At the 2018 CLM / Business Insurance Workers’ Compensation Conference, a panel discussed non-opioid alternatives to pain management. The speakers included: James Atchison, DO – Medical Director Pain Management, Shirley Ryan Ability Lab Caryn Feldman, PhD – Associate Professor Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Shirley Ryan Ability Lab Shana Margolis, MD – Attending Physician, Shirley Ryan Ability Lab Melissa Roy – Manager, Nurse Case Management and Pharmacy, AF Group Appropriate use of opioids and the challenges of opioids: Opioids may be appropriate initially on very severe injuries, but not sprains and strains. They are also appropriate initially after surgery.
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At the 2018 CLM /Business Insurance Workers’ Compensation Conference, a panel discussed how technology is impacting risk management and claims handling. The panel included: Christopher Griffith – CIO, Safety National James Bentham – CEO, JB Knowledge Skip Brechtel – CIO and EVP, CCMSI Stan Smith – Practice Leader, Milliman, Inc Predictive Analytics Predictive analytics is the practice of extracting information from existing data sets in order to determine patterns and assign a probability for a future outcome. The goal of predictive analytics is to help users make better decisions. The key to predictive analytics is the quality of the data
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At the 2018 CLM / Business Insurance Workers’ Compensation Conference a panel discussed complex pain treatment strategies. The panel included: Melissa Dunn – Regional Claims Advocacy Leader, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co Steven Moskowitz – Senior Medical Director, Paradigm Outcomes Kimberly Vaughn – AVP Workers’ Compensation, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company Lisa Hunter – Attorney, Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe, PC Chronic pain claims often start with fairly common injuries that do not respond well to conventional treatments. They are highlighted by declining functional status, delayed recovery, high prescription utilization, high medical utilization, and intervention procedures being repeated without apparent
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At the 2018 Business Insurance / CLM Workers’ Compensation Conference a panel discussed the intersection of workers’ compensation and ADA. The panel included: Rajiv Dash, MD – Medical Director, Albertson’s Corporation Negar Matian – Attorney, Matian Law Group Carolyn Horton – Integrated Leave and Accommodation Manager, Costco Wholesale Erin Foley – Partner, Seyfarth Shaw It is important for people handling workers’ compensation claims to understand how those claims can impact the employer on the ADA side. Many employers have different people responsible for workers’ compensation and Human Resources so they will not consider how these two issues can interact. Often
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At the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, Barry Lipton from NCCI and Alex Swedlow from CWCI discussed studies on the impact provider networks have on workers’ compensation. California Data Data reviewed from 1990-2017 332% increase in medical costs per claim during that time period. In 2003, California passed legislation to encourage medical network use. Another law change in 2013 made it easier to manage these networks and limit liability for payments outside of the network. In 2004, 50% of workers’ compensation medical care was delivered by networks. In 2016 that was 84%. So the law changes did as intended in
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At the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, Paul Meeusen, from Swiss Re and B3i discussed how blockchain can impact the insurance industry. Blockchain is defined as a digital data structure for identifying and tracking information across a network of computers. Blockchain provides a transparent and secure way to track and distribute the information. In insurance, we are talking about the information chain between the risk (policyholder) to the insurer, to the reinsurer and then to the capital markets. The problem with data now: Decreasing quality of the original risk data. Higher operational risk and cost. Information asymmetry. Capital markets ill
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At the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, David Deitz, MD, and Raji Chadarevian from NCCI discussed the use of medical marijuana and opioids in workers’ compensation. The number of claims that included the use of opioid medications in workers’ compensation decreased 12% from 2014 to 2015 and 8% in from 2015 to 2016. Overall, opioid utilization in workers’ compensation has declined over 30% from 2012 to 2016. The biggest decrease in opioid use is being driven by newer claims because the inappropriate prescribing is being stopped early on. The worst claims for continued opioid use are over 10 years old.
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At the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, Michael Choo and Scott Goll from Paradigm Outcomes discussed trends in mega losses (defined as claims with total incurred greater than $1 million). The types of claims Paradigm sees are catastrophic injuries, including spinal cord, brain injuries, multiple amputations and severe burns. They receive over 1,000 claims per year with an average total projected medical incurred of over $3 million. The range is high with some claims having medical costs up toward $20 million. It was not that long ago that a single-person workers’ compensation claim with a total incurred above $5 million
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At the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, a panel of risk managers discussed the evolving workforce and it’s impact on workers’ compensation. The panel included: Susan Donegan – Chief Regulatory Officer, NCCI (moderator) Michelle Adams – VP Risk Management Services, Walt Disney World Resort Marc Salm – VP Risk Management, Publix Super Markets, Inc. Melanie Stanisic – Manager Risk Management, Darden Restaurants, Inc. Two of the three programs represented on the panel self-administer their workers’ compensation programs. Walt Disney World has all their employees at a single location which provides them with some distinct advantages compared to employers spread over
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At the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, Robert Hartwig, Clinical Associate Professor of Finance at the University of South Carolina gave a fast-paced session highlighting the impact the economy is having on workers’ compensation. The highlights: Growth of workers’ compensation premiums is tied to growth in our economy and our economy is growing right now. Consumer confidence is the highest rate in nearly 20 years. Small business optimism is also extremely high right now. Business investment is a potential driver in premium growth. New private housing starts continue to climb. The construction industry is booming from the private sector standpoint.
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