At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, a session discussed the wave of litigation against pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies and distributors related to the opioid epidemic. The panel included: John Denton – Managing Director, Marsh Anna Engh – Partner, Covington & Burling, LLP We all remember past litigation by governmental entities against industries for the ills of society. The best example of this is the tobacco litigation, but we are also seeing suits against gun manufacturers, wine and spirits companies and even oil and gas companies because of climate change. Status of Litigation The big wave of opioid litigation really started in
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Presented by: Darrell Brown, Executive Vice President and Chief Claims Officer, Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. Denis Algiers, Director, Risk Initiatives/National Medical Director, Albertson’s Safeway, Inc. This session at the RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Antonio was an overview of the state of recreational and medicinal marijuana legislation and impact with respect to employer policies and workers’ compensation claims programs. During the November 2016 election and continuing during legislative sessions in 2017, states are expanding legal use of marijuana for medical use as well as adult recreational use. Federally though, the use of marijuana even for medicinal use,
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When you combine the ability to collect workplace data with evolving data analytics and machine learning you can improve productivity, worker safety and fraudulent and exaggerated claim rates. During a session at the RIMS 2018 annual conference, Eric Martinez, Founder and CEO, Modjoul, Inc., and Lance Ewing, EVP Global Risk Management & Client Services, Cotton Holdings Inc. lead a dynamic discussion around wearables and how they can and will create change for your organization. Why should companies start using wearables? For an individual it can point to issue for correction. Groups of employees can compare to known thresholds, or set
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Dawn Watkins from LAUSD and Kimberly George from Sedgwick discussed the challenges with the wide variety of leave of absence laws and how these laws can interact with workers’ compensation claims. Failure to comply with all applicable leave of absence laws can expose you to fines, penalties and litigation. Because of that, it is critically important to understand all the laws so you can stay in compliance. More organizations have silos of some type with their Human Resources and Risk Management programs operating independently. The challenge becomes to try and integrate these two programs
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During a session at the 2018 RIMS annual conference Kimarie Stratos, Executive VP/General Counsel, Memorial Healthcare System and Lynn Sessions, Partner, Baker & Hostetler LLP covered one organization’s journey from insider cyber incident through breach notification, class action lawsuit, regulatory investigation and settlement negotiations. In 2011, an internal employee at Memorial Healthcare was accessing confidential information and using in it to gain social security numbers and other information. An internal investigation found more issues with fraud. There was an unrelated breach found by an internal audit. An employee was fired in one physicians office but they did not inform the
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Let’s dissect and review the findings from national surveys about fatigue in the workplace. Emily Whitcomb, Senior Program Manager, National Safety Council lead a session at the RIMS 2018 Annual Conference to review the findings on employee-reported risk factors and on-the-job and on-the-roads safety risk due to fatigue. What is fatigue? Fatigue is describe as the feelings of tiredness, sleepiness, reduces energy and increased effort needed to perform a tasks. Fatigue is an impairment that affects our performance. Employees with sleep problems produces a 6% decrease in productivity. That is about 11 days a year in presenteeism for untreated insomnia.
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During a session at the RIMS 2018 Annual Conference, Denise Algire, Director, Risk Initiatives | National Medical Director, Albertsons Safeway Inc and Michael Coupland, Network Medical Director, IMCS Group Inc. discuss how specific claims and medical management steps can prevent delayed recovery of your injured workers. Early intervention objectives include identify employees at risk for delayed recovery and intervene as early as possible, prevent needless disability, prevent chronic pain and poly-pharmacy dependency, and enhance employee engagement and resilience. The most important of these objective is to enhance employee engagement and resilience. What is driving these workers’ compensation medical expenditures? Those
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You wake up to news of a catastrophe: mass injuries and property damage. The claimants, reporters and lawsuits will soon follow. What do you do next? At the RIMS 2018 Annual Conference, a panel of experts discuss the strategy to manage the catastrophic claims. The panel included Larry Reback, Managing Principal, Integro Insurance Brokers and Tabitha Prestler, Director of Risk Finance & Insurance, Wilbur-Ellis Holdings, Inc. There are many common issues of focus in catastrophic claims. Crisis management includes mitigation of damages. Mitigation of damages includes but is not limited to what steps can be taken to stop or lessen
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Tom Ryan from Willis Towers Watson talked about wearable technology in workers’ compensation. Wearables are devices worn on the body that collect information about you and your environment. That information is then provided wirelessly for processing and reporting. One of the concerns around the use of wearable technology in the workplace is privacy. Unions are often very wary of these devices tracking every move an employee makes. There are potential legal ramifications around the data that is collected, including how that data is used and whether that data is shared with others – either
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Kimberly George from Sedgwick and Dawn Watkins from LAUSD talked about the challenges and benefits of embracing a whole health model for your workforce. The definition of “whole health” varies depending on your point of view. For some, it means integrating the benefit delivery model to include workers’ comp and disability. For others, it is a more holistic approach to total employee wellness. Whole health is about breaking down silos and fully focusing on the person and their needs, not which bucket pays for it. If your employees are not at work for any
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