Monthly Archives: <span>March 2019</span>

Study Examines Impact of California Workers’ Comp Formulary

Since California implemented its workers’ compensation formulary last year, an increasing share of drugs prescribed to injured workers are either “Exempt” from prospective utilization review or “Not Listed” in the formulary, while “Non-Exempt” drugs that require UR before they can …

Texas Body Shop Owner Sentenced in Auto Insurance Fraud Case

A Travis County body shop owner has been sentenced to 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to reporting wrecks that never took place and damaging vehicles to increase insurance payouts, the Texas Department of Insurance reported. The fraud took …

FMH Insurance Collaborates With Start-Up FindBob to Offer Agents Perpetuation Tool

Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. of Iowa (FMH) has a new web-based tool designed to help FMH insurance agencies identify growth opportunities. The new tool, called FMH Bridge, was developed in collaboration with FindBob, a tech start-up company focused on …

Farm Bureau: Flooding-Related Ag Losses in Nebraska Nearing $1B

The Nebraska Farm Bureau president says farm and ranch losses to the devastating flooding could reach $1 billion in the state. President Steve Nelson estimates $400 million on crop losses because of crops that will be planted late _ if …

Houston-Area Petrochemical Blaze Extinguished, Company Says

Firefighters on Wednesday extinguished a fire at a Mitsui & Co. petrochemical storage site outside Houston that has been billowing acrid smoke for days, the company said. The blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co. in Deer Park, Texas, was …

Ohio Sues Pharmacy Benefit Manager over $16M in Alleged Drug Overcharges

Ohio is suing a company that managed prescription benefits for the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, seeking to recover nearly $16 million in alleged overcharges for the fund for injured workers. Attorney General Dave Yost says OptumRx Administrative Services managed …

White Named VP, Chief Internal Auditor at LWCC

Baton, Rouge, Louisiana-based workers’ compensation insurer, LWCC, has hired David White as vice president, chief internal auditor. White brings over 40 years of audit experience in the insurance, reinsurance, telecommunications and retail industries, and expertise across multiple disciplines such as …

Washington Blizzard Killed 1,850 Cows, Yakima Farmers Reeling

The unexpected blizzard that swept through the Yakima Valley on Feb. 9 was just one more clobbering for the region’s dairy farms. The number of dairy farms in the state has plummeted from 2,500 in 1993 to 377 in 2018, …

Arizona Names Insurance Department Head to Second Agency

Gov. Doug Ducey has chosen the head of the state’s insurance department to also serve as interim director of Arizona’s financial institutions agency while the two are consolidated. Keith Schraad has directed the Arizona Department of Insurance since February 2018. …

Mass. Court Finds Insurer Duty to Defend Subcontractor in Property Damage Case

A Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that an insurance company is responsible for insuring alleged property damage caused by its subcontractor client, vacating an earlier Superior Court decision that the insurer has no duty to defend the subcontractor in this …