Public Risk Management

Workers' Compensation Networks with Catherine Benavidez

ERM Implementation In Response To COVID - 19 This week we have Sean Catanese explaining Enterprise Risk Management in response to COVID-19. Sean is the ERM Services Program Manager in King County, Washington. His office handles: tort claims filed against the County, recovering matters of responsible third parties, complex public records, requests, insurance and contracts. Prior to the pandemic, they handled around 1800 new tort claims each year - the pandemic has drastically decreased the number of claims by 25%. Sean shares the three main factors to their Enterprise Risk Management Program - leadership, resources, and effective storytelling - elaborating on their impact and how they’ve implemented this system in responding to the pandemic. He offers very pragmatic and clear examples of their ERM strategy and framework. It’s a insightful episode of decision-making, and risk management amidst the pandemic; “because good risk management comes down to good decision-making”

Mental Health of School Personnel Amidst a Pandemic/COVID-19 Cherri Lindquist, Clinical Nurse Manager at Company Nurse and Paula Allen, Global Leader, Research and Total Wellbeing and SVP at Morneau Shepell, describe the unique experience of School Personnel and how the repercussions of the pandemic have impacted their professional and personal lives. School Personnel face a multi-faceted situation - each department faces a different experience in keeping students and colleagues safe while upholding new protocols. For employees starting out in their career, they were lacking in-person support, help and learning while working in a team when working from home. Top concerns for more experienced employees, being prone to higher risk or living with high risk individuals and having to learn very foreign technology and programs. In addition to their personal stressors, the age group of students they work, brings unique challenges specific to their developmental needs. Shere and Paula explain the many reasons why Employee Assistant Programs are invaluable for School Personnel and how to implement them successfully and effective support for School Personnel during the crisis of COVID-19.

Workers’ Compensation Technology Advancements This week we’re joined by William Zachry, he explains how technological advancements are impacting workers’ compensation and risk management. Appointed as a senior fellow of the Sedgwick Institute in 2017, he’s widely known throughout the risk management industry for his achievements within workers’ compensation reform. Additionally, William serves on the board of the state compensation insurance fund - California’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance. The different areas that he covers are: Artificial Intelligence CRISPR; a new technology for splicing genes Autonomous Vehicles, and Medical Technology New Software and Applications Each of these medical and technological advancements hold significant promise in the next ten to fifteen years. Already bringing significant benefits and improvements upon workers compensation and risk management, such as reducing litigation costs, and identifying employers that need additional education or movement feedback to minimize injury. Along with their positive advancements, they also present sizable questions and problems such as misuse, the boundaries of ethics, and the use of data collection and privacy.

This week we’re joined by Kaylee Sorenson; to share the lessons learned from COVID-19 on K-12 Education. Kaylee is an Emergency Management Consultant at Ashton Tiffany LLC. This discussion includes the initial challenges of the pandemic; such as transitioning learning to online, supply chain strain, community partnerships and pressure; the shift of priorities after handling the initial obstacles and the communication, preparation and the role that the school districts within the community. School districts became a central location of information, and communication for the community. Website Traffic significantly increased, new partnerships for PPE and additional essential supplies were created and Sufficient Emergency operations plans and Continuity of Operations Plans were established.

This week we have Karen Caterino, Public Entity Education Center of Excellence Leader-West, for Willis Towers Watson and Mark Pew, SVP of Product Development and Marketing for Preferred Medical, explaining how to navigate the professional generation gap. Karen and Mark share the cause for the talent gap, and the risks and information loss as a product of baby boomers’ retirement. They also provide several effective solutions through mentoring and The Transitions Movement. They share many benefits of being a mentor and/or mentee and how to create a successful relationship that garners professional and personal growth.

This week our speaker, James Curbeam, CPCU, ARM, AIC, is the director of risk management for the Las Vegas Valley Water District. He holds a B.S. in finance from Creighton University and an executive MBA from the University of Nebraska Omaha. James shares how to make greater progress as a society and individually for diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Witnessing firsthand the lack of diversity on panels, he illustrates that progress cannot be made; rather having discussions that tackle solutions require uncomfortable and honest conversations between company leaders and disenfranchised individuals. Addressing minority advancement within the workplace, specifically in the insurance industry he shares the two key components are networking and opportunity. In order for minorities to advance they need to be in a position to network in order to build key relationships and be considered for opportunities. The second factor, opportunities are most readily available in attending conferences, which are typically available to senior level positions within companies. This obstructs junior level employees, more commonly filled by minority individuals, from advancing within the industry. He also shares the foundational policies to be implemented in the workplace, and elaborates on what needs to happen to create lasting change.

Ergonomics And Working From Home with Lisa Orr For this week’s episode, Lisa Orr, certified professional ergonomist and Human Factors Professional at Sedgwick CMS, provides a wide range of solutions for working from home. She explains specific tactics in achieving efficiency within this new normal, such as: Dedicating a specific space What to do with limited space and funds Minimizing distractions Developing routines The ideal ergonomic setup How to coordinate with children and their schedule Supporting from a managerial role Lisa brings to light some of the office tendencies that have been lost and what aspects are valuable to incorporate into your schedule.

