Here's a quick summary of many of the research reports, articles and national blogs that have focused on Texas injury benefit plan so far in 2017 (go to the bottom for the most recent):

1. Importance of Immediate Injury Reporting for Workplace Injuries - (February 2017) - Levi McCathern makes a strong case.
   
   
2. The Lone Star State Model for Helping Injured Workers - (March 2017) - This major research paper from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) concludes that Texas’ success relative to the rest of the country can largely be ascribed to the fact that it is the only state with a thriving private sector work-injury benefit option to state-mandated workers’ compensation.
   
   
3. Acosta Could Unwind Regulatory Tangle at the Department of Labor - (March 2017) - TPPF encourages the Trump Administration to unwind the regulatory tangle in labor markets created by the Obama administration by avoiding any meritless attack on Texas and other states’ systems of helping injured workers.
   
   
4. Conversation continues around alternative comp models - (March 2017) - Business Insurance summarizes legislative interest in many states and workers' comp industry defense of the status quo.
   
   
5. Texas Nonsubscriber Option: Providing Better Disability Benefits? - (April 2017) - First report proving that Texas nonsubscriber wage replacement is better than workers’ compensation - in Texas and virtually every other state.  Click here for the free online training course.
   
   
6. Texas Relentless Struggle with the Opt Out Label - (April 2017) - National workers' compensation thought leader, Bob Wilson, refers to Opt Out as "Ye beast that will not die" and encourages much-needed rebranding.
   
   
7. Re-imagining the Grand Bargain Without Exclusive Remedy - (July 2017) - Suggests that experience under Texas nonsubscription should cause workers’ compensation reformers to revisit the original “Grand Bargain”.
   
   
8. David D’s Wisdom at Home on the Range - (July 2017) - Reflections on what legendary workers’ compensation thought leader, David Depaolo, had to say about competition, innovation and caring for injured workers.
   
   
9. America should look to Texas as a model for workers compensation - (July 2017) - More strong support from TPPF.
   
   
10. The Stale State of Reform - (July 2017) - National workers’ compensation thought leader, Peter Rousmaniere, encourages more research on how to protect and improve the welfare of injured workers and favorably cites to the PartnerSource “Better Disability Benefits” report. 
    
    
11. Bilateral Imaging Study by Dell Medical School and Dr. Tonn - (August 2017) - First peer-reviewed medical research study using Texas nonsubscriber data that has apparently never been collected in the workers’ compensation setting.  Published in the nationally-respected Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research journal and authored by Dell Medical School and Dr. Melissa Tonn on how age-related MRI changes in shoulders and knees are commonly misinterpreted as acute on-the-job injuries.  Other occupational health physicians are saying these research findings should completely change the industry by avoiding many unnecessary surgeries and unsuccessful treatments, such as knee scopes and steroid injections.  Click here for additional commentary from one of the study authors.
    
    
12. Opt Out is Going to Return, and Why We Should Pay Attention - (August 2017) - Bob Wilson favorably commenting on PartnerSource efforts to advance competition, resulting in improved benefits and service for injured workers.
    
    
13. Bob Wilson May Have a "Cluttered Desk;" His Prediction of Opt Out Reprise is Spot On! - (August 2017) - Respected workers’ comp industry blogger and attorney, Thomas Robinson, opines on statutory designs that may or may not pass constitutional muster in Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and other states.
    
    
14. Workers' Compensation Opt-Out, Opt-In, Exclusivity, and State Constitutionality  - (August 2017) - Influential Wyoming law professor, Michael C. Duff, considers state constitutionality issues related to past and future alternatives to workers’ compensation in Texas, Oklahoma and other states.
    
    
15. Harvey Meets Workers’ Comp:  New Horror Movie? - (August 2017) - Peter Rousmaniere questions whether Texas nonsubscription is “a model or a monster?”  The Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers’ Compensation (ARAWC) provided a strong and swift response. 
    
    
16. Big Changes a-coming in workers' comp. - (September 2017) - Insightful insurance industry adviser, Joe Paduda offers predictions on how Hurricane Harvey and Irma will impact the workforce and workers' comp insurance premiums.  Reader comments then criticize and defend Texas nonsubscription.