Oregon insurance regulators said Monday that they?ve taken the first steps toward decertifying a workers? compensation self-insurance trust and will shut it down next week if the employers can?t come up with $750,000.
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services said Oregon Employers Trust Inc. must increase its security deposit to $3.95 million based on membership growth and estimated claims liability through June 2012. The group is Oregon?s largest private group of employers that self-insure for workers? compensation, state officials said.
Oregon Employers Trust Inc., which formed in 2009, is a group of about 200 companies that have agreed to assume ?joint and several? liability for their own and each other?s workers? compensation claims.
The trust is administered by Empire Pacific Risk Management Inc., of Lake Oswego. The trust?s president, Todd Hennelly of Empire Pacific, said Monday that several employers in the group have agreed to put up the money to remain compliant with the state.
?They feel it?s important that there be viable alternatives in the marketplace,? Hennelly said. The board of directors hopes to have everything finalized by the end of the week, he said.
In a letter to members posted on the Empire Pacific website, Hennelly wrote that administrators tried unsuccessfully to obtain a surety bond instead of paying cash.
The group includes a range of small- and medium-sized employers, including car dealerships, nonprofit organizations, construction companies and a handful of local governments.
If the state decertifies the group next week, its members would still be liable for workers? compensation claims, and they would be required to purchase new workers? compensation insurance immediately.
Almost all employers are required to purchase workers? compensation insurance, which covers costs for workers injured on the job. The costs can last long into the future if a worker is killed or permanently disabled.
Security deposits ensure there?s enough money available to pay claims and administrative costs if the group defaults or goes bankrupt, said John Shilts, administrator of the state?s Workers Compensation Division. The size of security deposits tend to be volatile in the group self-insured market, although the 23-percent increase for Oregon Employers Trust is higher than typical, Shilts said.
?I think that reflects the growth in this group, the growth in their risk, and it really reflects how their own incurred losses have gone up,? Shilts said.
The state has decertified two self-insurance groups since 2011 ? Oregon Contractors Workers Compensation Trust, which filed for bankruptcy in 2011, and the Oregon Nonprofit Employers Trust, which voluntarily dissolved last year.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Rickmansworth & Northwood Women In Business group welcomes professional business women from all business sectors, full and part-time business owners or key decision makers.
If you would like to meet like-minded business women, build your professional network, share business ideas and advice and exchange contacts, we would be delighted to invite you to one of our monthly meetings. You will find the group warm and welcoming, with a meeting format which enables you to get the most from the experience.
TO BOOK: Please call Amanda McDermott on 07970513989 to book a place at our next meeting. We look forward to meeting you.
COST: ?24 which includes a one course lunch and refreshments
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The Women in Business Network (WIBN) is a networking organisation for employed and self-employed business women. WIBN welcomes professional business women from all business sectors, full and part-time business owners or key decision makers.
If you would like to meet like-minded business women to build your professional network, share business ideas and advice and exchange contacts, we would be delighted to invite you to one of our monthly meetings.
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Vanderbilt studies outline new model for staph bone infectionsPublic release date: 1-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Craig Boerner craig.boerner@vanderbilt.edu 615-322-4747 Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Osteomyelitis, a debilitating bone infection most frequently caused by Staphylococcus aureus ("staph") bacteria, is particularly challenging to treat.
Now, Vanderbilt microbiologist Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, and colleagues have identified a staph-killing compound that may be an effective treatment for osteomyelitis, and they have developed a new mouse model that will be useful for testing this compound and for generating additional therapeutic strategies.
James Cassat, M.D., Ph.D., a fellow in Pediatric Infectious Diseases who is interested in improving treatments for children with bone infections, led the mouse model studies. Working with colleagues in the Vanderbilt Center for Bone Biology and the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Cassat developed micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging technologies to visualize a surgically introduced bone infection in progress.
"The micro-CT gives excellent resolution images of the damage that's being done to the bone," said Skaar, the Ernest W. Goodpasture Professor of Pathology. "We found that staph is not only destroying bone, but it's also promoting new bone growth. Staph is causing profound changes in bone remodeling."
Cassat also established methods for recovering -- and counting -- bacteria from the infected bone.
"We're not aware of any other bone infection models where you can pull the bacteria out of a bone and count them in a highly reproducible manner," Skaar said. "From a therapeutic development standpoint, we think this model is going to allow investigators to test new compounds for efficacy against bone infections caused by staph or any other bacteria that cause osteomyelitis."
Several pharmaceutical companies have already approached Skaar and his team about testing compounds in the new bone infection model, which the investigators describe in the June 12 issue of Cell Host & Microbe.
Using the model, the team demonstrated that a certain protein secreted by staph plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of osteomyelitis. Understanding the specific bacterial factors -- and the bone cell signals -- that promote bone destruction and formation during infection could lead to new strategies for restoring bone balance, Skaar said.
