Workers Comp Zone

A Partner at Boxer & Gerson LLP, Julius Young has practiced worker’s compensation law and social security disability law since 1979. He has represented thousands of individuals who have sustained life-changing injuries or illnesses while on the job. In every case, his goal is to secure the medical treatments his clients need.

December 16, 2015

MORE ON HOME CARE

The proposed new chronic pain regulations (which are in a 15 day comment period that expires as of December 19) would include the following section on home health care services (shown in italics): “Recommended on a short-term basis following major surgical procedures or in-patient hospitalization, to prevent hospitalization, or to provide longer- term nursing care […]


December 7, 2015

A DISCONNECT: IHSS & THE COMP SYSTEM

Will California provide less home care to severely disabled injured workers than it provides to Med-Cal recipients?  Under the umbrella of the California Department of Social Services, California provides in-home services to many of the elderly, blind and disabled poor. According to the California Department of Social Services website, the goal of the IHSS program is […]


November 24, 2015

MORE CLEANSING

Today the U.S. Department of Justice announced that federal prosecutors had filed additional charges in a Southern California workers’ comp fraud scheme, and that several defendants plan to enter guilty pleas in the coming weeks. Recently I wrote a post titled “Cleansing”, which focused on indictments in another provider fraud scheme: http://www.workerscompzone.com/2015/11/11/cleansing/ Today’s press release deals […]


November 19, 2015

MORE SMOKE

The drumbeat for medical marijuana in workers’ compensation systems continues. Earlier this week I attended a lunchtime talk by a Bay Area physician which included his comments on the potential benefits of medical marijuana in treating certain patients. Legal issues surround this, and a California WCAB panel has twice remanded a WCJ’s decision on reimbursement of […]


November 11, 2015

CLEANSING

Making headlines this week is another high profile indictment in California workers’ comp. The federal charges allege a fraudulent kickback scheme among various Southern California medical providers, including doctors, chiropractors and durable equipment providers. It’s lengthy, but here (in italics) is the press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy which outlines the […]


November 3, 2015

PLENARY

Chalk one up for the “plenary power” of the legislature. California’s courts are seemingly reluctant to challenge the legislature’s prerogative in workers’ comp. The drafters of SB 863 and the California Legislature scored a big win last week as the California Court of Appeal 1st District nixed a constitutional challenge to the IMR provisions of […]


October 28, 2015

BATTEN

The California Court  of Appeal has now rendered a decision in a closely watched case, Margaret Batten v. WCAB and Long Beach Memorial Hospital. The central question in the case was whether California’s QME process statutes permit the admission into evidence of a non-treating physician report obtained by an applicant.  In Batten the applicant, represented by […]