Quick Hits

I’ve done a few podcasts recently, and find them to be a lot of fun. Yvonne and Rafael hosted me in a kick off the second season of their Deconstructing Comp pod…we dove into opioids, humility, making things real, testifying before Congress, physician dispensing, blogging and grandkids.

CWCI’s annual meeting is DIFFERENT this year.

The fine folks at CWCI recognize that many members and other usual attendees are still under travel restrictions and may have personal and/or public health concerns. To accommodate as many people as possible, this year there will be both live (3/8) and virtual (3/10) conferences.  Register for both the live and virtual meetings here:  https://www.cwci.org/conferences.html; the virtual meeting will combine recordings of the live sessions with a live Q&A.

There’s a lot on the agenda related to legislative targets including access to care/MPNs, presumptions, med/legal & QMEs as well as the usual claims monitoring report (COVID/Non-COVID claim dynamics, utilization, pharmacy).

Michael Marks, a most insightful attorney will tie together the theme (“Are We There Yet”) with a comparison of the original grand bargain to our current state.

Not to be outdone, NCCI’s out with their latest economic briefing; highlights include:

• Unemployment rates at or below 4% in December and January indicate that the US economy is nearing full employment.
• Job losses are now concentrated in just two major sectors: Leisure and Hospitality, and Education and Health Services. (With family members in healthcare, I know first hand why so many are quitting)
• January’s employment numbers showed no effects of the Omicron surge…deferred jobs hit in February is unlikely.

The Conference Board forecast that the US economy will grow by 2.6 percent (year-over-year) in 2022. I’m no economist (yippee!) but I’m betting we’ll see significantly higher growth – which will positively effect employment, wages, and thus workers’ comp and group health premium growth.

What does this mean for you?

Things are getting better. 

By Joe Paduda

Courtesy of Managed Care Matters

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