For Season 3, Yvonne and Rafael identified ten issues to frame conversations with guests:
- The great talent shortage. What are we doing to find and retain good people? We will face this issue for the foreseeable future, which will significantly impact the healthcare industry, including workers' comp.
- Mental health and well-being. Mental health issues continue to dominate as a leading societal problem in the US. There is increasing demand to prioritize mental health and consider how it impacts injured workers' ability to recover. What are we doing as an industry to support our professionals and their well-being?
- Economics of inflation and a looming recession. According to an article at Milliman.com, inflation hit a 40-year high last year, and we are expected to go into a recession later in 2023. We'll discuss inflation/recession economics with some data-minded friends and how it affects workers’ compensation.
- New or significant workers’ compensation rules/regulations/statutes. Several states have new or emerging rules and regulations impacting workers' compensation, and we will discuss these with a few guests.
- Challenges facing the healthcare system. There are several significant issues outside of the great talent shortage, facing the US healthcare system:
- is our hospital system in crisis?
- continued issues related to Covid19
- medical costs - the rising cost of drugs, medical inflation, increased facility costs
- chronic pain* that impacts 1 in 5 US citizens
- Technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Are we doing all we can to use technology and AI to handle claims more efficiently? Can we use technology to improve the experience for injured workers? Can technology help lighten the load for claims professionals by handling repetitive tasks, and incorporating evidence-based medical guidelines into the claims process, particularly in the management of non-catastrophic claims?
- Claims handling challenges. What’s happening at the claim handler’s desk? How is it different today compared to the past? What is the average caseload? Is it manageable? Is our industry ready to fully embrace an advocacy model of claims handling? We look forward to discussing this on several levels:
- return-to-work barriers
- reprising the adjuster’s role and how they do their work (gig workers; caseloads, and more)
- friction points to the claims-handling process
- The need for quality education for all industry stakeholders. There is an increased demand for education as we manage the talent gap due to many experienced professionals leaving the industry. We must prioritize education for all stakeholders.
- Our changing workforce needs. While experienced professionals are leaving in big numbers, we are struggling to hire and retain younger workers. What can we do to encourage more young professionals to join our industry? Are we ready to let go of decades-old practices to evolve and attract today’s young professionals?
- The issue of lagging diversity. Our communities have become increasingly more diverse over the past few decades, but our workplaces have not. This is true in every industry. There have been improvements for sure, but we have a long way to go. We'll explore this topic with several guests who are equally passionate about DEIB issues.
*Here is a link to the paper at WorkCompCentral that we mentioned in regards to chronic pain: https://bit.ly/WCC-ChronicPainPaperJan23
¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp