At the 2017 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium a panel debated issues impacting the workers’ compensation system and how well our industry is serving injured workers. The panel was: Susan Donegan – Chief Regulatory Officer, NCCI (moderator) Robert Hartwig – Associate Professor of Finance, University of South Carolina Peter Kochenburger – Associate Clinical Professor of Law, University of Connecticut Question: Is the workers’ compensation system still relevant? Does it still meet it’s goals. Answers: No question that workers’ compensation has evolved and adapted over time but the grand bargain that was the foundation of it is still intact. Workers’ compensation has
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At the 2017 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, Kurt Carl, Chief Economist for Swiss Re, talked about the impact of the economy and technology  on insurance and workers compensation.  The highlights: There are several factors that has lead to disappointing economic growth the last few years. This includes commodity price bust, slowdown in trade growth and slowdown in productivity growth. The recovery from the recession has been slower than hoped. With regard to interest rates, the U.S. Fed is looking to gradually raise the policy rate which will lift long-term government bond yields. One thing impacting these bond rates is that
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At the 2017 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium, Chief Actuary Kathy Antonello shared details from NCCI’s analysis of the latest trends and cost drivers in workers’ compensation. The data looks at information for 2016 and compares it to data from 2015. The highlights: P&C Industry Total P&C premiums increased from $514 in 2015 to $527 billion in 2016. This rate of growth has been slowing for years. The biggest increase was in personal auto premiums. Underwriting results deteriorated for the industry to a combined ratio to 101%. Personal and commercial auto along with product liability had the highest combined ratios. The
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The 2017 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium kicked off with NCCI President and CEO Bill Donnell giving his assessment of the workers’ compensation system and the challenges it faces going forward. One of the goals of NCCI is to help preserve the balance in the system by providing analysis that can be used by all stakeholders in reviewing cost drivers, benefit adequacy, and by helping the system evolve as needed. The “word” used by Bill to describe the state of the workers’ compensation system in 2017 is ADAPTING. The system needs to continue to adapt in order to stay relevant and
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What goes online, stays online. Search engines provide more than 7.5 million results each day. Roughly 23 percent of internet use is spent on social networks. Do you understand what this means for the potential impact of a negative social media event? This session at the RIMS 2017 Annual Conference and Exhibition illustrated how to monitor for and respond to negative social media events.  Speakers included:  Mary Weber, Senior Security Analyst, Cloud Operations, Oracle Corporation Lianne Appelt, Director of Enterprise Risk Management, Oracle Public Cloud, Oracle Corporation There are several risks associated with social media, including: Reputational risk Information security
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Can you maintain the balance between the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and your workers’ compensation claims? At the RIMS 2017 Annual Conference, Drew Pomerance, Partner, Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye & Adreani, LLC, and Tamara Johnson, Vice President, Lockton, discussed how you can equip workers with the correct information and benefits while being an advocate for their recovery. Qualifying reasons for leave include serious health condition such as illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition involving inpatient care or continuing treatment by health care provider. For any employee to be eligible for FMLA,
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At the RIMS 2017 Annual Conference and Exhibition, this panel of healthcare risk professionals discussed the most-prominent workers’ compensation challenges and solutions facing the industry today. Speakers included:  Rich Reynolds, Manager – Workers’ Compensation, Providence Health & Services Paul Posey, CEO, Ascension Care Management Martin King, Director, Corporate Risk Management, Kaiser Permanente Mark Walls, Vice President Communications & Strategic Analysis, Safety National Kimberly George, SVP, Corporate Development, M&A and Healthcare, Sedgwick Violence against healthcare workers is getting a lot of attention these days. It’s a growing problem that is hard to manage. With OSHA’s new reporting guidelines, it is gaining
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Ariel Jenkins, Director of Risk Control, Safety National and Kip Teitsort, President/CEO, DT4EMS LLC conducted a session at RIMS 2017 Annual Conference to discuss emergency medical service personnel and the violence they are exposed. Everyday they are threatened by assault, this attack could come from a violent patient, angry bystander or even an upset family member. The effects of being exposed to violence are anxiety, PTSD and insomnia. According to the CDC the annual number of violent event that led to EMS individuals being treated in emergency rooms has increased from 2,100 in 2008 to almost 2,600 in 2014. Is
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The first topic in the spotlight on Tuesday in the Wellness ZENter at RIMS was employee resilience. Kimberly George, SVP, Corporate Development, M&A, and Healthcare at Sedgwick, talked with Molly Doyle, Chief Product Officer at meQuilibrium, about the importance of resilience. Resilience is about the ability to handle the natural challenges and opportunities that come your way in order to respond in the most productive and positive way, and achieve the best outcome. Molly explained that the human body is not designed to accommodate 24/7 stress. The symptoms of stress can be seen in how we respond to difficult situations.
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This session at the RIMS 2017 Annual Conference and Exhibition explored the 2017 findings of the joint Marsh/RIMS annual study titled Ready or Not, Disruption is Here. Speakers included:  Brian Elowe, Managing Director, Global Risk Management, Marsh Laura Langone, Senior Director, Risk & Insurance, PayPal, Inc. Carol Fox, Vice President Strategic Initiatives, RIMS Technology is rapidly reshaping businesses and industries. This year’s report is a result of focus groups with risk executives in a variety of industries to understand how the risk of disruptive technologies are being addressed. Some key findings included: 1. A disturbing percentage of risk managers are
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