Continuing education

Biosimilars and Specialty medications in Workers’ Compensation

Wednesday, August 27, 2025
2 p.m. ET

Biologics are specialty medications indicated for a variety of disease states; however, determining the industrial relatedness of these products and conditions isn’t always as straightforward as it tends to be for more traditional medications. The goal of this CE is to provide insurance professionals with information and resources that can be used to help with this decision-making process.

During this session, we will define what a biologic is and how it is different from more traditional medications; discuss disease states for which a biologic may be prescribed and whether it would be considered a first-line option based on clinical practice guidelines; share results of studies that have evaluated the industrial relatedness of certain conditions treated with biologics to help inform compensability decisions; and offer formulary management strategies regarding coverage for biologics.

Additionally, we will demonstrate how to use the FDA Purple Book, which is a resource that contains information about all biologics that have undergone the FDA approval process, including biosimilar and interchangeable products, which we will also define and discuss during our talk. This resource is especially beneficial because it can be used to determine whether a potentially more cost-effective interchangeable biosimilar medication is available for a given reference biologic product. 

We hope that the information provided during this CE will serve as a helpful guidance for handling claims involving biologics and the conditions they treat.

CE credits are only available for those who qualify during the LIVE version of these webinars. If you watch this webinar at any other time than listed above, you will be watching a recording and will not qualify for CE credits. 

CE credits for our courses are administered by the CEU Institute. If you have any issues or questions regarding your credits, please contact ​rosters@ceuinstitute.net. For questions about the ​continuing ​education course offerings, email us at ceprogram@optum.com.

This course has been submitted for 1-hour of CE credit for the following license types: Pre-approved Adjuster (AK, AL, AR, CA, DE, FL, GA, ID, IN, LA, KY, MS, MT, NC, NH, NM, NV, OK, OR, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV, WY); National Certified Case Manager (CCM); National Nurse; Certified Disability Management Specialists (CDMS); Certified Medicare Secondary Payer (CMSP); and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) for CE accreditation. For states that do not require prior approval, the adjuster is responsible for submitting their attendance certificate to the appropriate state agency to determine if continuing education credits can be applied..