By: Kevin L. Connors, Esquire

To All Workers’ Compensation Practitioners and Clients:

The National Workers Compensation Defense Network is hosting its 2016 Fall Conference in Chicago, Illinois on September 22, 2016.

The NWCDN event is open to all NWCDN member firms and their invited guests.

The NWCDN never charges its guests for attendance at its Conferences.

The all-day Conference will be conducted on September 22, 2016 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, located at 505 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.

Attaching a copy of the NWCDN’s Save The Date for its 2016 Conference, there is a link for hotel reservations at the Intercontinental.

Registration for the event can be coordinated by contacting Carol Wright at Capehart Scatchard at [email protected].

As always, NWCDN Conferences are intended to be educational, constructive, illuminating, and just plain good fun.

Also keep in mind that the NWCDN will be hosting a Pre-Conference Cocktail Reception at the King Arthur’s Court at the Intercontinental Hotel, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., on Wednesday, September 21, 2016.

The Conference on September 22, 2016 will begin at 8:30 a.m., with registration at 8:00 a.m., and continuing through to 4:30 p.m., after which there will again be a cocktail reception hosted by the NWCDN.

During the Conference, the following sessions are open to all attendees:

  • 8:30-8:35 a.m.: Opening Remarks by Lora Northen (New Jersey), NWCDN’s President.
  • 8:35-9:30 a.m.: Make our Work Comp Program Great Again, involving an entertaining and informative program comprised of a panel of workers’ compensation program managers representing healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and trucking industries, discussing the unique challenges they face in managing claims in their industry, and describing how they respond to those issues with creative and cost-effective solutions.
  • 9:30-10:30 a.m.: Traumatic Brain Injury, with the presentation hosted by Robert L. Heilbronner, Ph.D., a board-certified Neuropsychologist and the Director and Founder of Chicago’s Neuropsychology Group, discussing an informative guide to the evaluation of neuropsychological impairments in civil and criminal litigation.
  • 10:30-10:50 a.m.: Networking Break
  • 10:50-11:50 a.m.: A National Program: Reducing/Avoiding Narcotic Use, with speakers from Prium and Walmart, discussing the lessons learned in developing a data-driven methodology for preventing drug misuse in new claims, with Walmart explaining how it analyzes its overall prescription cost drivers, found alternatives, and reduced the prescribing of other pharmaceuticals threatening employee health.
  • 11:50-1:05 p.m.:
  • 1:05-2:15 p.m.: Medical Issues-Regional Attorney Panels, with Regional Attorney Panels designated for the Midwest, East, and West.
  • 2:15-2:30 p.m.: Networking Break.
  • 2:30-3:30 p.m.: Negotiation Skills for the Claims Professional, presented by Carl Van of the International Insurance Institute, discussing a series of Claims Negotiation Maxims that he developed to focus on a better understanding of the claims negotiation process.
  • 3:30-4:30 p.m.: “Judge”ment Day – The Hour of Reckoning, with jurors from MO, MS, IL, IN, and WI tackling tough questions regarding issues litigated in their states, and how the jurors would rule on important issues and evidence considered in deciding workers’ compensation litigation.
  • 4:45-6:00 p.m.: Cocktail Reception, served with complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres.

The NWCDN would like to thank you for attending our Conference.

The NWCDN is a network of “Many Firms, One Purpose”, with all of our firms dedicated to defending workers’ compensation claims, for the protection of their clients, employers, insurers, and third-party administrators.

Join us in Chicago to meet our members and member firms!

ConnorsO’Dell LLP

Trust us, we just get it!

It is trust well spent!

We defend Employers, Self-Insureds, Insurance Carriers, and Third Party Administrators in Workers’ Compensation matters throughout Pennsylvania.  We have over 100 years of cumulative experience defending our clients against compensation-related liabilities, with no attorney in our firm having less than ten (10) years of specialized experience, empowering our Workers’ Compensation practice group attorneys to be more than mere claim denials, enabling us to create the factual and legal leverage to expeditiously resolve claims, in the course of limiting/reducing/extinguishing our clients’ liabilities under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act.

Every member of our Workers’ Compensation practice group is AV rated.  Our partnership with the NWCDN magnifies the lens for which our professional expertise imperiously demands that we always be dynamic and exacting advocates for our clients, navigating the frustrating and form-intensive minefield pervasive throughout Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation practice and procedure.