Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Health, Albertsons Companies
• Paul Kearney, Chief Claims Officer, AF Group
• Adam Seidner, MD, Chief Medical Officer, The Hartford
• Jason Beans, Chief Executive Officer, 911�Թ�

Overview:

As AI adoption accelerates in workers’ comp, claims executives face a pivotal challenge: how to harness its potential without sacrificing empathy or outcomes. Join a panel of experts from the annual Workers’ Compensation Benchmark Study as they unpack real-world use cases, share research insights, and explore what it means to apply AI thoughtfully in claims management.

Event Description:

Technology, particularly AI, is on the march to transform claims management. While the shift may be needed—and even inevitable—balancing digital transformation with the human elements essential to optimal outcomes remains vital.

This hour-long webinar will draw on research from the 12th annual Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study, which reports on practical strategies industry leaders are using to address critical challenges, including the amount of time claims professionals are spending on administrative tasks (a lot), and the amount of training they are getting in core interpersonal skills like empathy (not enough).

Our expert panelists will discuss progress their organizations are making in using AI to enhance human performance and strategic productivity, while simultaneously investing in human judgment and emotional intelligence that technology can’t replicate. Specifically, the expert panel will share real-world solutions in three critical strategy areas:

• Reducing administrative burden: Demonstrating how high-performing organizations use AI to automate routine tasks, liberating claims professionals to focus on higher-value work that requires relationship building and advanced decision making.
• Enhancing human connectivity: Creating personalized digital experiences to improve injured worker connection and using AI to identify claims that require human intervention.
• Building the workforce of the future: Upskilling claims staff in emotional intelligence and the use of AI, as well as creating a culture that embraces innovation instead of resisting it.

The post 2024 Work Comp Benchmark Study – Humanizing Digital Transformation appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Health, Albertsons Companies
• Marcos Iglesias, MD, VP, Chief Medical Director, Travelers
• Matt Harmon, Senior Vice President of Claims, MEMIC
• Todd Brown, Vice President, Client Services, 911�Թ�

Overview:

Now in its 11th year, the Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study drills down into detailed data identifying how frontline claims talent views their profession. With the pivotal role these professionals play in impacting clinical, claim and financial outcomes, it’s imperative to consider their input as we chart the future of claims management.

Experts in this one-hour webinar discuss dozens of data points that were garnered from a survey of more than 1300 frontline claims professionals. Their discussion includes frontline perspectives on existing and emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, remote work, benefits they most value, worker-centric claims models, and other factors that may yet reshape the profession significantly.

The post 2023 Work Comp Benchmark Study – The View from the Front Lines of Claims Management appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Marcos Iglesias, MD, VP, Chief Medical Director, Travelers
• Jason Beans, Chief Executive Officer, 911�Թ�

Overview:

In insurance, data rules. Having the right data to make informed business decisions, measure results and fine-tune risk mitigation is a core pillar of the profession. Enter the tenth edition of the annual Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study, the industry’s largest survey of claims professionals, which reveals how claims management has (or has not) progressed in the past decade, as well as what high-performers are doing to surpass trends.

In this one-hour webinar, study experts will discuss how well the industry is advancing claims management best practices, recommend high-performance strategies for future success, and forecast where claims management is headed based on current trajectories.

The post 2022 Work Comp Benchmark Study – What 10 Years of Data Reveals About High-Performing Claims Organizations appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Suzanne Emmet, SVP of Claims, Eastern Alliance Insurance Group
• Marcos Iglesias, MD, Chief Medical Director, Travelers
• Jason Beans, Chief Executive Officer, 911�Թ�

Overview:

Since the Work Comp Benchmark Study’s inception, both claims leader and frontline professional survey participants have repeatedly identified the same three obstacles – 1) Iack of adequate return to work options, 2) the impact of litigation on claims outcomes, and 3) psychosocial factors and other comorbidities that delay and impair recovery – to be the foremost barriers to achieving positive claim results. Connecting them all is one common theme – their respective solutions all require operational transformation.��

In this one-hour webinar, study experts will examine what higher performing organizations are doing to transform legacy processes, mindsets, and semantics to advance in the face of deeply entrenched challenges and propel new levels of claims management mastery.

The post 2021 Work Comp Benchmark Study – Three Obstacles to Providing Superior Claims Performance and What Organizations Must Do to Overcome Them appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Vickie Kennedy, Assistant Director of Insurance Services, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries
• Linda Butler, Director, Claims Management, Walt Disney World Resort
• Rachel Fikes, Chief Experience Officer & Director, Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study, 911�Թ�

Overview:

As an industry built on risk aversion and mitigation, we find ourselves in need of normalizing the very discomfort we’ve erected business cultures to avoid. Workplace and business unpredictability will march on, placing an unprecedented premium on organizational resiliency. Embracing change as the default must be a focus of any workers’ compensation leader who wants to future-proof their organization.