"Even if it's not possible to kill the bacteria, compounds that manipulate bone growth or destruction might have some therapeutic benefit."
Still, Skaar is interested in treatments that will eliminate the infection.
The staph bacteria involved in osteomyelitis and in other persistent infections (such as lung infections in cystic fibrosis) are often a sub-class of staph known as "small colony variants." These staph variants grow slowly and are resistant to entire classes of antibiotics commonly used to treat bone and lung infections, Skaar said.
One way that staph bacteria become antibiotic-resistant small colony variants is by changing the way they generate energy. Instead of using respiration, they switch to fermentation, which blocks antibiotic entry and slows bacterial growth.
In a high-throughput screen for compounds that activate a heme-sensing bacterial pathway, graduate student Laura Mike identified a compound that kills fermenting staph. The findings are reported in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is a completely new molecular activity," Skaar said. "We don't know of other molecules that are toxic against fermenting bacteria."
The compound -- and derivatives synthesized by Gary Sulikowski, Ph.D., and his team -- might be useful in treating staph small colony variants, or in preventing their emergence.
The investigators demonstrated in culture that treating staph with the antibiotic gentamicin forced it to become a small colony variant and ferment, and that co-treatment with the new compound prevented resistance and killed all of the bacteria.
"We think a really interesting therapeutic strategy for this compound is that it might augment the antimicrobial activity of existing classes of antibiotics by preventing resistance to them -- it might extend the lifetime of these classes of antibiotics," Skaar said.
This would be similar to the drug Augmentin, which combines a traditional penicillin-type antibiotic and a compound that blocks bacterial resistance.
The investigators are excited to test the new compound in the mouse model of osteomyelitis. First, they will treat the mice with gentamicin and assess whether staph small colony variants form. If so, they will co-administer the new compound to test if it prevents resistance, and they will also assess it as a single treatment for the persistent infection.
Skaar stressed that Vanderbilt's collaborative environment made these studies possible. Daniel Perrien, Ph.D., and Florent Elefteriou, Ph.D., in the Vanderbilt Center for Bone Biology and colleagues in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science were critical in facilitating development of the bone infection model. Sulikowski and other colleagues in the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB) enabled the compound development.
"This is exactly the kind of work the VICB is promoting getting biologists like me together with chemists, to make new therapeutics," Skaar said.
###
The research was supported by the Searle Scholars Program and grants from the National Institutes of Health (AI069233, AI073843, RR027631, AI091856, HD060554), including the Southeastern Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense (AI057157).
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Vanderbilt studies outline new model for staph bone infectionsPublic release date: 1-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Craig Boerner craig.boerner@vanderbilt.edu 615-322-4747 Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Osteomyelitis, a debilitating bone infection most frequently caused by Staphylococcus aureus ("staph") bacteria, is particularly challenging to treat.
Now, Vanderbilt microbiologist Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, and colleagues have identified a staph-killing compound that may be an effective treatment for osteomyelitis, and they have developed a new mouse model that will be useful for testing this compound and for generating additional therapeutic strategies.
James Cassat, M.D., Ph.D., a fellow in Pediatric Infectious Diseases who is interested in improving treatments for children with bone infections, led the mouse model studies. Working with colleagues in the Vanderbilt Center for Bone Biology and the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Cassat developed micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging technologies to visualize a surgically introduced bone infection in progress.
"The micro-CT gives excellent resolution images of the damage that's being done to the bone," said Skaar, the Ernest W. Goodpasture Professor of Pathology. "We found that staph is not only destroying bone, but it's also promoting new bone growth. Staph is causing profound changes in bone remodeling."
Cassat also established methods for recovering -- and counting -- bacteria from the infected bone.
"We're not aware of any other bone infection models where you can pull the bacteria out of a bone and count them in a highly reproducible manner," Skaar said. "From a therapeutic development standpoint, we think this model is going to allow investigators to test new compounds for efficacy against bone infections caused by staph or any other bacteria that cause osteomyelitis."
Several pharmaceutical companies have already approached Skaar and his team about testing compounds in the new bone infection model, which the investigators describe in the June 12 issue of Cell Host & Microbe.
Using the model, the team demonstrated that a certain protein secreted by staph plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of osteomyelitis. Understanding the specific bacterial factors -- and the bone cell signals -- that promote bone destruction and formation during infection could lead to new strategies for restoring bone balance, Skaar said.
"Even if it's not possible to kill the bacteria, compounds that manipulate bone growth or destruction might have some therapeutic benefit."
Still, Skaar is interested in treatments that will eliminate the infection.
