Declarations – Midwest

Supplemental Surgery?

“As payers limit price increases for physician services, the physicians look for other avenues to supplement their income – ownership of surgery centers and MRI facilities as well as physician dispensing of prescription drugs have become much more common.”

—Dr. Richard Victor, executive director of the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). New research by the WCRI shows that orthopedic surgeons who own one of the growing number of ambulatory surgical centers (ASC) are doing a lot more surgery than non-owner surgeons.

Full Reimbursement

“After all they’ve been through, we want Joplin residents to receive full reimbursement for their expenses related to tornado recovery.”

—Missouri Insurance Director John M. Huff. The Missouri Department of Insurance is urging Joplin residents with incomplete insurance claims related to the May 22, 2011, EF-5 tornado, to submit their paperwork. Some policies had six-month deadlines, but the insurance department directed insurers in November 2011 to extend those deadlines to at least one year.

Scattered by the Wind

“The chance that your information was improperly accessed is small, but we realize that you may want to take steps to be sure that your information is not used by another person. …. The sensitive documents … contained names, Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers.”

—Pat Penning, service area manager for the Iowa Department of Human Services. The agency discovered that records containing the personal information of some 3,000 Warren County, Iowa, residents may have been scattered by the wind in the aftermath of a December fire at a human services office. Penning said it is unlikely the water-logged or burned records could be used for identity theft, but the state is treating the breach seriously.