Media Attention for The Comp Pinkbook
First the Baltimore Sun ran a story on The Comp Pinkbook. That story can be seen here or here. Now Fox 45 in Baltimore (the local Fox affiliate) has picked up the story. (Story and Link Updated) Fox notes that Baltimore City has more claims than anyone in the state. According to The Comp Pinkbook, that’s true. Should the taxpayer be concerned? I don’t know, The Comp Pinkbook can only help provide an answer to that question. It cannot answer that question with finality.
For example, the book doesn’t reveal how many employees the city, or any other employer, has. The ratio of employees to injuries is an important number.
The Comp Pinkbook can help rank Maryland workers’ compensation lawyers, at least by how much business they handle. Providing lawyer transparency in order to help clients make good legal purchasing decisions.
As for the interview with Fox, I tried my best not to have an opinion about the context of the data. I only collect and publish the data. I’m not qualified to interpret the data. Baltimore City is a dangerous place to work for some. That’s obviously a fact. Is there fraud in the workers’ compensation system or in claims filed against Baltimore City? I don’t know.
I do, however, believe whole-heartedly that public data should be easily accessible to the public. After all, it’s the public’s data. It’s not Baltimore City’s data or Injury Lawyer Database’s data or my data. It should belong to the public.