The staph bacteria involved in osteomyelitis and in other persistent infections (such as lung infections in cystic fibrosis) are often a sub-class of staph known as "small colony variants." These staph variants grow slowly and are resistant to entire classes of antibiotics commonly used to treat bone and lung infections, Skaar said.
One way that staph bacteria become antibiotic-resistant small colony variants is by changing the way they generate energy. Instead of using respiration, they switch to fermentation, which blocks antibiotic entry and slows bacterial growth.
In a high-throughput screen for compounds that activate a heme-sensing bacterial pathway, graduate student Laura Mike identified a compound that kills fermenting staph. The findings are reported in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is a completely new molecular activity," Skaar said. "We don't know of other molecules that are toxic against fermenting bacteria."
The compound -- and derivatives synthesized by Gary Sulikowski, Ph.D., and his team -- might be useful in treating staph small colony variants, or in preventing their emergence.
The investigators demonstrated in culture that treating staph with the antibiotic gentamicin forced it to become a small colony variant and ferment, and that co-treatment with the new compound prevented resistance and killed all of the bacteria.
"We think a really interesting therapeutic strategy for this compound is that it might augment the antimicrobial activity of existing classes of antibiotics by preventing resistance to them -- it might extend the lifetime of these classes of antibiotics," Skaar said.
This would be similar to the drug Augmentin, which combines a traditional penicillin-type antibiotic and a compound that blocks bacterial resistance.
The investigators are excited to test the new compound in the mouse model of osteomyelitis. First, they will treat the mice with gentamicin and assess whether staph small colony variants form. If so, they will co-administer the new compound to test if it prevents resistance, and they will also assess it as a single treatment for the persistent infection.
Skaar stressed that Vanderbilt's collaborative environment made these studies possible. Daniel Perrien, Ph.D., and Florent Elefteriou, Ph.D., in the Vanderbilt Center for Bone Biology and colleagues in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science were critical in facilitating development of the bone infection model. Sulikowski and other colleagues in the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB) enabled the compound development.
"This is exactly the kind of work the VICB is promoting getting biologists like me together with chemists, to make new therapeutics," Skaar said.
###
The research was supported by the Searle Scholars Program and grants from the National Institutes of Health (AI069233, AI073843, RR027631, AI091856, HD060554), including the Southeastern Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense (AI057157).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Michigan Republican Dave Camp, chairman of the tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, is seriously mulling a run for the Senate seat held by retiring Democrat Carl Levin, sources close to Camp said on Wednesday.
Camp is giving "serious and thoughtful consideration" to a run for the Michigan Senate seat that will be open in 2014, an aide close to the lawmaker said on condition of anonymity.
His candidacy would pose a challenge for Michigan Democrats and could divert some of Camp's attention from efforts to revamp the U.S. tax code next year.
Elected in 1990, the 60-year-old Camp has been working with Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on legislation to overhaul the tax code.
The duo has made pitches for tax reform, with Camp pledging to approve legislation before his panel this year.
Many analysts believe the hurdles were already high to complete the tax overhaul, given deep divisions between the parties over taxes.
Under House Republican term limits, Camp will lose his post as chairman of Ways and Means in 2014. Baucus has announced he will not run again when his term ends that same year.
Democrats hold a 54-to-46 majority in the Senate, but 2014 could give Republicans a chance to take control, according to political analysts.
Representative Gary Peters is the only declared Democratic candidate so far. Former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is running in the Republican primary.
"Camp would be a strong candidate," said Jennifer Duffy of the non-partisan Cook Political Report. "He can certainly raise the money, but since he hasn't had a competitive race in a while, he would need to put together a very solid team."
The Rothenberg Political Report, which tracks election data, rates 20 Democratic-held Senate seats as in play, and says 15 Republican seats as up for grabs. The report called the seat being vacated by 79-year-old Levin "safe" for Democrats to hold.
(Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Vicki Allen and Stacey Joyce)
The mayor of Toronto has spoken for the first time about the shooting death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, since he was gunned down by police on a streetcar.
The incident happened on Dundas St near Bathurst St early Saturday morning.
While campaigning with PC candidate Ken Kirupa in Etobicoke this afternoon, mayor Rob Ford was asked about the shooting.
"We're talking about a huge election coming up on Thursday and I can't address what happened a couple of nights ago," Ford said. "It's unfortunate. It's sad. My heart goes out to the family.
"But none of us know all the facts."
Watch a video of his comments:
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Source: variety.com --- Monday, July 29, 2013 Sheila Whitaker, who served as director of international programs for the Dubai International Film Festival, died Monday in London. She was previously director of the London Film Festival from 1987 to 1996, and head of programming at the National Film Theater in London from 1984 to 1990. Whitaker had been working with the Dubai festival... Read more ? ...
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Public release date: 1-Aug-2013
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