Reflections on a seminal week: more than 180 exhibitors and 1,200 attendees show up at the 13th Annual National Workers' Comp and Disability Conference in November. Top subjects of discussion include the changes in California's workers' compensation laws, return-to-work strategies and techniques on disability management

Risk & Insurance, Jan, 2005 by Susan Gurevitz

"It was excellent, and fun at the same time, and the bell going off reminded me of the debates," he said. He was also especially impressed with Richard Pimentel, senior partner with Milt Wright & Assoc., a perennial conference favorite, having attended Pimentel's "Return to Work: The Incentive/ Disincentive Management Connection" Thursday seminar.

"The key to decreasing lost work days is communication," Pisciotta said, reflecting on what he learned in the seminar. "Everyone has to be firing on all cylinders with communication--the doctor, lawyer, adjuster, broker, claims person and supervisor back at the shop--to get the people back to work right away." Pisciotta intends to attend the conference next year.

Terry Beal, an orthopedic surgeon from the Central Texas Orthopaedic Clinic in Killeen, Texas, also a first timer, attended the conference with specific questions in mind. "I'm a general orthopedist so I do a lot of individual medical evaluations, which are becoming a bigger part of my practice," Beal said, adding that he was looking to get an insurance-industry perspective.

Beal said he wanted to know if there were standards attached to certain types of industries. For example, should a hospital worker fall in a lab and claim he injured his hand, wrist, shoulder, neck and knee, are all those injuries consistent with that type of fall?

Beal asked whether there are set standards of injury for falls. "It's hard to sort out all those injuries," he said. "People will expand on it, so I have to use my own judgment, especially in disputes with the carrier and supervisor--can all these body parts be involved?" Seeking answers, Beal attended the Thursday afternoon keynote address titled, "Going Beyond the Headlines: The Real Cost Drivers in Workers' Compensation," by Tom Leamon, director of Liberty Mutual's Research Institute for Safety. Beal had a chance to discuss those questions with Leamon after his presentation.

For more information on next year's conference, see page 22.

Gearing Up For 2005

The 14th Annual National Workers' Compensation and Disability Conference and Expo will be held at the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place in Chicago. Strategies on disability management and return-to-work are expected to play an even more important part in the conference than they did last year.

According to Nancy Grover, program chairwoman, the planners are always on the lookout for new seminar ideas, so if you'd like to present a seminar it's easy to submit a proposal. Just go to the conference Web site--www.wcconference.com--and click on "proposals" on the left-hand side. You'll be able to download a PDF application form to complete and mail in duplicate to Angela Wilkinson. the conference assistant at LRP Publications. The address is on the form. Applications must be in by Feb. 28, 2005.

Once again, nationally-recognized disability consultant Richard Pimentel is expected to participate. Pimentel, a veteran of the Vietnam War, is also scheduled to be the subject of a feature-length movie, which a Hollywood studio has tentatively planned for release next fall.