WCRI 2022 Annual Conference – Workers Comp Info Extravaganza

The WCRI 2022 Annual Conference will be back to in-person on March 16 – 17 at the Westin Copley Square in Boston, MA.  If you have not signed up, you should do so soon.  Let us look at what they will be covering at the best data conference of them all.

If you have not heard about the organization – the WCRI acronym stands for Workers Comp Research Institute.  I have attended many of their conferences over the years.  The last one was in 2020 – just days before the pandemic hit, I used to blog the conferences live, but my typing has slowed down a bit over the last few years.

Yes, you will have to show a vaccine card.  It is not WCRI’s rule.  It is the City of Boston’s law.  Whether you stay at the Westin or any hotel in Boston, you will have to show a vaccine card.

The next section is an example of what you will see at the conference is a study by Dr. Savych.  He appears often in my articles.  He headed a research project that surveyed injured employees after their claim was resolved.  Check out this article on his study and the one element that sets the tone in a Workers comp claim most of the time.

2022 WCRI Annual Conference Session – Provider Consolidation

Today, the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) announced that preliminary results from the WCRI study Effect of Provider Consolidation on Payments for Medical Care Provided to Workers with Injuries will be shared at the Institute’s 38th Annual Issues & Research Conference,

“Consolidation of medical providers has been a steady trend in the United States,” said John Ruser, WCRI president and CEO. “While the forces shaping consolidation of medical providers are external to workers’ compensation, they can affect prices of medical services, quality of care, access to providers, treatment patterns, costs of care, as well as worker outcomes. This is one of several preliminary studies we will be sharing at our annual conference, giving attendees a first look.”

In the session, Dr. Bogdan Savych, WCRI author and policy analyst, will share preliminary findings from this new study while addressing the following questions:

• What are the trends in the consolidation of medical providers who provide care to workers with injuries, and how do these trends differ across states?
• What are the implications of increasing consolidation for access to medical providers?
• What is the impact of increasing consolidation of medical providers on payments for workers’ compensation medical care?

Other Conference Sessions

• Impact of Disruptions Caused by COVID-19 on Workers’ Compensation – Dr. Robert Hartwig
• Patterns and Outcomes of Chiropractic Care – Dongchun Wang
• The Future of the Workplace after COVID-19 -Panel Discussion
• Impact of Drug Formularies in the Various States – Dr, Vennela Thummula
• The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World – Joe Keohane
• Short- and Long-Term Consequences of COVID-19 -Epidemiologist
• State of the States: Selective Findings- this is the numbers session
• State of the Workers Compensation System – post-Nixon Administration study

Go to this link if you are interested in attending the conference.  I rank the 2022 WCRI Annual Conference as a totally worth it event.

This blog post is provided by James Moore, AIC, MBA, ChFC, ARM, and is republished with permission from J&L Risk Management Consultants. Visit the full website at www.cutcompcosts.com.

Share This Article: