PA Workers Compensation Bureau Update

September 13, 2011

PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Allows E-Mail Correspondence

Today, I received an e-mail from a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) in the Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office, indicating the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has now announced that certain correspondence can be sent to the WCJ by e-mail, rather than through the U.S. Postal Service. While the correspondence a party can send to a WCJ is limited (primarily routine correspondence, such as requesting a continuance of a hearing), this option is beneficial, not only to attorneys who practice in the area of PA workers’ comp, but also to helping reduce the amount of paper being used unnecessarily in the litigation process.

August 8, 2011

Allentown Workers’ Comp Office Now Moved

by Glenn Neiman

As mentioned in our blog previously, the Workers’ Compensation office in Allentown, PA, has moved. No longer will hearings be held at 160 Hamilton Street. Now, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has opened up the new Allentown location at 7248 Tilghman Street, Allentown, PA. The new offices feature four hearing rooms, along with several attorney conference rooms and mediation rooms. Our compliments go out to the Bureau on the spacious new quarters.

July 5, 2011

PA Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill Signed into Law

by Glenn Neiman

On June 30, 2011, Governor Tom Corbett signed House Bill 440, bringing the measure into law. While the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation labelled this a “reform bill,” it appears it will have no real impact on injured workers in PA. Rather, the aim of the new law is to expand the availability of workers’ compensation insurance coverage to small businesses.

May 23, 2011

Utilization Review in PA Workers’ Comp Can Cause Medication Dangers

by Glenn Neiman

On many occasions over the years, we have addressed the Utilization Review (UR) process in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases. This is the process either party, usually the workers’ comp insurance carrier, uses to obtain a determination as to whether a treatment at issue is “reasonable and necessary” such that the insurance company must pay for the treatment.

What is sometimes lost in this abstract analysis is the impact a UR has on real live people. When a Request for Utilization Review is filed by a workers’ compensation insurer, the insurance carrier is immediately relieved of payment of bills for the treatment at issue, unless and until the treatment at issue is found to be “reasonable and necessary.”

Being in business for profit, or at least to make a living, not all providers are able, or willing, to continue to provide treatment once a UR is filed. One of the most dangerous areas this problem hits home is with medications.

May 11, 2011

Allentown Workers’ Compensation Office Moving

by Glenn Neiman

The Allentown Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office has been located at 160 Hamilton Street, in Allentown, for several years now. We have just been advised by one of the Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJ) at that office that the hearing location for Allentown will be moving shortly. The plan is for the move to take place in July, 2011. We are told the new location will be closer to the Allentown exit, off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

As we have discussed in previous blog entries, in PA, a workers’ compensation hearing is typically held in the County in which the injured worker resides. We will provide more information, including the new address, when we are advised by the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

April 22, 2011

PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Issues New Notice of Compensation Denial; Employers No Longer Able to Accept Claims by Using Denial

by Glenn Neiman

Readers of this blog, from previous blog entries, know our frustration with the developing practice of workers’ comp insurance carriers “accepting” medical-only claims by issuing a Notice of Denial (NCD).

Aside from the logical problem, there are procedural issues this creates for attorneys representing injured workers in PA. For example, this practice lets the workers’ comp insurance carrier deny the wage aspect of a claim and avoid unreasonable contest fees, and would often wreak havoc with an injured worker’s attempt to obtain medical treatment for the work injury. There is also concern that the NCD would not stop the statute of limitations, meaning a claim could be barred if the injured worker did not know to file a Claim Petition within three years of the injury.

The PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation recognized the problem years ago, and created a medical-only Notice of Compensation Payable (NCP). This document would properly preserve the statute of limitations, and let everybody know the true status of the claim. The Courts in Pennsylvania, however, as noted in our previous blog entries above, continued to allow workers’ comp insurance carriers to “accept” claims by using an NCD, making the medical-only NCP useless.