This week we’re joined by Mark Morgan, President of Sherrill Morgan. He explains in-detail Pharmacy Costs - why they cost what they do and how Pharmacy Programs work today. There is a space between the Average Wholesale Price (AWP) and the Maximum Allowable Cost. This gap allows for arbitrary costs to be determined by a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM). Mark shares how to address or avert the PBM situation. He also provides insight into four ways to save costs Acquisition Cost Indexing, Own Use Acquisition, Rebates, and 340B

For this week’s episode, Kristen Smolek and Will Portello discuss social inflation, emerging tactics and best practices for public agency liability. Kristen is the Vice President of Pooling at Sedgwick and Will is the director of litigation claims at Sedgwick. They share the six main factors that contribute to social inflation, and further expand on the impact of public distrust and negative public sentiment and the generational influence of Millennial jurors. The areas of public entity practice that pose the greatest risk. The best tactics in mitigating an inflamed jury. How to be proactive in taking risk control measures. As a public entity, Kristen and Will emphasize the best means of protection is creating and reinforcing a culture of safety, locating the cause of an issue, sharing data from claims, and providing hands on training in order to curb the social inflation impact.

Sy Everett and the title is The Impact of COVID-19 on Litigation and Risk Management. This week we have Sy Everett, III, a Founding Partner of Everett Doery, LLP, discussing the impact of COVID-19 on litigation and risk management. Sy shares the successes of adaptability, effective communication although remote and how technological advancements have aided in replacing former risk management strategies. Two areas that have suffered from COVID-19’s remote meetings are Mediation and Jury Trials. In-person mediation is much more effective to help litigators become accustomed to an unfamiliar process, as well as bridging the gap and conveying the value of compromise as all parties’ best interest. While some Jury Trials have reconvened in-person, with safety precautions of social distancing and face coverings, there comes great difficulty with keeping remote jurors accountable. Without being in a courtroom, jurors face many distractions and risk being impartial in observing the case. Sy shares the challenges of COVID-19 has also brought positive long standing impact for Risk Management and Litigation, such as accessibility, diminished overhead costs, minimized barriers for entry into the workforce and education, increased collaboration and the destigmatization of working remotely means less productivity.

Josephine Copeland, VP of Managed Care Services at PMA Companies, describes how Case Management has changed its model and how it impacts public entities, as well as how to ensure your taking full advantage of the new resources available. The new face of case management incorporates technology to provide a holistic approach to the person; subsequently encouraging more proactive, resolution driven claims process and proving to be more effective for all parties. In this episode you’ll learn: why case management plays such a pivotal role in workers' compensation claims, how technology enables earliest intervention, and the risks of delayed or interrupted claims, how the new model impact public entities, and the examples of early intervention benefits. Josephine even expands how to glean pertinent information about the new model of case management. Where to put your focus as a risk manager and how to ask the best questions in order to make sure your claims are being managed in the best possible way.

How Health Management Programs Impact Workers’ Compensation This week we have Dr. Kimberly Gaston, Clinical Field Service Director at the Insurance Program Managers Group, explaining how health management programs impact workers’ compensation. IPMG is a third party administrator that works towards diminishing the number of workers' compensation claims, the duration of the claims as well as the claim cost. While there are many factors that determine the outcome of a claim they’ve uncovered the most significant influence is the decline in health of the claimant, leading to increased costs and a longer duration. The rate of chronic conditions are on the rise for all American age groups, at the current rate, 42% of Americans will be severely obese by 2030. Dr. Kimberly Gatson elaborates on: -How complicating health conditions can influence workers' compensation and injury management -How employee health management systems impact injury, recovery benefit and utilization -The different employee health management system administration options -The impact these systems have on COVID related health and disease prevention

This week we have Dr. Teresa Bartlett, Senior Medical Officer at Sedgwick, discussing how to manage infectious disease risks, specifically elaborating on COVID-19. It’s imperative to understand how to manage the ongoing risks and consequences of the crisis at hand, understanding new information about how the virus is spread, comparing the efficacy of precautions and personal protective equipment as well as the long-term consequences of the virus, even for asymptomatic individuals. In today’s episode, Dr. Teresa Bartlett explains: the duration of quarantine pending exposure or having the COVID-19 The distribution of Pfizer’s vaccine that is currently in trial; and how it must be administered The latest clinical research CDC’s recent change for definition of close contact the impact related to physical and mental health

This week we have Amanda Franklin, Director of Risk Management at Wheaton College, explaining Public-Private Partnerships, and how to protect public entities. Public Private Partnerships differ greatly depending on the project - some examples can include: parks, prisons, charter schools, toll roads, university housing developments and hotels. The increase in popularity for Public Private Partnerships is due to aging infrastructure and smaller government budgets, but they’re also rich in complexities that come with the joint venture, so the following points need to be established contractually; as early as possible. Ownership: Public or Private Entity? State Law Immunity Protection Insurance Benefits: availability, price and length of coverage Specific Applicable Insurance Coverage Indemnification and Liabilities Responsibility of Construction and Ongoing Operations Employment Sourcing, Management, and Compensation Risk Reduction and Management The protection of public entities under state law vary for each state, specifically in terms of what a public committee can be sued for and the limitations of how much the public entity can be held liable for damages is particular to the partnership, with most states requiring the partnership to be owned by the public entity in order for Governmental Immunity Protection. In considering the intricacies of Public and Private Entities working together, the Risk Management perspective is invaluable in the process - being able to foresee risks, challenges and implementing safe programs that minimize liability.