Communities rely on police departments to ‘protect and serve’ and the police, in turn, rely on community support and cooperation – but the relationship is not always harmonious. Police/resident tensions, heightened by cultural differences and media attention, have led to distrust and anger in both urban and local municipalities alike. Through community-wide dialogues, police and residents have used their shared insights to dramatically improve relationships. This session at the PRIMA 2016 Annual Conference outlined a new approach that police departments can take to enhance community engagement. Presenters included: Gloria Francesca Mengual, The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation Patrick Ridenhour,
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At the 2016 PRIMA Annual Conference, Dr Michael Lacroix, Director of Behavioral Health Services with Coventry Workers’ Comp Services, presented a session examining questions on the presence, role and the impact of psychological factors on the susceptibility to, the reaction to and the recovery from workers’ compensation injuries. Back in 1977 a study published by Engel talked about the bio-psycho-social model of disease and that these factors were something that needed to be considered when evaluating patients. This study was ahead of its time and was not widely accepted at the time it was published. Over time, this study has
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Conference Chronicles will be blogging from sessions at PRIMA’s 2016 Annual Conference on June 5-8, 2016, in Atlanta, GA. The PRIMA 2016 Annual Conference will offer more than 55 educational opportunities covering the latest trends and topics affecting public risk management today, including risk control and safety, risk financing, schools, enterprise risk management and employee benefits. Learn more about PRIMA’s 2016 Annual Conference here.

At the 2016 SIIA Workers’ Compensation Executive Forum, Jack Frazier from American Global and former workers’ compensation judge Steve Siemers discussed how Alternative Dispute Resolution can enhance a workers’ compensation program.  Ten states currently allow employers to collectively bargain a carve-out ADR process for their workers’ compensation programs. New York and California are two of the states. This is most often seen in the construction industry but in California any employer with a collective bargaining agreement can do a carve-out ADR. Some examples of non-construction employers with carve-outs in California are City of Long Beach and Safeway stores. It is important
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At the 2016 SIIA Workers’ Compensation Executive Forum, Jon Pearson from QLI kicked of the session with some blues harmonica then talked about how the best long-term outcomes on catastrophic claims can be achieved by considering the emotional challenges faced by the injured worker. Emotional recovery means the injured worker believes they can live a rich and fulfilling life in spite of their pain and physical limitations. If an injured worker does not believe in themselves and focuses on the negatives, then ultimately they will never have the best outcomes. This emotional recovery must be the lead focus of any
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There is growing consensus that a healthier workforce can not only reduce injuries but also reduce duration of disability and severity of injuries. A panel at the 2016 SIIA Workers’ Compensation Executive Forum discussed how a higher focus on employee wellness can impact your workers’ compensation program. The panel was: Brian Carpenter – Clinical Director, Optum Kevin Confetti – Deputy Chief Risk Officer, University of California Mark Pew – Senior Vice President, PRIUM There have been conflicting studies around the overall effectiveness of a wellness program. Some studies show significant return on investment for these programs, while others show the
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Conference Chronicles will be blogging from SIIA’s Annual Self-Insured Workers’ Compensation Executive Forum on May 24-25, 2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona. This conference is dedicated exclusively to the topic of self-insured workers’ compensation, with a strong educational program focusing on such topics as excess insurance and risk management strategies. Learn more about SIIA’s Annual Self-Insured Workers’ Compensation Executive Forum here.

At the 2016 Lockton Complex Risk Symposium in St Louis, David Ripley MD from Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago discussed the dynamics of a brain injury from diagnosis through rehabilitation. It is estimated that there are 2-5 million brain injuries per year. This is a big range because often many people do not realize they suffered an injury and never seek medical treatment. Many of us have experienced getting struck in the head and being temporarily dazed. About 52,000 deaths per year are attributed to traumatic train injuries. The leading cause of brain injury used to be motor vehicle accidents but
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At the 2016 Lockton Complex Risk Symposium in St Louis, a panel discussed the use of predictive claim models. The panel was: Mark Moitoso – SVP Analytics Practice Leader, Lockton Gary Anderberg – SVP Claim Analytics, Gallagher Bassett JJ Schmidt – SVP Managed Care, York Risk Services Melissa Dunn – VP and Managing Director, Helmsman Management Services Christopher Makuc – Liability Estimation and Insurance Coverage Analysis – Navigant What does big data really mean? Big data refers to a real phenomenon where we can examine more data points than we have ever been able to do in the past. Modeling
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At the 2016 Lockton Complex Risk Symposium, Fredi Lienhardt from Swiss Re gave an overview of current innovative trends in digital transformation. Internet of Things  The Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming life as we know it. This includes any of a wide variety of wearables and sensors on devices we use every day. Examples include: A FitBit or Apple Watch that monitors our activity levels.  Medical monitoring systems that operate independently such as insulin pumps. IoT uses in the medical field show great promise in ensuring patients are taking medications properly, performing therapeutic exercises, etc. Vehicles use IoT to
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