By Kevin L. Connors, Esquire
TO ALL WORKERS’ COMPENSATION PRACTITIONERS AND CLIENTS:
The National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network is hosting 2015 Spring Seminar in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 18, 2015.
The NWCDN event is open to all NWCDN member firms and their invited guests.
There is no charge for this event to any NWCDN guest.
The all-day seminar conducted on June 18, 2015 will be preceded by the NWCDN hosting a cocktail reception on June 17, 2015, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., at the Country Music Hall of Fame, 222 Fifth Avenue South, Nashville, TN.
The NWCDN Spring Conference in Nashville, TN will be conducted at the Omni Hotel, 250 Fifth Avenue South, Nashville, TN. Hotel reservations can be made at the Omni by calling 615-782-5300, or by visiting the Omni website at www.omnihotels.com.
Currently, the Omni is only accommodating reservations for Wednesday night, June 17, 2015, such that if reservations are necessary for both Wednesday and Thursday night, it is recommended that you contact the Holiday Inn Express, by calling 877-443-7829, or by visiting their website at www.hiexpress.com, requesting the “NWCDN Group Room Block” when booking.
To register for the NWCDN event, you can either register through the NWCDN’s website, at www.NWCDN.com, under the Seminar tab, or by emailing Carol Wright at Capehart Scatchard at [email protected], by June 2, 2015.
As always, the NWCDN Conferences are intended to be educational, instructive, illuminating, and just plain good fun.
Topics being discussed at the Spring Seminar are:
- 7:30 – 8:15 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast
- 8:15 – 8:30 a.m. Introduction and Opening Remarks
NWCDN President – Lora Northern, New Jersey
Capehart Scatchard
Host Firm – Fred Baker – Tennessee
Wimberly Lawson Wright Daves & Jones, PLLC
• 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Impact of Social Media on Defense of WC Claims
Kevin L. Connors, Moderator – Pennsylvania
ConnorsO’Dell LLP
Cindy A. Feroldi-Cropsey-Manager, Global Claims Risk Management
Xerox Corporation, Vice President, Risk Management Xerox Business Services
Deborah S. Hairston – Claims and Safety Coordinator
VF Corporation
Jack Neyer, CPA – Manager – Workers Compensation
Verizon
In this age of social media, many claimants share their personal lives with the world to an unprecedented degree. This presentation will discuss creative strategies for utilizing social medial to defend and manage workers’ compensation claims.
- 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. Hot Button Issues in Pain Management
Fred Baker – Moderator – Tennessee
Wimberly Lawson Wright Daves & Jones, PLLC
Dr. Jeffrey Hazlewood
The doctor will address controversial issues in pain management, including treatment guidelines, long-term use of narcotic pain management, pain contracts, medical marijuana, and sorting out injury-related versus non-injury related pain.
- 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Networking Break
- 10:30-11:30 a.m. Breakout Sessions
Session A
Managing the Interplay of ADA, FMLA, and Work Comp
H. Dill Battle – Moderator – West Virginia
Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC
Mary Dee Allen – Tennessee
Wimberly Lawson Wright Daves & Jones, PLLC
Melissa Cleary – North Carolina
Teague, Campbell Dennis & Gorman LLP
Douglas Feldman – Wisconsin
Lindner & Marsack
This presentation will discuss the interplay of ADA, FMLA, and Work Comp in such areas as the return to work analysis, communicating with medical providers, fitness for duty examinations, and light duty programs.
Session B
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Claims … Theory vs. Application
Alan Gardner – Moderator – Idaho
Gardner Law Office
Dr. David J. Weitz SPHR – Director of Safety and Workers’ Compensation
Life Care Legal and Risk Services LLC
Michael Hessling – Chief Client Officer and Executive VP of Account Management
Gallagher Bassett Services
John Winkler – Manager WC Strategic Claims Department
Selective Insurance Company of America
This presentation will provide advice and discussion on applying the theory of risk management to the day-to-day reality of handling claims.
