Public entities face a wide variety of challenges, including unique claims exposures, limited budgets, and a limited insurance marketplace. In this facilitated roundtable at RIMS 2023, industry leaders from the public sector shared their latest challenges and discussed potential solutions. Panelists included: Mark Walls, Vice President of Client Engagement at Safety National (moderator) Tamika Puckett, Public Entity Division Leader at Willis Towers Watson Donna Jennings, Director of Risk Management at Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Wade Damron, Director, Risk Management at State of Georgia, Department of Administrative Services Liability Litigation Challenges Liability has been one of the largest recent challenges
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As verdicts become both larger and more frequent, it is important to keep an eye on litigation avoidance at the claim stage while preparing for advocacy and timely communication to close claims when they do occur. In this session at RIMS 2023, Ed Burtnette, National Vice President of Liability Services at CorVel, highlighted current litigation challenges faced by risk professionals and the solutions to combat these challenges. A nuclear verdict is defined as a jury award that is $10 million or over. Product liability, auto liability, general liability, and personal injury are the cases that are at most risk of
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This session from RIMS 2023 examined two often overlooked factors that contribute to poor workers’ compensation outcomes. Speakers included: Kimberly George, Global Head of Product Development and Innovation at Sedgwick Bryon Bass, Senior Vice President, Workplace Absence at Sedgwick Stress and anxiety can have dire effects on workers’ compensation outcomes, impacting areas like tissue healing, rehabilitation efforts and, ultimately, return to work. There are several influencers that cause stress and anxiety, including pain, fear, financial issues, family issues, the stigma of being injured, and more. There are evidence-based strategies for modifying employer and workers’ compensation stakeholder behavior to reduce injured
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You have several options when it comes to securing coverage for your workers’ compensation program. In this session at RIMS 2023, Mark Walls, Vice President of Client Engagement at Safety National, explained the pros and cons of fully insured, high-deductible, self-insured, and captive programs as well as the opt-out option in Texas. Overall, workers’ compensation covers accidental injuries in the workplace, repetitive trauma injuries occurring over time, and some diseases contracted in the workplace. It does not typically cover Acts of God, injuries not caused by job duties, ordinary diseases, intentional injuries, and injuries sustained traveling to or from the
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At the WCRI Annual Conference, a panel discussed the labor shortage’s impact on their organizations. The panel was: John Ruser – WCRI (moderator) Ann Marie Watkins – Kaiser Permanente Steve Perroots – Marriott International Vance Ayers – International Union of Elevator Constructors Joan Vincenz – United Airlines Airline One of the big lessons from this labor shortage is the importance of planning ahead. Airline pilots have a mandatory retirement age, and many also retired early after the pandemic. If you are not coming out of the military as a pilot, it takes three years of training to become a commercial
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At the 2023 WCRI Annual Conference, Dongchun Wang from WCRI presented a study on the extended use of physical medicine (PM) to treat low back pain. Physical medicine includes therapeutic activities done by a physical therapist. This can range from active movement to the use of electrical stimulation. This study focused on claims involving lower back pain with accident dates from 2015 to 2019 who received PM services more than three months after the injury. This study focused on non-surgical cases. Across the study’s 28 states, the median use of extended PM was 16%. In the highest state (New York),
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At the 2023 WCRI Annual conference, Jill Leonard from Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation (LWCC) and Jeff Rush from California JPIA discussed the impact that severe weather events have on workers compensation. Hurricanes Employer/Employee challenges following hurricanes: Road closures. Extended power outages. Water outages or advisories. Limited access to workplace and utilities. Clean up often required before returning to business as usual. Safety training and safe practices can be in jeopardy. Long work days in extreme heat. Chemicals in water followed by mold exposures. Injured worker challenges following hurricanes: Limited access to medical care due to office closures. Forced relocation leads
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At the 2023 WCRI Annual Conference, Dr. Olesya Formenko from WCRI talked about how medical inflation impacts workers’ compensation. Growth in the Consumer Price Index from 2020 to 2022 was much higher than in previous years, averaging 6.4%. The average growth in the eight years prior to that was 1.6%. The price increases seen in housing, food, and energy were even higher. On the medical side, the CPI for medical and healthcare services was lower than the overall inflation in the last three years. This is a reversal of the prior eight years, where medical inflation was higher than overall
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At the 2023 WCRI Annual Conference, internationally recognized MIT Economist David Autor opened the event talking about globalization and automation and their impact on jobs, the nature of work, and state workers’ compensation systems. Where will the future of work come from? 1. Insatiability People always want more “stuff.” The more people earn, the more they spend. This drives them to want to earn more so they can buy more. 2. Augmentation Better tools allow people to do their job better with less effort and more focus on their expertise. 3. The Invention of New Work In the 1800s, 55%
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At the 2022 SAWCA All Committee Conference, a panel shared information and insight on the current status and changes of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Set-Asides (MSA) and their impact on injured workers, employers, and state workers’ compensation systems. Speakers included: Moderator: James Forrester – Maryland Commissioner Steve Peacock – Director Client Engagement, Safety National Paul Sighinolfi – Senior Managing Director, Ametros Sid Wong – Vice President of Policy, Casualty Solutions, Verisk Professionally-Administered MSAs Roughly 10% of MSAs are professionally administered. The professional administrator ensures the funds are spent in accordance with CMS guidelines and that all
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