
The four most important things you need to know about New York’s Ongoing Maintenance Care program to ensure you’re meeting the criteria outlined by MTG.
Each stakeholder comes from a different perspective, has different motivations and uses different language to talk about the injured worker and their injury. Here’s a brief rundown on the main players in an injured worker case.
To date, workers' compensation claims in NY (and a few other states) have utilized an alternate form in order to substantiate injury and treatment. The New York State Workers' Compensation Board has now updated the process of claims submission and is holding the workers' comp payers to the same electronic filing of claims for billing. Enter: the revised CMS-1500.
What happens when two employees are horsing around on the job and one gets hurt? Here’s a breakdown of the Horseplay Rule.