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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At the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, Kathy Antonello, Chief Actuary for NCCI, gave the State of the Line presentation. The highlights: Last year brought double-digit rate decreases in almost half of the NCCI states. Tax reform is having a significant impact on the workers’ compensation line. Workers’ compensation net written premiums dropped 0.7% to 39.8 billion in 2017 compared to 2016. This was the only property and casualty commercial line that saw a decrease in premiums. The major factors in the drop in worker’s compensation premiums were an increase in premiums ceded to reinsurers both off-shore and domestic, little
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Bill Donnell, President and CEO of NCCI, kicked off the 2018 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium with a discussion of The Future@Work. Back in the early 90’s, the workers’ comp industry experienced six consecutive years of losses. Contract that with industry profitability the last 6 years. The market has gone up and down over the years but the trends the last few years have been good. The ratio of fatalities per 100,000 workers is down sharply compared to the 1990’s, even though that trend has gone upward the last two years. Accident frequency rates have trended downward for years. Clearly workplaces
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At the 2018 Insurance Rehab Synergy Group Annual Conference Robert Hall, MD and Tron Emptage both from Optium Workers’ Compensation, discussed opioid intervention strategies. One of the problems is that opioid medications are too easy to obtain: 60% of US citizens have leftover narcotics in their home. 70% of opioid prescriptions abused come from a friend or relative. 91% of patients who overdose receive another opioid prescription within 10 months. Education of all stakeholders is needed to stop the opioid crisis. This includes patients, medical providers, policy makers, payers, and employers. Some great tools for education include letters to the
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At the 2018 Insurance Rehab Synergy Group Annual Conference, a panel was a “fireside chat” on the past and future of rehabilitation and recovery. The panel included: Mark Ashley, SC.D, CCC-SLP, CCM, CBIST – President/CEO Centre for Neuro Skills Gary Ulichny, PhD – President/CEO GRU Health Care Kenny Hosack – Craig Hospital Natalie Hefner – Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance Association Highlights: Rehabilitation tries to minimize impairment, disability and the handicap. We need to do a better job encouraging people to get back in the community. The World Health Organization definition of disability is a good one but we need to emphasize
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At the 2018 Insurance Rehab Synergy Group Annual Conference, Elizabeth Sandel, MD, Medical Director for Paradigm Managment Services, discussed post-concussive syndrome. Annually there around 2.5 million people with concussions and it is estimated that 25% of the population will have a concussion at some point in their life. Incidents of concussions are up significantly, but this is likely due to greater awareness of the issue so people seek treatment. According to a NPR-Truven poll, 29% of people who reported they have had a concussion say they have long-term headaches. However, there is no validation that the headaches are linked to
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At the 2018 Insurance Rehab Synergy Group Annual Conference, a panel discussed the use of telemedicine. The panel included: Mark Johnson – Sedgwick (moderator) Teresa Bartlett, MD – SVP and Senior Medical Officer, Sedgwick Alan Lee, PT, DPT, PhD, CWS – Professor, Mount Saint Mary’s University Ted Jeffries – Director of Claims, Missouri Employers Mutual Telehealth really started in the military. There was not an expert available in the field all the time when needed so the physicians communicated with the field operatives to assist them in stabilizing and treating the patients. Telehealth is also very common in cancer care
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At the 2018 Insurance Rehab Synergy Group Annual Conference, Ingrid O’Keefe from MCG Health discussed the use of evidence based medicine in the development of treatment guidelines and drug formularies in workers’ compensation. Evidence based medicine is healthcare based on clinical studies of what works best and what does not. It involves transparent literature review to determine what is considered the best supported treatments and standards. Treatment guidelines take evidence based medicine one step further in providing medical treatment recommendation based on scientific studies. There are commercially developed guidelines, specialty treatment guidelines, and state specific guidelines. Guidelines are based on
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At the 2018 American Academy of Pain Medicine Annual Meeting, Felix Laevsky, MS, from Shirley Ryan AbilityLab discussed how biofeedback is used in pain management treatment. Role of Biofeedback Develop skills to evoke relaxation response and control stress response. Develop skills to manage pain and pain related symptoms at any time in any real life situation. Develop skills to control symptoms while learning and implementing techniques taught by other disciplines. Become aware of one’s own abilities and capabilities of controlling psychological functions. Biofeedback teaches patients how to control their relaxation response. By doing this, patients can decrease their metabolism, heart
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