As we have mentioned in the past, unlike Social Security Disability benefits, PA workers’ comp benefits have no cost-of-living increase.  However, the maximum rate of workers’ compensation benefit that an injured worker can receive does increase annually.  Unfortunately, this only affects injuries taking place in the new calendar year.  The Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has announced that the maximum workers’ compensation rate for injuries taking place in 2020 will be $1,081.00.  This is increased…

We have discussed the Utilization Review (UR) process many times in this blog.  Indeed, UR is such a big issue in the world of Pennsylvania workers’ compensation that we have a section on our website devoted to just this topic.  Basically, UR is the tool used by either an injured worker, or the workers’ compensation insurance carrier (usually the latter) to determine whether medical treatment is “reasonable and necessary.” A somewhat related process is…

How many times must an injured worker in PA hear something like, “Why are you still out of work – it was just a bruise?”  What is not widely understood is that a bruise, or a contusion, can, indeed, be a serious injury with very severe consequences.  Recently, we saw an example of this in the sports world. Tyler Lockett, a wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL, suffered a bruised lower leg…

The Uninsured Employers’ Guaranty Fund (UEGF), and its role in the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system, has been discussed previously in this Blog.  While the UEGF plays under different rules than every insurance carrier that writes PA workers’ compensation insurance coverage, and the UEGF can be incredibly difficult and frustrating to litigate against, there is no argument that the UEGF is an improvement over how things were, before the UEGF was enacted. The different rules…

When we litigate a Claim Petition, to obtain PA workers’ compensation benefits for one who is injured at work, we must prove that the person was hurt while in the scope and course of his or her job, and that such injury renders the person disabled.  Almost always, this requires the testimony of a medical expert (usually the treating doctor).  The opinion the doctor provides must be to a “reasonable degree of medical certainty.”  What…

The vast majority of work injuries in Pennsylvania heal with conservative treatment, allowing the injured worker to return both to work, as well as to activities of normal life.  However, there are certainly the more serious injuries, where more invasive medical treatment is required. Often the more invasive treatment options entail surgery.  When we are talking about work injuries to the neck and back, the procedures we usually see are laminectomy, microdiscectomy and traditional lumbar…

While we are very conscious of being available to our clients as much as possible, the practice of PA workers’ compensation law, and the litigation process, means we are not always in our offices.  Sometimes, in addition to being at workers’ compensation hearings and depositions, our attorneys attend events or presentations that may help us better perform our job protecting the injured worker in PA. And, so it follows, our attorneys were invited by Rothman…