An all-star cast was in place to discuss the medical marijuana trend at the SAWCA 67th Annual Convention. Paul Tauriello, Colorado Director of Workers’ Compensation, opened the session with an overview of Colorado’s medical marijuana industry, which ended the 2014 year with sales of approximately $386 MM. He noted that getting qualified applicants for law enforcement and related positions has been tough due to drug testing requirements and that this could be a concern in the future. Paul introduced Michael Newman, a 21-year old student who overcame cancer and used FDA-approved Marinol to control his nausea while fighting and overcoming
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation Annual Conference (CCWC), a panel discussed the pros and cons of a state-adopted pharmacy formulary. Panelists included Dr. Bernyce Peplowski and Alex Swedlow from CCWC and Brenda Wood and Karen Caterino from Healthcare Solutions. A workers’ compensation formulary is designed to be specific for industrial injuries and provides a list of drugs that will be reimbursed without prior authorization or adjuster approval. Drugs not included in the formulary require pre-authorization prior to being dispensed. If the formulary is set up properly, it will reduce administrative burden and costs and ensure that the
(Read the full article…)

Wednesday, July 22nd was an action-packed day at the SAWCA 67th Annual Convention. The day began with cyber discussions led by Bary Dalton from Federal Reserve Bank – Richmond, and Susan Gordon from Zurich NA. This session provided insight on the current cyber threats and why this has emerged so quickly in the marketplace. As businesses try to connect to customers, suppliers and other users, they have expanded their potential access points thereby expanding the opportunities for hackers to penetrate businesses information and data systems. The expected insurance growth in cyber and cyber-related insurance will increase from approximately $2 billion
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation Annual Conference, a panel discussed the huge disparity in claims costs between northern and southern California.  The panel consisted of: Alfonso Moresi – Commissioner, Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and partner in law firm Laughlin, Falbo, Levy and Moresi Richard Newman – Chief Judge for the California Department of Industrial Relations Mark Priven – Principal with Bickmore Risk Services The litigation rates in Southern California are much higher than the rest of the state, accounting for approximately 75% of the total court opening filings statewide. Along the same lines, the number of workers’
(Read the full article…)

The 2015 California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation Annual Conference (CCWC) kicked off with a Legislative and Political Update presented by Paul Yoder and Jason Schmelzer from CCWC. In the last year, there have been four out of 40 members of the State Senate who were suspended for misconduct. This resulted in the Democrats losing their super majority in the Senate. Governor Brown is in his fourth and final term as Governor. Although he does not plan on running for any additional political offices, he has almost $20 million in campaign funds in the bank. He retains a 52% approval rating
(Read the full article…)

At the 67th Annual SAWCA Convention, Frank Neuhauser, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Social Insurance (CSSI) at University of California at Berkeley, opened this keynote session by discussing the future of workers’ compensation. Workers’ Compensation’s Inefficient Delivery He noted that the current system does not efficiently address the issues that employers and employees face today. In 1915, the system was primarily created to support a heavily industrialized workforce, which is no longer the case. The organizational costs associated with administering $1.00 of medical treatment under workers’ compensation is estimated to be $1.25 versus .14 cents to
(Read the full article…)

Safety National will attend the 13th Annual California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation (CCWC) Conference on July 22-24 in Anaheim, CA., where we will sponsor, present and blog on sessions through Conference Chronicles. The CCCWC is dedicated to providing the leadership, education, and advocacy that are essential to an equitable and efficient workers’ compensation system. Their annual conference gathers stakeholders from the areas of human resources, health and safety, risk management and claims. Medical professionals and service providers also attend. To learn more about this event, click here.  

Conference Chronicles will be blogging from the 67th Annual Convention of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators (SAWCA) on July 20-24, 2015 in Colonial Williamsburg, VA. SAWCA was formed in 1949 and incorporated in 1980. The SAWCA membership includes 20 jurisdictions; 18 states, District of Colombia and the Virgin Islands. The States are: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado,  Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. For more information about this event, click here.

At the 2015 WCIRB Annual Conference, Dave Bellusci, WCIRB Chief Actuary, presented an overview of California’s workers’ compensation system from the WCIRB perspective. 2014 was the fifth consecutive year of double-digit premium growth in California. This has been driven both by increased rates and economic growth. California currently compromises 27.1% of the nationwide workers’ compensation premiums. This is down from over 35% of the national premiums before the SB 899 reforms in 2004. The percentage of premium growth attributed to higher rates dropped significantly in 2014. In 2015, it is expected that the major driver of premium growth will be
(Read the full article…)

At the 2015 WCIRB Annual Conference, Bill Zachry, Group Vice President of Risk Management from Safeway, Inc., presented a session highlighting their approach to self-insurance. Safeway’s program is costing about 40% of what their industry peers’ programs cost. They focus on providing quality care to injured workers who will deliver superior outcomes. Their managed care programs are the main factor in the savings and superior outcomes achieved. They feel it is important that medical professionals make medical decisions rather than claims adjusters. Their nurse case managers made all medical decisions on the claims. They have a custom-developed medical provider network
(Read the full article…)