Comorbid conditions are complicating injured worker recovery. This session at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference outlined the scope of comorbidity challenges facing employers and strategies to combat them. Speakers included: Eric Patten, Senior Director of Clinical, One Call Care Management Richard Graham, Director Workers’ Compensation, SEPTA Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, mental health issues, arthritis, tobacco use and substance abuse are all very common comorbid conditions. The workforce as a whole is aging and, as an employee ages, he or she is more likely to have at least one comorbidity. According to NCCI, evidence of
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Establishing Client Service Instructions (CSI), written in cooperation with your workers’ compensation claim partners, that reflect the core values of your organization provide a formal communication tool that sets expectations to all invested parties. This 2017 National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference session, presented by Ronda Ostrander – Director, Associate, and Occupational Health and Wellness Manager at Ascension Health and Sam McMurry – Executive Director of Texas Self Insurance Association, walked through how to create, manage, and measure CSIs. The purpose of the CSI is to establish expectations and commitments of the employer, adjuster, carrier, and any other involved party
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This session at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference offered a behind-the-scenes look at how to build a relationship with third-party administrators (TPA) that drives claims results. Speakers included: Caroline Burhenne, Regional Client Service Manager, PMA Companies Caryl Russo, Senior Vice President Corporate Care, RWJBarnabas Health To create an effective partnership, both employer and TPA must focus on the following four main areas: 1. Leadership Set a vision for what you want to achieve and how the partnership looks. To do this, you must create an atmosphere where both employer and TPA is empowered, has influence up and
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Workers’ compensation is not immune to the disruptive technologies impacting nearly every industry and line of insurance. In this session at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference, Jeffrey Austin White, Senior Vice President of Workers’ Compensation Product Management at Gallagher Bassett, offered insights on the technologies and social trends that will likely impact the workers’ compensation world in the next five years. Many investors are looking for ways to streamline and automate insurance. This change is coming quickly. Many are also exploring avenues that insurance firms have less incentive to exploit or simply are not agile enough to
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This session at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference featured workers’ compensation program concepts from Risk & Insurance’s 2017 Teddy Award winners. The Valley Health System Barbara Schultz, Director, Employee Health and Wellness Establishing Active Shooter Training Valley Health is a regional healthcare system with over 5,000 employees. One of their largest exposures is workplace violence. About four years ago, they began engaging in highly-realistic active-shooter training to prepare their employees for a potential event. It was critical that the drills had the same feel of a real active-shooter situation, even including SWAT teams and K-9 units. These
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A high-performance workers’ compensation program requires managing outside vendors and effectively coordinating their service offerings with the employer’s internal resources to improve the injured worker’s experience and case outcomes. In this session at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference, a panel of claims experts provided a targeted approach to get the most out of partnerships with with insurers, TPAs, managed care organizations, nurse case managers and other service providers. Speakers included: Carrie Struzynski, Senior Manager, Risk Management and Insurance at Randstad North America, Inc. Jodie Massingill, Senior Manager, Casualty Claims at Sysco Corporation Mollie Kallen, President & CEO
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The myth surrounding workers’ compensation predictive analytics is that the analytics solve all problems. Sure analytics present the red flags, but they do not provide solutions until you do something with them. This session at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference illustrated how to effectively use predictive analytics once they have been collected. Speakers included: J.J. Schmidt, Senior Vice President of CareWorks Managed Care Services Suzy Braden, Workers’ Compensation Claims Manager at HealthSouth Corporation If used correctly, predictive analytics can improve decision making, predict or anticipate changes, reduce claim costs and durations, and improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.
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Engaging wearable technology in risk management programs empowers both employers and employees to take control of work site safety. This session at the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference presented by Thomas Ryan of Willis Towers Watson, Michael Skorup of dosaVi USA, and Todd Dreby of Randstad USA discussed the current capabilities of wearable technology and the benefits they may provide in being proactive in preventing workplace injury. The technology is rapidly advancing; more discreet/less cumbersome devices are being developed and improvements in sensor accuracy and data security are constantly evolving to broaden application opportunities. Wearables feature devices with
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At Nordstrom, injured-worker advocacy is not a recent strategy. Over the years, this retailer has worked to perfect its customer-focused approach to engage injured workers and advocate for their care. At the 2017 National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference, Janine Kral, Vice President of Risk Management at Nordstrom, described how the company’s practices have evolved over time to deliver a service level that has become crucial to the company’s bottom line. Nordstrom has one rule, which is prominently published in their employee handbook – use good judgement in all situations. But what does ‘good judgement’ look like in workers’ compensation?
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At the 2017 Comp Laude educational event a panel discussed how to evolve your claims model to be more focused on being an advocate for injured workers. The panel included: Rachel Fikes – Rising Medical Solutions (moderator) Denise Algire – Albertson’s Company Darrell Brown – Sedgwick John Riggs – Disneyland Resorts Advocacy means taking a holistic approach to claims management. It means striving to achieve the best possible outcome for the injured worker. You need to have an understanding that for the injured worker, the workplace injury is a traumatic and possibly life changing event. The foundation to it is
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