12-4-2019; IL WC Arbitrators “TBA” Finally “A-ed;” Northwestern U. Researcher Developing Implantable Naloxone Device and more
/Synopsis: IL WC Arbitrators “TBA” Finally “A-ed.”
Editor’s comment: For months, we have been telling our clients a given claim or call was assigned to Arbitrator “TBA” or to be announced. This has led to other Arbitrators cycling in and out of the calls and picking and choosing claims to try or continue while awaiting a permanently assigned Arbitrator.
Well, earlier this week, Governor Pritzker finally named six more IL WC Arbitrators, filling all TBA positions that had been vacant. It has been more than a year without a full staff of workers' compensation arbitrators. Of these newbies, very few of them are “good ole boys/gals.” Their first hearings will be of great interest to both sides of the IL WC bar. Two of the newbies are claimants' lawyers, one is an insurance defense attorney, and two have logged in time in non-arbitrator posts at the IL Workers' Compensation Commission.
The appointments, along with two people named in October, will bring the number of arbitrators up to the full complement of 34, easing concerns that some of the hearing officers have been spread too thin for too long.
The nominees must still be confirmed by the state Senate, but that is expected with a super-majority Democratic legislature. I expect none of the controversy that some of former Gov. Bruce Rauner's nominees experienced. The former Republican governor named 11 new IL WC arbitrators in 2018, but our Democratic House/Senate declined to act on them. A couple of appointments were eventually ratified, but the panel remained short-handed until Pritzker made this announcement on Monday.
Despite Pritzker's liberal political focus, the new IL WC arbitrators have not met with discord from business, government and insurance stakeholders. The gurus at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce endorsed three of the appointees and took a neutral stance on two others.
Perhaps the best known of the new faces, longtime claimants' lawyer Joseph Amarilio, was highly praised by all sides. I was quoted by a national WC news source as saying: “He's not a bad guy,” which I feel is accurate. I do feel Mr. Amarilio will be liberal but follow the rules. I am sure he won’t be happy to consider WC fraud issues and will strongly police such shenanigans. Amarilio has been a partner with the Chicago-based firm of Elfenbaum, Evers, Amarilio and Zielinska, which specializes in representing injured workers. He graduated from Northwestern University and earned his law degree from John Marshall Law School.
In what may be a first, another newly appointed arbitrator, Adam Hinrichs, also worked with the same law firm. Hinrichs was a claimants' lawyer for eight years.
Governor Pritzker also was applauded for expanding diversity of the IL WC arbitrator pool. The recent nominees include two African-American lawyers, an attorney of Cuban descent and three women.
Along with Joe Amarilio and Adam Hinrichs, the other IL WC arbitrators named Monday:
Deborah Baker is assistant deputy chief legal counsel and ethics officer for the Illinois Department of Corrections. She is a member of the Black Women Lawyers Association and previously was an appeals staff attorney at the Workers' Compensation Commission. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico and her J.D. from Loyola University.
Elaine Llerena has been a staff attorney for Seyfarth Shaw, specializing in employee benefits and retirement law. She previously was a staff attorney for the IL WC Commission. She graduated from Florida State University and from The UIC/John Marshall Law School.
William McLaughlin is now in private practice but until recently was a staff lawyer for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Before that, he was an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County. McLaughlin earned his bachelor's degree from St. Xavier College and his law degree from the University of Nebraska.
Dennis O'Brien is vice president of Livingstone, Mueller, O'Brien and Davlin, a Springfield-based comp defense firm. He once worked as an assistant prosecutor and a news reporter, and spends much of his time as stage manager at the Springfield Municipal Opera. His bachelor's degree is from Dominican University and his law degree is from Loyola.
Arbitrators in Illinois WC are the first hearing officers in WC claims litigation. After the Arbitrator rules, claims may then be administratively appealed to a 3-member panel of Commissioners. The arbitrator position pays about $118,000 a year.
With three-year terms, arbitrators are subject to being passed over for re-appointment if the next governor is of a different political party, attorneys said. For claimants' attorneys, in particular, that can be a problem — having to leave a law practice for few years, then having to re-establish it later. One arbitrator in recent years found out in the middle of a hearing he was no longer in office.
To ameliorate that problem and hopefully make the arbitrator and commissioner positions less political, the IL State Chamber of Commerce and others including me support legislation that would change the arbitrators' terms to five years. The proposed legislation, which was debated in the House Labor and Commerce Committee last month, also would set arbitrators' salaries at 65% of circuit court judges' salaries, taking them to about $130,000 annually. IL WC Commissioners' pay would be set at 70% of judges, bringing them from $122,000 to $140,000 annually.
I am happy to consult with any of the new or existing appointees and/or provide research at no charge. I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please post them on our award-winning blog.
Synopsis: Northwestern University Researcher Developing Implantable Naloxone Device.
Editor’s comment: What Is Naloxone? It is part of the war against opioid abuse in workers’ comp and other treatment spheres. In the field of U.S. WC, when a Claimant becomes addicted to opioids, claim costs skyrocket.
Naloxone is a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent overdose by opioids such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. It blocks opioid receptor sites, reversing the toxic effects of the overdose.
Naloxone is administered when a patient is showing signs of opioid overdose. The medication can be given by intranasal spray, intramuscular (into the muscle), subcutaneous (under the skin), or intravenous injection. A doctor can prescribe naloxone to patients who are in medication-assisted treatment (MAT), especially if the patient is taking medications used in MAT or considered a risk for opioid overdose. Candidates for naloxone are those who:
Take high doses of opioids for long-term management of chronic pain
Receive rotating opioid medication regimens
Have been discharged from emergency medical care following opioid poisoning or intoxication
Take certain extended-release or long-acting opioid medications
Are completing mandatory opioid detoxification or abstinence programs
I just learned A researcher at Northwestern University is developing an implantable device that can automatically release opioid-antidote naloxone if a sensor detects a person’s blood-oxygen level has fallen to an unsafe level, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune.
Animal testing is scheduled to begin next year, and clinical trials in humans could start within five years, according to the report. John Rogers, director of the Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics at Northwestern, developed the device. He was quoted in the Tribune to describe it as a “fully autonomous system, almost like an implantable emergency response system, providing a first responder’s type of functionality but without human intervention.”
The device will also tethered to a user’s cellphone and automatically alerts paramedics when a person appears to be suffering an opioid overdose.
I will continue to report as more information is received.