Industry keynote speaker, Vincent T. Donnelly, President and Chief Executive Officer at PMA Companies, kicked off WCI’s 2016 Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference with an update on the workers’ compensation industry. The workers’ compensation industry has been around for 100 years and continues to evolve. The industry has had to adapt with a changing landscape that includes vastly different types of jobs today than when the system was originally created, expanded life expectancy, advances in healthcare and drastic regulatory changes. Overall, Donnelly says that the industry has kept up with these challenges and continues to have a positive impact on workers.
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Conference Chronicles will be blogging from the 71st Annual Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference on August 21-24, 2016, in Orlando, Florida. This event, hosted by the Workers’ Compensation Institute (WCI), brings together workers’ compensation professionals from across the country to discuss the hottest issues in workers’ compensation and safety. The event features breakout sessions for risk managers, regulators, safety professionals, healthcare providers, adjusters, insurance professionals, attorneys, medical case managers, professional employer organizations, temporary staffing, mediators, and agents. Learn more about this event.

At the 2016 SAWCA Annual Conference, a panel discussed a variety of issues associated with medical marijuana. The panel was: Dr. Robert Howell – Georgia GHSE Eric Haines – Chief Deputy – Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Michael Minardi – Chairman – Regulate Florida Reggie Garcia – United for Care Tom Glasson – Government Affairs Officer – AIG Paul Tauriello – Colorado Division of Workers’ Compensation Recreational marijuana has been legal in Colorado for 3 years now. Last year the marijuana industry in Colorado generated $996 million in revenue. This resulted in around $200 million in tax revenues for the state.
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At the SAWCA Annual Conference, a panel discussed delays in the workers’ compensation system. The panel was: Shannon Bruno Bishop – Administrative Law Judge, State of Louisiana William Underwood – Attorney – Albany, GA Ryan Brannan – Commissioner – Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation David Havlicek – Attorney – Orlando, FL Frank McKay – Chair – Georgia Workers’ Compensation Board Medical On the medical side, there are frequently delays in areas such as changing treating physicians and major surgeries. However, delays are also seen in authorizing more basic treatment such as physical therapy. There are not usually
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At the 2016 SAWCA Annual Conference, Tearsanne Carlisle Davis from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Center for Telehealth, discussed how they are using telehealth to enhance care for patients.  She started by saying they do NOT provide telehealth for workers’ compensation because of the complexities associated with that.  Telehealth lets doctors examine and treat patients remotely, in real time, using online streaming video technology and interactive tools. Telehealth is important in Mississipppi because 53 of the state’s 82 counties are more than a 40 minute drive from specialty care. Telehealth is useful as it : Is designed to provide
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At the 2016 SAWCA Annual Conference, Dr Sharon Heise, Associate Director of the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) provided a preview of the coming age of robotics. Sensory assistance is one area where technology can be very useful in workers’ compensation. Traumatic injury can lead to sensory loss. Much of their so work is with people injured in the military. One area of emphasis is with vision loss. People who lost their vision can now “see” using digital images that are transmitted to a sensor on their tongue. Their brain learns to interpret the sensations on their tongue
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At the 2016 SAWCA Annual Conference a panel discussed how new technology is changing the medical community. The panel was: Jarrod Magan – VP of Client Technology Services – Sedgwick Tammy Boyd – Vice President of Business Development & Marketing – NeuroInternational Jill Rosenthal – SVP and Chief Medical Officer – Zenith Insurance Robert Snyder – Medical Director – Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Technology is having a significant impact on many elements of our lives and the field of medicine is at the forefront of this. Things like wearable technology, mobile apps, telemedicine, and phamacogenetics are transforming the patient
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This week Conference Chronicles will be blogging from the SAWCA Annual Conference in Sandestin, FL.  The Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators focuses on interaction, education, and collegiality among state regulators from 21 jurisdictions. Conference attendees include regulators, judges, and a wide variety of industry stakeholders.  You can learn more about the event HERE

The 2016 SAWCA Annual Convention kicked off with a Regulators Roundtable where workers’ compensation regulators from various jurisdictions discussed a variety of industry issues. The panel was moderated by John Williams the Commissioner from Virginia and featured representatives from sixteen jurisdictions. Attorney Fees The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled that the part of their statute that capped plaintiff attorney fees was unconstitutional.  Attorney fees in Florida are paid by the defendant in addition to any benefits owed. The regulators were asked to explain how attorney fees work in their states. Every jurisdiction represented caps plaintiff attorney fees in some way,
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At the 2016 DMEC Annual Conference, Richard Mrizek with the U.S. EEOC office in Chicago and Matt Morris, VP of FMLA Resources with ComPsych, discussed issues surrounding ADA compliance and EEOC enforcement actions. In 2015, there was a record number of ADA activity before the EEOC. This included almost 27,000 complaints – over 30% of which involved ADA issues. EEOC enforcement actions generated over $128 million in benefits garnered. This aggressive enforcement from EEOC is expected to continue as they have issued statements promising continued “vigorous enforcement.” The discussion broke ADA compliance into five areas: Policy Issues The EEOC expects
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