At the 2018 National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference & Expo, a session discussed some of the key concepts that executives new to overseeing a workers’ compensation program need to understand. The speakers were: Paul Braun – Managing Director, AON Monica Manske – Senior Manager Workers’ Compensation, Rochester Regional Health Workers’ Compensation Advocacy This concept has gained a lot of traction the last few years. As an employer, your employees are your greatest asset. When they are injured on the job, how are you helping them manage the workers’ compensation claims process? How can you help the injured worker have
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At the 2018 SAWCA All Committee Conference, Bob Wilson from WorkersCompensation.com hosted a panel discussion looking at issues that make him go hmmmm. The panelists were: Dr. Robert Snyder – State of Tennessee Frank McKay – State of Georgia Paul Tauriello – State of Colorado Debrah Watkins – Care Bridge International Identity Theft In an era where there is significant concern about identity theft, a large percentage of state workers’ compensation forms require the use of a social security number. Changing that is something most states consider impossible because of the costs required to reprogram all of their systems. Georgia
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At the 2018 SAWCA All Committee Conference, Laura Hart Bryan from NCCI discussed her thoughts on how the recent election will impact workers’ compensation systems around the nation. One of the key things to note about the 2018 mid-term election was the high voter turnout. Around 113 million people voted, which was a 30 million voter increase compared to the last midterm. This is still less than half the eligible voters. Polling and reporting numbers showed a sizable increase in the number of women and younger voters compared to prior elections. These two groups tended to favor Democratic candidates. There
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At the 2018 SAWCA All Committee Conference, a panel of carrier representatives discussed a wide variety of issues that are impacting the workers’ compensation industry. The panel was: Tom Hebson – York Risk Services Group Mark Walls – Safety National Shawn Mackey – Midwest Employers Tom Glasson – AIG Recent Election Impact on Workers’ Compensation The first thing that is impacted are regulators and administrative law judges that are appointed by governors. When a new governor is elected, this usually means a turnover of these positions. This can cause disruption in the system and change the way statutes are enforced
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At the 2018 SAWCA All Committee Conference, a session discussed the state of the Grand Bargain of workers’ compensation. The speakers were: Wade McGuffey – Attorney, Goodman, McGuffey Beth Aldridge – Commissioner, Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission Rita Hedrick-Helmick – West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Board Scott Beck – Chair, South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission Amy Kingston – Manager of Claims Management, State of Colorado The Grand Bargain of workers’ compensation started over 100 years ago. The “bargain” was workers giving up their right to sue in civil court for work injuries in exchange for a no-fault system that provides indemnity and
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At the 2018 SAWCA All Committee Conference, a session discussed presumption laws in workers’ compensation. The speakers were: Karl Aumann – Chairman, Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission Robert Stokes – Attorney, Flahive, Ogden & Latson (Texas) Many states have presumption laws for first responders including firefighters, police officers, and EMTs. The purpose of these presumption laws is to shift the burden of proof on medical causation so that the disease is “presumed” to be work related unless rebutted by the weight of the evidence. Overcoming the presumption of compensability is very difficult as you have to prove that exposures outside of
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At the 2018 SAWCA All-Committee Conference, a session discussed how recreational and medical marijuana is impacting regulators, the medical community, and businesses in Colorado and Maine. The panel was: Paul Tauriello – Director, Colorado Division of Workers’ Compensation Kristi Kelly – Director, Marajuana Industry Group Dominique Mendiola – Colorado Director of Medical Coordination Paul Sighinolfi – Executive Director Maine Workers’ Compensation Board To start, it’s important to understand the background of marijuana regulation in the United States. If you look back in history the reason that marijuana was regulated on the federal level was political in origin, not based on
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At the 2018 Chicagoland Risk Forum, a session discussed understanding a company’s total costs of risk management. The speakers were: Jessica Wacek – Marsh Jaci Mennenga – County Financial Risk has a cost whether or not you buy insurance. Focusing on the premium alone is short-sighted as the premium can be a small piece of your overall total costs of risks. The components of your total costs of risks include retained losses, volatility, and costs of claims management. When you buy insurance you introduce two new categories into the total costs of risks. Premium and collateral. These elements are all
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At the 2018 Chicagoland Risk Forum, a panel discussed cyber risks associated with the Internet of Things. The speakers were: John Hackett – Cassiday Schade LLP Margaret Shipitalo – Cassiday Schade LLP Kenneth Shu – Beasley Group Neil Blauvet – United Airlines The Internet of Things (IoT) is any device that can be connected to the internet. In 2003 there were around 500 million devices connected to the internet. By 2020 that number will be over 50 billion. Examples of IoT devices includes fitness trackers, thermostats, automobiles, home appliances. smart speakers, etc. These devices are used in manny different aspects
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At the 2018 Comp Laude Gala, the Alliance of Women in Workers’ Compensation hosted sessions focused on rethinking pain management. The panel for this session was: Mark Walls – Safety National (moderator) Patricia Cole PhD – Shirley Ryan Ability Lab Marcos Iglesias MD – Broadspire Alan Pierce – Pierce, Pierce & Napolitano Becky Curtis – Take Courage Coaching How Did We Get Here? Chronic pain is a secondary diagnosis. It usually means that the primary injury has been resolved in that no further structural issues need to be addressed (such as surgery). That doesn’t mean there is not an objective
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