Session C
Strategies for Handling Claims in Non-Traditional Working Arrangements
Michael Fish – Moderator – Alabama
Fish, Nelson and Holden, LLC
Carolyn K. Hebert – Workers’ Compensation Litigation Specialist
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores
Rob Behnke – Director of Risk Management
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Sheila Wyles – Manager of Employee Relations and Workers’ Compensation
Verizon Wireless
How to deal with the challenges presented by telecommuting, traveling employees, and managing multi-state workforces.
- 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch as guests of NWCDN
- 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Breakout Sessions/Attorney Panels
Strategies for Dealing with Long Term Pain Management
Session A
James Reiter – Moderator – Michigan
Charfoos, Reiter Hebert, P.C.
Donna Daneke – New Hampshire
Bernard & Merrill, PLLC
Robert Grace – Florida
The Bleakley Bavol Law Firm
Ericka Dunn- – California
Hanna, Brophy, MacLean, McAleer & Jenson, LLP
Session B
Virginia Gautier – Moderator – Mississippi
Wise Carter Child & Caraway, P.A.
Scott Zuerker – Arkansas
Ledbetter, Cogbill, Arnold & Harrison, LLP
Rayford Taylor – Georgia
Casey Gilson P.C.
Loretta Simon – Missouri
Simon Law Group, P.C.
Session C
Sid Degan – Moderator – Louisiana
Degan, Blanchard & Nash, PLLC
Jane Stone – Texas
Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
Albert Randall, Jr. – Maryland/Washington D.C.
Franklin & Prokopik, P.C.
Grady Beard – South Carolina
Sowell, Gray Stepp & Laffitte, LLC
NWCDN members will provide state by state guidance on dealing with this difficult issue. The panels will discuss state-specific mechanisms for directing/redirecting medical care, regaining control when the medical treatment is no longer reasonable and necessary, and other cost-containing measures.
- 2:00 – 2:30 p.m. Networking Break
- 2:30 – 3:00 p.m. General Session
How to Settle Future Medicals and Comply with the Medicare
Secondary Payer Act
William Ross – Moderator – Ohio
Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP
Nancy Hummel – Colorado
Ritsema & Lyon, P.C.
Nicole Graci – New York
Hamberger & Weiss
Lora Northen – New Jersey
Capehart Scatchard
This presentation will explore different options for handling Medicare issues in settlements of workers’ compensation claims.
- 3:00 – 3:45 p.m. How to Identify and Combat Workers’ Comp Fraud
Thomas Kieselbach – Moderator – Minnesota
Cousineau, McGuire Chartered
Jennifer Lewis – Corporate Global Claims and U.S. WC Claims Administrator Manager
Cummins Inc.
Candi Flowers, SPHR – Director, Human Resources
ServiceSource
Chris Mandel, RF, ARM-E – SVP, Strategic Solutions
Sedgwick, Inc.
Curtis Ruwe – Associate General Counsel Transportation Claims
Crete Carrier Corporation/Shaffer Trucking/Hunt Transportation, Inc.
This session will offer practical advice on identifying fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and how to fight them. The speakers will also address the cost-benefit analysis of taking a stand against fraudulent claims versus nuisance value settlements.
- 3:45 – 4:30 p.m. Likes and Dislikes for WC Defense Counsel
H. Douglas Jones – Moderator – Kentucky
Jones Howard Law, PLLC
Jennifer Hertzfeld – Assistant Vice President, Workers’ Compensation Claims
Motorists Insurance Group
Lesley Zielinski, CPCU, CWCP – Director of Workers’ Compensation
Kelly Services
Brenda Ratcliff – Workers’ Compensation Claims Manager
Shaw Industries Group, Inc.
Brace up for an entertaining and informative presentation on what companies really want (and need) from work comp defense counsel, including a discussion on the application of Practice Guidelines.
- 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception
Enjoy complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres as guests of NWCDN.
THE NWCDN WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR
ATTENDING THE 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 Nashville 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.
