At the 2015 California Workers’ Compensation & Risk Conference, this panel of industry stakeholders weighed in on the overall condition, including cost drivers and legislation, affecting California workers’ compensation system. Panelists included: Moderator: Mark Walls, VP Communications & Strategic Analysis at Safety National David North, CEO at Sedgwick Kevin Confetti, Deputy Chief Risk Officer at University of California Ann Schnure, VP Risk Management – Claims at Macy’s Dawn Watkins, AIC, PHR, ARM, Director Integrated Disability Management at LA Unified School District Julius Young, Partner at Boxer & Gerson, LLP Richard M. Jacobsmeyer, Founding Partner at Shaw, Jacobsmeyer, Crain & Claffey,
(Read the full article…)

This panel at the Women Executives in Workers’ Compensation pre-conference event at the 2015 California Workers’ Compensation & Risk Conference offered solutions on how we can advance diversity inclusion in the workplace and industry as a whole. Panelists included: Moderator: Joanne Wojcik, Director of Conference Programming at Business Insurance Darrell Brown, Chief Claims Officer at Sedgwick Euhnee Kim, CEO at EK Health Cyndy Larsen, Area Vice President at Kaiser On-The-Job Dawn Watkins, Director, IDM, at LA Unified School District Diversity is counting heads and inclusion is making heads count. It is not about just having a diverse workforce, but how
(Read the full article…)

Ronnie Caplane, Commissioner of the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, served as keynote speaker at the Women Executives in Workers’ Compensation pre-conference event at the 2015 California Workers’ Compensation & Risk Conference, where she spoke on the status of women in corporate environments and how to rise to the top. According to Caplane, prior to the 1960’s, women were not represented in law school. Women started emerging in law school during the Vietnam War. Today, approximately 50% of law school classes consist of women. However, somehow the percentage of women who are managing partners has not changed in the past
(Read the full article…)

Conference Chronicles will be blogging from the California Workers’ Compensation & Risk Conference held September 29 – October 2 in Dana Point, California. This event will provide legal updates, current status and future outlook for the workers’ compensation market in California as well as risk control and cost containment solutions. Learn more about this event and view the full conference agenda HERE.

At the 2015 Paradigm Innovation Symposium, Teresa Ashman, PhD, ABPP-Rp, FACRM, Director of Neurorehabilitation Psychology, Shepherd Center, presented a session discussing the importance of addressing psychological issues in the treatment of catastrophic injury claims. The best chance for a successful recovery following a catastrophic injury, such as a spinal cord injury (SCI) or traumatic brain injury (TBI), comes from a holistic team approach. Only then can you facilitate reintegration back into the community and back to work for these injured people. Included in any successful, comprehensive rehabilitation program are psychological and neuropsychological services that utilize best practices to address the
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 Paradigm Innovation Symposium, Renée-Louise Franche, PhD, RPsych, Clinical Psychologist and Consultant in Work Disability Prevention and Occupational Health, presented a session discussing why mental health issues are so important in workers’ compensation. Mental health issues in injured workers can no longer be ignored. These conditions are increasingly being recognized as potential risk factors for prolonged duration of work absences, and even for no return to work within the context of workers’ compensation. Why mental health matters in work disability prevention? 1-year prevalence of mental disorders in North America ranges from 12-26%. For depression this is 4-7%. Worldwide,
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 Paradigm Innovation Symposium, Harry L. Spencer, Vice President, Compensation, Benefits & Corporate Social Responsibility at JetBlue Airways, presented a session about how mental health issues can impact employers. Mental health issues can directly and indirectly impact a business. A staggering percentage of the U.S. workforce has behavioral health and/or substance use disorders and these conditions have a variety of consequences for a company’s medical coverage, disability and pharmacy programs, and benefits structure. Behavioral health has a significant impact on overall healthcare costs. One-in-five Americans has a behavioral health issue, which includes both mental health and addiction. Patients
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 IAIABC Annual Convention, jurisdictional representatives provided highlights of administrative initiatives and policy issues impacting their states. The highlights included: Kansas – Legislation was proposed to role back from using the AMA 6th edition guidelines for impairment to the 4th edition which was the prior standard. The State Attorney General proposed this bill due to concerns the new AMA guides could result in a constitutional challenge to their worker’ compensation system. The bill never made it out of committee. Virginia – Medical costs continue to be the concern in their workers’ compensation system. There is currently no fee
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 IAIABC Annual Convention, Bill Minick from PartnerSource and Blake Stock from Combined Insurance Services, Inc presented a discussion on the options to traditional workers’ compensation that is being proposed in some states.  ARAWC, the Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers’ Compensation , is a national organization formed to advocate for a system that will deliver better medical outcomes to injured workers and give employers a choice in how they will manage occupational injury benefits. They highlighted some of the potential positive impacts of an option to workers’ compensation which included: Positive Impact in Workers More communication and
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 IAIABC Convention an panel discussed what issues impacting workers’ compensation are not being adequately discussed and reported on by the industry.  The panel consisted of: Lisa Ann Forsythe – Coventry (moderator) Mona Carter – NCCI Roberto Ceniceros – Risk & Insurance Jennifer Flood – Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services Bob Malooly – Claim Maps Handling Among the highlights: There is not enough talk about the injured worker experience in the workers’ compensation system. ProPublica is trying to highlight some of the bad experiences, but it is also important to share stores of recovery and success.
(Read the full article…)