The RxProfessor

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical Tim Benak (QLI) and I hosted Episode 2 of our Between Two Coasts podcast on November 24. Our guests were Becky Curtis of Take Courage Coaching and Dr. Geralyn Datz of Southern Behavioral Medicine Associates. They both help people, including injured workers, find the best way to manage chronic pain (Becky… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” That’s how Mike Tyson responded to media’s concerns about a competitor’s boxing strategy. In case you only know Mike Tyson from “The Hangover” with the tiger and playing air drums to “In the Air Tonight” (one of… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical I know. Everybody has COVID fatigue, whether it’s talking about it, listening about it, or living with it. Everybody has an opinion, and some of them are even right. For all that has gone wrong, from “predictive models” (air quotes intended) to the negative impacts (which made Black… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical Tim Benak and I were extremely excited to have our launch – Episode 1 – of the monthly “Between Two Coasts” podcast on October 8. We are very thankful to our employers, QLI and Preferred Medical, for sponsoring our efforts. Our goal is to recreate the environment at… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical I’m not sure if you know it but each October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, “an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease.” It just got my full attention in a fresh new way. On October 14, a friend (who will remain anonymous) told me she had… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical I had the privilege of being on a panel with Lisa Anne Bickford (Director of Government Relations, Coventry) and Don Lipsy (AVP, Managed Care Government Relations, Sedgwick) at the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability virtual conference on October 21. Our session was entitled “Workers’ Comp Regulatory and Legislative… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical I have a hero. Her name is Justine. She is the daughter of a former colleague of mine. Her story is one of overcoming and paying forward. In other words, a “success story”. We are surrounded by heartbreaking stories (“One family loses two sons to opioid epidemic: It’s… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical Having been in the professional workplace since 1980 and in workers’ compensation since 1990, I have observed a few things about people. They’re all different (thanks, Captain Obvious). Some people are competent at their assigned tasks and some are not. Some people’s attitude about their work, workplace, colleagues… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical An article in the June 2020 edition of CLM Magazine entitled “Be Kind and Keep It Simple” piqued my interest in the success of an advocacy program at Fidelity National Financial in Jacksonville, FL. Specifically, the nationwide director of safety and claims management who was responsible for envisioning… [Read more]

By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical In recognition that September is international Pain Awareness Month (“#MyPainPlan focuses on the vital importance of an individualized, multidisciplinary, multimodal approach to pain care”), I am republishing my August 3, 2017 LinkedIn blogpost entitled “Appropriate, Not Zero, Opioids.” It is as relevant and true on September 21, 2020… [Read more]