By Kirstin Marr, President, Valen Analytics The emergence of new data sources continues to drive the evolution of the workers’ compensation industry. While the sector certainly is changing — due to the availability of several data-driven underwriting resources — there’s one massive obstacle limiting its potential: the data itself. Comparing the cost of data to… [Read more]
Leaders Speak
Kirstin Marr: Data Analytics’ Growing Impact on Work Comp
By Kirstin Marr, President, Valen Analytics An increasing number of customers expect tech-forward solutions to age-old problems and one of those problems is the complexity of insurance. This very transition in customer expectations is the driving force behind the rise of InsureTechs. While we have seen some advanced solutions play out in personal lines where… [Read more]
Mark Pew: What’s Next for Pain – Not Pharma?
By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical Last week’s article “What’s Next for Pain – Pharma?” discussed how medications (“pharma”) can potentially be beneficial (even needed) by some patients (including injured workers) to help manage pain. That includes prescription opioids even as U.S. healthcare and workers’ compensation attempts to find the appropriate balance between too… [Read more]
Mark Pew: What’s Next for Pain – Pharma?
By Mark Pew, Senior VP, Preferred Medical Most of the United States has come to the conclusion that prescription opioids may not be the best choice for long-term treatment of non-malignant chronic pain. And, in some cases, not the best option for acute pain either. While they can work for some individuals (defined as providing… [Read more]
Christie Britt: Horns of a Dilemma, Part 2: Settlement Strategies Where Medicare is Involved
By Christie Britt, Senior VP of Operations, ExamWorks Clinical Solutions Last week Marty Cassavoy outlined strategies to reduce your Medicare conditional payment liability. Today I will focus on Medicare Set Asides, which are perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of Medicare Secondary Payer concepts. Believe it or not, Medicare issued its first policy memorandum on Medicare… [Read more]
Marty Cassavoy: The Horns of a Dilemma, Part 1: Conditional Payments and Mitigating Risk
By Marty Cassavoy, VP of MSP Compliance, ExamWorks Clinical Solutions Not too long ago, Medicare conditional payments were something that workers’ compensation practitioners only dealt with at the time of settlement. That all changed in October 2015 when Medicare flipped the script and introduced the concept of “rolling recovery.” What is rolling recovery? And, most… [Read more]
Dr. Jeffrey Saffle: Understanding Why Burn Rehabilitation Takes So Long
Jeffrey Saffle, MD, Paradigm Medical Director, Paradigm Catastrophic Care Management My colleagues and I who specialize in caring for people with burn injuries are often asked, “Why does burn rehabilitation take so long?” The answer is that burn injury and recovery are uniquely difficult for patients, their families, employers, and care providers. Burn injuries require… [Read more]
Jean Brajuha: Critical Incident Intervention: A Different Kind of Critical Care
By Jean Brajuha, MHS, CRC, CCM – VP, Field Case Management, Paradigm Complex Care Solutions A little-known case management service makes a huge difference for employers whose employees have experienced a traumatic incident in the workplace. Case managers with specialized education and certifications in critical incident stress management can be deployed to the workplace after… [Read more]
Michelle Despres: The Secret to Success in PT – Treat the Patient, Not the Injury
By: Michelle Despres, VP and National Product Leader for Physical Therapy, One Call People respond to injuries physically, emotionally and socially in many different ways, with every response playing a vital role in the recovery process. If a patient suffers from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or any other psychosocial condition due to their injury,… [Read more]
Kent Spafford: Diagnostics: Helping Doctors Help Patients
By Kent Spafford, Company Advisor and Board Member, One Call The U.S. Healthcare market employs approximately 950,000 physicians today. In developing the appropriate treatment plan for their patients, these physicians routinely request diagnostic imaging for their patients, which now accounts for $100 billion dollars in healthcare spend annually according to American College of Radiology statistics1.… [Read more]