Quarterly Newsletter: July 1 - September 30, 2019
Carol Telles Testifying
Where Our Work Was Used

In states large and small, our research continues to be actively used by a diverse group of public officials and stakeholders, resulting in better, more informed decision making. Below is a sample of how our work was used over the last three months.

  • Indiana: WCRI Senior Analyst Carol Telles was invited to provide testimony before the Indiana Legislature's Interim Study Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance. She briefed the committee on medical reimbursement under workers' compensation for ambulatory surgery centers versus hospitals.
  • Arizona: WCRI's research was cited by numerous parties during a hearing on proposed regulations on physician dispensing held by the Industrial Commission of Arizona.
  • Tennessee: WCRI's CompScope™ Benchmarks for Tennessee, 19th Edition, was cited in the Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation 2018-2019 Fiscal Year Annual Report on the effects of the 2013 Reform Act.
  • National: Our WCRI FlashReport — Interstate Variation and Trends in Workers’ Compensation Drug Payments: 2015Q1 to 2018Q1 was mentioned in a newsletter by the National Council of Self-Insurers.
Educating Policymakers

Over the last three months, we were invited to share our research findings with a diverse group of policymakers and other stakeholders at large conferences and smaller briefings. Below is a sample.

Briefings:
  • Louisiana Workforce Commission
  • Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry
  • New Jersey Compensation Rating & Inspection Bureau
  • Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation
  • The Workers' Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts

Conferences/Meetings:
  • 2019 Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar
  • 2019 Workers' Compensation Institute's (WCI) 74th Annual Educational Conference
  • NIOSH Meeting on Advancing Workers' Compensation Research to Prevent and Treat Worker Opioid Use Disorders
People discussing our research.
WCRI Worker Outcomes Survey Team Receives Comp Laude® Award
Awards & Recognition

WCRI's Worker Outcomes Survey Team recently received a Comp Laude® Award at WorkCompCentral’s Comp Laude® Awards & Gala. John Ruser, president and CEO of WCRI, accepted the award on behalf of the team.

“Congratulations to WCRI’s Worker Outcomes Survey Team (Vennela Thumula, Bogdan Savych, and Te-Chun Liu) ─ and all our colleagues ─ for working together to produce this important research and unique information, which improves all stakeholders’ understanding of how state workers’ compensation systems are serving injured workers,” said Ruser. 

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Member Spotlight: Paul Sighinolfi, Ametros

Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with one of our members ─ Paul H. Sighinolfi, senior managing director of Ametros ─ about how he came to know WCRI. Before Ametros, Paul was the executive director and chair of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board and coauthored an employer’s guide to workers' compensation insurance in Maine. 

Webinars

Over the past three months, we held two webinars. The first took place in August and was on the role of medical prices in outcomes of injured workers . The second took place in September and was on our latest opioid dispensing trends . Recordings of both of these webinars are free for WCRI members and available to non-members for a nominal fee.
Annual Conference

Registration is open for WCRI's 36th Annual Issues & Research Conference, March 5 and 6, 2020, at the Westin Copley Place in Boston, MA. Jennifer Deal ─ Wall Street Journal Experts panel contributor, author of several books, and senior research scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership ─ will be one of our featured speakers.