Risk & Insurance - October 1, 2017

Program Management
Blending Oversight and Empowerment to Maximize Your
TPA Results

Caryl Russo, Senior VP, Corporate Care, Barnabas Health Caroline “Cari” Burhenne, Regional Claims Service Manager, PMA Companies

Thursday, Dec. 7 | 1: 45 - 2: 45 p.m.

Take a behind-the-scenes look at how to bring out the best in third-party administrators, the five most important things employers need to know about working with TPAs, and what TPAs need from clients. Caryl Russo and Cari Burhenne will describe the necessary steps for creating a structured communications process allowing internal staff and external parties to think creatively, define expectations and achieve goals. You’ll learn practical measures for building a unified team willing to tell you what you need to hear, even when they think you may not want to hear it.

• Arrange a TPA partnership that drives claims results
• Compose role expectations
• Integrate communication and team-building strategies to unify TPA and
employer staff
• Organize a systematic approach for TPA interaction across multiple locations

Client Service Instructions — Promise vs. Performance

Sam McMurry, Executive Director, Texas Self Insurance Association Ronda Ostrander, Manager Integrated Disability Management Program, Ascension Health

Thursday, Dec. 7 | 3 - 4 p.m.

Client service instructions improve workers’ comp program operations by clarifying insurer, third-party administrator and employer objectives. But how do you create a CSI that acknowledges the two-way nature of employer-vendor relationships, and keeps service providers on track by establishing critical performance and goal-evaluation points? Learn how to achieve success through a better understanding of service provider capabilities, negotiating for optimal service instructions and establishing incentives. You’ll also explore how to assess CSI adherence to help judge whether a vendor relationship can be repaired or needs replacement.

• Construct client service instructions with clear expectations and obligations • Select objective service provider performance measurements • Propose monetary performance incentives • Assess adherence to service agreements

Making Transitional Duty Work When You Don’t Have Transitional
Duty Jobs

Nancy Kelly, Nurse Case Manager – Risk Management, Averitt Transportation Kimberly Wickert, Director – Rehabilitation, Voc Works

Friday, Dec. 8 | 10 - 11: 15 a.m.

It is not always possible for employers to arrange transitional-duty roles that adequately align with an injured worker’s medical restrictions. Yet the benefits of light-duty, return-to-work programs are well known. But did you know that alternative work at an off-site, nonprofit organization can similarly help return workers to productivity? How to do that, though, is not so well known. Nancy Kelly and Kimberly Wickert will walk you through the process of establishing programs for engaging recovering workers in light-duty roles at off-site, nonprofit organizations. You’ll also learn about communication protocols for keeping injured workers connected to the employer during their temporary assignment off site.

• Integrate off-site, modified duty into established return-to-work programs
• Evaluate strategies for approaching and vetting local nonprofit organizations
• Summarize legal considerations when partnering with nonprofit organizations
• Compose and communicate functional job descriptions fitting
nonprofit opportunities