In this one-hour webinar, study experts share leadership insights along with top study results, focusing on five key ways claims executives can cultivate adaptability, employee peak performance, and organizational success in this new post-pandemic paradigm. They include:

1. Normalize Discomfort – Whether it’s global-level uncertainty (like new disease variants, economic recession) or industry-level disruption (like adopting new claims models), resilient organizations encourage employees to embrace continual change as the business standard, not the exception.
2. Develop a Strong Risk Culture – Fostering a culture where employees feel safe taking risks and doing the uncomfortable, such as volunteering an unsolicited idea, admitting a mistake or pointing out a process that’s not working, paves the way for needed course corrections and innovation.
3. Cultivate Diverse Talent – Creative problem solving requires varied viewpoints. Not only do organizations need to address the industry’s much-documented��talent shortfall, but they must prioritize diversity of thought, background, experiences, and cognitive profiles while doing so.
4. Deploy Technological Dexterity – Automating data collection, compliance tasks, and intervention alerts should enable claims teams to engage in greater critical thinking. The more bandwidth they have to solve problems, the more resilient they and their organizations will be.
5. Measure the Past, and the Future – We must go beyond measuring backward-looking performance to measuring forward-looking resilience in order to continually improve an organization’s capacity to withstand adversity, and emerge stronger.

The post 2020 Work Comp Benchmark Study – Normalizing Discomfort: 5 Ways to Future-Proof Your Organization appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Rachel Fikes, CXO & Director, Work Comp Benchmarking Study, 911�Թ�

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Dr. Adam Seidner, Chief Medical Officer, The Hartford
• Thomas Wiese, Vice President of Claims, MEMIC

Overview:

For every workplace injury in this country, there is a claims professional or nurse who is personally responsible for engaging the injured employee in their recovery. With several million newly injured employees per year, our frontline teams directly manage a total economic outlay of nearly $100 billion dollars in benefits paid annually. Even as the industry’s most influential talent constituency, with the greatest influence on financial and injured worker outcomes, very little is empirically known about this employee population. When juxtaposed with the industry’s talent crisis, it becomes clear that understanding the view from the front lines is not only valuable to industry payers, it’s vital.

Now, through the latest Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study findings, the responses of nearly�� 1,300 frontline claims professionals reveal firsthand ways that claims organizations can get out of the crosshairs. Survey takers were asked what motivates them, how they use technology, what approaches they use to manage claims, how they engage injured workers, and what training they need.

In this one-hour webinar, study experts will showcase top study results and address the increasing stakes of retaining and attracting frontline talent to the workers’ compensation industry.�� The conversation will focus on:

• Alignment of frontline staff perspectives with those of claims leaders surveyed in prior years
• Ranking of company benefits that frontline staff most value
• Impact of COVID on work from home arrangements
• Adequacy of new hire and senior staff training
• Ranking of core competencies and key practices most critical to claim outcomes
• Assessment of technology and data’s impact on job performance
• Understanding of advocacy-based claims models

The post Survey Says! What Your Claims Workforce Really Thinks & Strategies to Optimize Your Talent Pool appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Linda Butler, Director, Claims Management, Walt Disney World Resort
• Thomas Stark, Vice President, Underwriting, Zenith Insurance Company
• Todd Brown, Director of Account Management, 911�Թ�

Overview:

With an estimated 140.3 million U.S. workers receiving workers’ compensation benefits, frontline claims professionals are��personally responsible��for managing a total economic outlay of nearly $100 billion dollars in benefits paid annually. Coupled with the industry’s top threat – the talent crisis – the impact that frontline staff have on the industry’s financial viability and injured worker outcomes cannot be overstated. Understanding the view from the front lines is not only valuable to industry payers, it’s vital.

Now in its seventh year, the Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study performed research with this critical talent constituency. ��While the previous six studies surveyed claims leaders, the 2019 study focused on the responses of nearly 1,300 frontline claims staff. They were asked what motivates them, what approaches they use to manage claims, how they engage injured workers, how they use technology, and what training they need. ��Their answers reveal firsthand ways the insurance industry can surmount its talent issues.