October 25, 2010

PA Workers’ Comp Seminar Last Week

by Glenn Neiman

Last week, we attended a PA Workers’ Compensation seminar in Hershey, Pennsylvania. This is the “Fall Section Meeting of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section.” For years, workers’ comp attorneys from across the entire State of PA have gathered at this seminar to learn and discuss new cases and trends in PA workers’ compensation.

As you know, from reading our blog, we stay very current on workers’ comp cases coming out of the Commonwealth Court of PA and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. But, we recognize the importance of attending seminars like this one, so that we can interact with other workers’ compensation attorneys across PA, as well as the Workers’ Compensation Judges, and stay on top of trends and developments.

We believe it is this desire to stay current in all aspects of PA workers’ compensation law which makes Brilliant & Neiman LLC able to help injured workers as well as possible. Sometimes, general practice attorneys, who do not limit their entire practice to PA workers’ comp cases, as we do, are not able to stay as current on all aspects of cases they handle. We believe this is the primary benefit to us limiting our practice to just representing injured workers in their PA workers’ compensation cases.

October 19, 2010

Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Judge Named Judge Manager for Southeastern PA

by Glenn Neiman

In the Summer 2010 issue of News & Notes, published by the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) Joseph Hagan was named to be Judge Manager for the Southeastern District of Pennsylvania. Judge Hagan has been a WCJ in this district, working from the Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office, since 1988. The Southeastern District covers the Northeast Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia and Upper Darby Workers’ Compensation Hearing Offices.

WCJ Karen Wertheimer remains Judge Manager for the Eastern District of PA. This includes the Allentown, Bristol, Lancaster, Malvern, Northampton and Reading Workers’ Comp Hearing Offices. Interestingly, this District also has two “informal” or “unlisted” locations – an injured worker who resides in Quakertown, Doylestown or other parts of the Central/Upper Bucks County will have hearings held in the Doylestown Courthouse, while an injured worker who lives in the eastern portion of Montgomery County will have hearings held in Dresher.

The Central District of PA, encompassing Harrisburg, Hazleton, Pottsville, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport, is headed by Judge Manager Susan Caravaggio, and the Western District is led by Judge Manager David Cicola.

May 19, 2010

New PA Workers’ Compensation Judges Announced

by Glenn Neiman

As discussed in a previous blog entry, PA workers’ compensation proceedings are usually held in the County in which the injured worker resides. Counties are then grouped by “Districts.” In the State of PA, there are four Districts: Eastern, Southeastern, Central and Western.

Hearings for the Eastern District are located in Allentown, Bristol, Lancaster, Malvern and Reading (also, though not officially listed on the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation official website, some hearings take place in Doylestown and Dresher). The Southeastern District sees hearings in Northeast Philadelphia and Center City Philadelphia, in addition to Upper Darby. Harrisburg, Hazleton, Pottsville, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport comprise the Central District. Throughout the State of Pennsylvania, there are now a total of 95 Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJ).

This number includes four new WCJs who have just been introduced by the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. In the Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office (Southeastern District), Timothy Bulman and Sandra Craig have been added. Robert O’Donnell has joined the Lancaster Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office (Eastern District). The Western District, Johnstown Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office, has added Steven Minnich.

November 5, 2009

PA Workers‘ Compensation Appeal Board Reduced

by Glenn Neiman

When an aggrieved party wants to appeal a decision of a Workers’ Compensation Judge in PA, the first step is to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB). Until recently, the WCAB was comprised of a total of 15 commissioners, who would travel throughout the State of Pennsylvania, holding oral arguments in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Scranton, Johnstown and Erie.

Unfortunately, due to budget difficulties faced by PA, the total of 15 commissioners on the WCAB has been drastically reduced. Right now, only five commissioners remain. Apparently, there will be another three commissioners named, when they are approved by the PA Senate.

This reduction in staffing is almost certain to have a negative effect on the speed with which WCAB decisions are issued. While we would love to provide a link for more information, there has been no official word on this development from the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (other than to change the listed commissioners to the current total of five).