Thread by @SheillaDingus

#NFL Concussion Settlement Special Masters have issued a report this morning which appears to be the first of three. The Claims Admin report has also dropped by the BAP Admin report hasn't as of yet.
SM Report PDF: drive.google.com/file/d/1vv6P9c…

I didn't see anything particularly earth-shattering in the Special Masters' report but there were a few items of interest.

The Special Masters' report on appeals underscores the importance of Judge Brody's ruling which substantially changed the balances in the settlement when she authorized AAP review on the front end. As you can see, the appellee has prevailed in most instances.

Front-end AAP review will likely result in more denied claims in which players will have to present by clear and convincing evidence they were denied in error instead of NFL appeal of approved claims in which they must prove by clear and convincing evidence the approval was wrong

Special Masters are still considering statute of limitations questions and anticipate briefing to be completed by September 17, 2019.

This is the 1st mention of the Education Fund I've seen since the settlement went into effect. While no details were given as feared, this will probably result in furthering the NFL's mitigation of future litigation issues, & serve to keep a fresh supply of bodies for the NFL.

Veering off topic-but related.
I spoke with a doctor a couple weeks ago who felt he had a promising treatment to alleviate some symptoms that many former players experience that are linked to brain injury. He approached the NFL hoping they would show interest in the treatment...

At first they did seem interested, he said. But sadly their interest wasn't in helping the players. They wanted to know if his work would discredit diagnoses of neurocognitive impairment. When he said, "No," they were no longer interested in talking with him. 😡

Claims Administrator BrownGreer's report covers the period between February 15 and May 13, 2019.
PDF: drive.google.com/file/d/1Z45GUF…

143 new claims were submitted during this period.

69% of claims represent a pre-effective date diagnosis;
22% are for post-effective date diagnoses.

78% of post-effective date diagnoses came through the MAF program and 22% through the BAP.

Table 2 shows claim submissions by diagnosis.

852 Notices of Monetary Award have been issued totalling $663,705,780.
713 of these claims have been paid, totalling $499,396,136. The remainder are in various stages of processing, with some still subject to appeal. Table 3 breaks down what's been paid, and to whom.

Table 5 shows approved and paid claims by diagnosis.

"Of the 852 claims with Notices of Monetary Award, 151 (18%) have been appealed (114 by the NFL Parties and 37 by the Settlement Class Member)."

70 Claims await AAP review, but the big story is in the footnotes when Levels 1.5 and 2 are compared with other diagnoses.

Interesting.

Status of claims subject to statute of limitation analysis.

640 claims have been denied, about half of which were based on AAP review that did not accept the diagnosis.

Interesting snip. The neurologist conference was taking place during the same time the oral arguments were held regarding the newly imposed MAF rules.

Table 9 shows the status of MAF Physicians, which continues to shrink. I've had non-affiliated neurologists say that the restrictions on MAF physicians make it very unattractive to doctors considering participation. Gene Locks made proposals to address this that were rejected.

I wrote about his now moot proposals and why they were important here. advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/nfl-concussion…

In other words, non-medical folks assessing doctors. Neuropsychologists second guessing neurologists, and doctors who've never examined the patient overruling those who did.

Audit Report.

While the above stats indicate the level of fraud is much less than generally portrayed, the CA has audited 76 claims multiple times. They shouldn't get multiple bites at the apple to discredit claims; after all, if the NFL finds something problematic, they have a right of appeal

Another interesting footnote. I'm aware that at least some of the players who were examined by Dr. Hoover were re-examined and received the same diagnosis and eventually qualified for an award.

Despite the attention and litigation regarding 3rd party settlement funding assignments, it appears the percentage of players impacted is rather low.

Unclear what they're doing here. Per the 3rd Circuit, only "true assignments" that require payment by the CA would be voidable. All contracts I've seen require the player's attorney to satisfy the debt AFTER the claim is paid, which 3CA said Judge Brody could not control.

BTW, I'm not trying to justify predatory lending practices, however I do object to common benefit funds being spent to litigate a matter that affects relatively few players, since 3rd Circuit said they have the ability to challenge individually, predatory contracts.

Players were told this is a simple process when they were urged to join the settlement.🙄 FAQ's are supposed to be the rules of the road, but they change almost as quickly as the score of a basketball game it seems. The latest changes are detailed in the CA report linked above.

The report also detailed among other things changes and additions to the website as noted below.

On to the BAP Administrator's status report.
PDF: drive.google.com/file/d/1x6teFE…

There are currently 324 BAP providers in the program. Almost triple the number of MAF providers.

Despite the presence of 324 BAP providers compared to 130 in the MAF program, and the fact the BAP admin had to send some players out of area for exams, rules restricting MAF appointments to a 150 mile radius w/o prior approval were implemented. 🤔

Almost half of BAP eligible players have opted to participate.
Since the BAP is often viewed as a last resort because of the narrow injury definitions which the BAP provider must strictly abide by, as opposed to the generally consistent standard in the MAF, I find this surprising

Current wait times

This looks a little different than this. Why can't Co-Lead Class Counsel be more forthcoming in the @NFL_Settlement Twitter account?

A few more BAP appointment stats:

Table 4 provides an interesting look at the status of BAP exams.

🚨This is truly alarming!
𝙊𝙛 2,972 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝘼𝙋 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙢, 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 165 (5%) 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙.

For the 100 Players at Level 1, which does not qualify for a monetary award but does merit supplemental benefits, here's a table with the basics. The report provides additional info.........end thread.

Almost end thread, anyway...
Correction: According to the report, 89 players were diagnosed at Level 1 (85 of whom are reflected in the chart.)