Performing utilization and disability chart reviews on behalf of insurance companies is a great way for a physician to supplement their clinical income – a very nice physician side gig. The work is interesting and a clinician’s current skillset is easily transferrable. Chart reviews are typically performed from home [...]
By Steven Babitsky Esq. One of the best ways professionals can quickly improve their negotiation outcome is to ask the “right” questions. These questions are a quick and easy way to help you succeed in many types of negotiation. Each question is designed to obtain crucial information and move the [...]
Thousands of physicians are currently supplementing their clinical income by acting as physician consultants. These physicians enjoy acting as consultants for many reasons including: *They get to work with very smart people in business and industry *Physicians are handsomely rewarded for their efforts and are free to charge for [...]
James B. Talmage, MD co-author of the text AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Disease and Injury Causation and contributing author Steven Babitsky, Esq. will lead the SEAK IME SKILLS FOR PHYSICIANS: THE MASTER'S PROGRAM on September 21-22, 2013 on Cape Cod MA. Dr. Talmage and Attorney Babitsky will cover [...]
By Steven Babitsky, Esq. The court in, Rodriguez v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION APPEAL BOARD, PA: Commonwealth Court 2013, dealt with a claimant who fell at work and sustained a menisci tear in her right knee. The issue was whether the fall aggravated the degenerative condition in her knee. The court upheld [...]
The March issue of Occup Med (London) includes the article, Predicting Return to Work Following Treatment of Chronic Pain Disorder. The results of the study found early intervention and referred the keys to success. Results of the injured workers who participated in the interdisciplinary CPD treatment programme, 1002 clients met [...]
The April issue of Jarthoplasty includes the story, Workers' Compensation Patients After Total Joint Arthroplasty: Do They Return to Work? The results of the study indicates that receipt of workers’ compensation may impact recovery. The results of the study were: Clinicians identify patients receiving Workers' Compensation (WC) as unlikely to [...]
Dr. Mike McLaughlin, an alumnus of SEAK’s Medical Fiction Writing for Physicians course, has recently completed a unique on-line reading experience titled The Satin Strangler Blogs under the pseudonym of N. Michael Caputo. Who was the Satin Strangler . . . and how many men did she seduce and [...]
The journal Work in its 2013 issue carries as important article, Biopsychosocial Determinants of Work Outcomes of Workers With Occupational Injuries Receiving Compensation: A Prospective Study. The results of the study were as follows: RESULTS: The variables under investigation were: age, gender, duration of symptoms, pain severity, disability, work importance, [...]
The April 2013 issue of Orthopedics has an important article entitled Predictors of Oswestry Disability Index Worsening After Lumbar Fusion. Smokers and obese surgical patients do not fare as well when undergoing lumbar fusion. The authors identified patients with an increase in their Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score after lumbar [...]