At the 2019 SAWCA All- Committee Conference, Clarissa Preston and David Benedict from NCCI provided an update on legislative issues around the nation. Federal level TRIA reauthorization is one of the most important issues facing the insurance industry right now. A House Committee has passed a bill to reauthorize TRIA for another 7 years. Hearings have started on the Senate side but there are currently no Senate bills introduced on TRIA. There is also Federal legislation introduced that would grant insurers safe harbor for providing insurance products to the marijuana industry. Similar legislation focuses on the banking industry.  State Legislation
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At the 2019 SAWCA All-Committee Conference, a panel of representatives from the insurance industry discussed a variety of issues. The speakers were: Steve Nowak – Trean Corp Mark Walls – Safety National Jeff Eggleston – AKERA Jeremy Terry – KEMI Melissa Blatt – Encova Billy Roberts – AMFed Barbara Cullum – Eastern Alliance Andrew Pauley – NAMIC Regulatory Challenges Comments: Regulators try to push a “one size fits all” approach even when it doesn’t make sense. A carrier based in Minneapolis was requested by a southern state to provide a “hurricane recovery” plan. Another regulator requested that they provide the
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The Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators (SAWCA) is an organization that provides educational and networking opportunities to both state workers’ compensation regulators and members of the community that they regulate. At the 2019 SAWCA All-Committee Conference, a panel of regulators discussed a variety of issues. The panel was: Frank McKay – Chairman, Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation Karl Aumann – Maryland Paul Touriello – Colorado Wes Marshall – Virginia Scott Beck – South Carolina Cassie Brown – Texas Abbie Hudgens – Tennessee Question: Can an inured worker receive physical therapy in your state without a referral from a
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At the 2019 IAIABC Annual Convention, a session discussed the challenges and controversy around the use of the AMA Guidelines to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. This was a live “Out Front Ideas with Kimberly and Mark” session moderated by Kimberly George from Sedgwick and Mark Walls from Safety National. Their guests were: Abbie Hudgens – Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Judge David Torrey – Pennsylvania Department of Labor Dave Sosnow – American Medical Association The American Medical Association workers with physicians around the country to develop the Impairment guidelines, which are used by most states in their workers’ compensation
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The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissioners (IAIABC) brings together workers’ compensation regulations from around the world with the industry they regulate to discuss a variety of issues. It is a great opportunity for the workers’ compensation community to interact with the industry regulators. One of the highlights of the event is the Heads of Delegation Forum. In this event, the non-jurisdictional members get the opportunity to ask questions to the jurisdictional representatives. There were 29 United States jurisdictions representatives for the session, along with representatives from Germany, Russia, Canada, Australia and others. The session I was in
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At the 2019 SAWCA Annual Convention, Mark Walls from Safety National moderated a panel discussion featuring large employers who all retain risk on their workers’ compensation programs. The panel featured: Brenda Ratcliff – Shaw Industries Connie Chandler – United Postal Services Elizabeth Bailey – Waffle House Marc Salm – Publix Supermarkets Melisa Yopp – Tyson Foods All these employers have blended programs with a mix of high deductible and self-insured. Some of these programs are self-administered but most utilize a Third Party Administrator for claims review. The session was done in question/answer format like a talk show, so this blog
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Risk management is continuing to expand. The discipline is rapidly embracing areas that would have clearly belonged elsewhere in the past. This session at WCI’s 2019 Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference discussed current disruptors and future outlook. Speakers included: Marc Salm, Vice President, Risk Management, Publix Super Markets, Inc. Peter G. Keating, Jr., CRM, Claims Manager, SP+ Max Koonce, Managing Director, Sedgwick CMS (moderator) Marijuana is predicted to become a $57 billion industry by 2027. States are slowly beginning to decriminalize it, so what is an employer to do? It is important to note that marijuana is currently not approved to
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The end goal of every workers’ compensation claim is to get the injured worker back to work as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Even with the best intentions, misalignment between parties is common. In this session at WCI’s 2019 Educational Conference, panelists explored creative methods to build stronger alignment between stakeholders. Moderator: Jim Robert – Owner of Best Foot 4Ward, LLC Panel: Paul Koziatek – President, Risk Management America Jaime Sigurdsson – Director of Worker’s Compensation at CORA Physical Therapy Stephen G. Kaufer – Attorney at Walton Lantaff Schroeder & Carson, LLP There are several parties involved in any workers’
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At the 2019 WCI Conference, a session discussed how to avoid common pitfalls of the Medicare Secondary Payer Compliance (MSP) process. The speakers were: Heather Sanderson – Chief Legal Officer, Franco Signor LLc Rose Arellano – Director of Healthcare Billing & Recoveries, Performant Corp (current CMS contractor) Cliff Connor – VP Medicare Compliance, Gallagher Bassett Services Conditional Payments Medicare has the authority to make conditional payments where the primary plan may not pay promptly conditioned on reimbursement from the primary plan. Medicare has the statutory right to pursue recovery from any entity to secure this conditional payment. This includes carriers,
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Early Symptom Intervention (ESI) programs can improve the overall well-being and productivity of workers. However, many employers face challenges when implementing these programs. In this session at WCI’s 2019 Educational conference, panelists discuss how they have developed and maintained successful ESI programs and share statistics on their return on investment. Moderator: Robyn Lewis – Regional Manager of WorkStrategies at Select Medical Panel: Lisa Bosserman – EHS Manager at Lockheed Martin Jennifer Archer-Denton – Senior Safety Specialist at FedEx Express Work-related musculoskeletal disorders account for nearly one million injuries resulting in lost work time. They amount to over $1.5 billion in
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