In this one-hour webinar, study experts – including those with prior frontline experience – will discuss this year’s top 10 findings and address the increasing stakes of retaining and attracting talent to our industry.�� The conversation will focus on findings such as:

• Alignment of frontline staff perspectives with those of claims leaders surveyed in prior years
• Assessment of job meaningfulness
• Ranking of company benefits that frontline staff most value
• Investment in training, and whether it’s considered adequate
• Ranking of key practices most critical to claim outcomes
• Assessment of technology and data’s effectiveness in performing current job

The post 2019 Work Comp Benchmark Study: Comparing Claims Leaders & Frontline Staff Perspectives appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Brian Trick, Senior Claims Manager, Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
• Marcos Iglesias, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Senior Vice President, Broadspire
• Anne Kirby, Chief Compliance Officer & Vice President of Care Management, 911�Թ�

Overview:

One key dilemma threatens effective claims management and organizational viability year after year. And it’s a dilemma that grows more urgent by the minute. How can claims payers use limited resources to achieve the best medical outcomes for employees, while at the same time, responsibly and ethically govern medical costs that are unrelentingly high and growing?

Claims and medical leaders who participated in focus group research for the latest Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study provided answers to the medical management challenges that have been outlined in every benchmarking study since 2013, the first year of the study’s inception.

In this one-hour webinar,��experts from the Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study will give context to the numerous strategies that can help organizations surmount unacceptably high medical costs and improve injury recovery results. Key impact areas will include but won’t be limited to:

• Focusing on a Triple Aim model to improve claim outcomes.
• Incorporating employee wellness & patient-centered outcomes, such as quality of life during and after treatment.
• Reducing / eliminating frictional delays in traditional claims practices.
• Examining the option of employee self-reporting of claims.
• Utilizing universal provider scorecards and publishing results (e.g. Texas Department of Insurance model).
• Leveraging data and advanced technology solutions to predict and proactively manage claim risk factors, including comorbidities.

The post 2018 Work Comp Benchmark Study: Advancing Medical Management appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Scott Emery,��Senior Director of Claims for Workers Compensation, Markel Corporation
• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Barry Bloom, Principal, The bdb Group
• Jason Beans, Chief Executive Officer, 911�Թ�

Overview:

Industry narratives about Insurtech’s disruption as well as the claims talent crisis are so constant that they might numb any sense of urgency via alarm fatigue. But these game changers are real and organizations that ignore them risk performance failure.

Herein lies the opportunity: Younger workers are attracted to jobs that fulfill their need for social justice and compassion. They also arrive tech ready, which dovetails neatly with the workers’ compensation sector’s need for claims adjusters who are primarily advocates for injured workers and who are equipped to marshal artificial intelligence and predictive analytics — dubbed Insurtech — to produce better claims outcomes.

Thus, how to recruit and train tech-ready talent and refit claims organizations to satisfy the younger workers’ need to make a positive impact on their society is a challenge facing every payer’s claims leadership.

In this one-hour webinar, experts from the fifth annual Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study discuss how high-performance claims organizations are deftly navigating, and even maximizing, the intersecting crossroads of Insurtech and the talent recruitment/retention shortage. That conversation focuses on…

• Challenges and opportunities Insurtech presents for claims adjusters and how high-performance organizations are using best practices to ensure and propel results.
• How claims talent recruitment and desirable skills are changing right in front of our eyes.
• Using scenario-based learning and other tools to advance advocacy-based claims management techniques.
• How to sell organizational leadership on the vital importance of devoting more resources, not less, to claims management training and competency monitoring.

The post 2017 Work Comp Benchmark Study: Maximizing Next Generation Technology & Talent appeared first on 911�Թ�.

Moderator: Dan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, Risk & Insurance

Panelists:

• Marcos Iglesias MD, VP, Medical Director, The Hartford
• Trecia Sigle, AVP –��Workers’ Compensation Claims, Nationwide
• Denise Algire, Director Managed Care & Disability, Corporate Risk, Albertsons Companies
• Anne Kirby, Chief Compliance Officer & VP of Care Management, 911�Թ�

Overview:

Long-tail claims, high claims volumes, heavy caseloads and an ever-changing regulatory environment can throttle payers, both large and small. But many claims management techniques proclaimed to be “best practices” are met with skepticism because the data to back them up is limited or unavailable. Do some of these alleged “best practices” actually move the needle?

For the first time, a national survey of claims leaders has gathered enough meaningful data to prove that a number of methods are generating better claim outcomes, clearly differentiating superior claims management organizations from industry peers.

In this one-hour webinar, the authors of the groundbreaking fourth annual Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study discuss the merits of various processes and tools that elevate performance, as well as ways to overcome the organizational obstacles that can sidetrack their use.

This expert panel shares the study data and discusses approaches that make a clear difference, including:

• predictive modeling, analytics, and other claims decision support tools
• effective use of various data sources, including evidence-based medicine guidelines
• implementing formal knowledge transfer programs
• effective application of payment strategies with providers
• provider and pharmacy outcome measures
• value-based care models
• advocacy-based claims models

The post 2016 Work Comp Benchmark Study: Employing Data-Backed Claim Differentiators appeared first on 911�Թ�.