Colorado Compensation Conference 2017
The Colorado
Department of Labor opens its 2017
Workers' Compensation Conference on Monday in scenic Colorado Springs.
It is an ambitious three-day agenda, and has attracted over 175 attendees from
across Colorado and various other states, including 12 from Florida. The
quality of the programming is illustrated in the variety of attendees. And there are exhibitors and speakers, all told there will be over 300 people in attendance.
A big draw Monday afternoon will be the Regulator Roundtable. For 75 minutes, the Director of the Colorado Division of Workers' Compensation will moderate a discussion of what is topical in American workers' compensation.
The topics are not
published in the conference materials. The Agenda merely promises "agency
leaders from three states to a panel discussion focused on the challenges,
concerns and issues facing jurisdictions across the nation." And, that is
fairly general. What are the issues and concerns facing workers' compensation?
I am honored to be on the panel in Colorado Springs, but I am not the moderator. So, I don't know all of the topics that could be mentioned, and the free-flowing nature of a panel like this is truly a significant part of its charm. But, here are my predictions of possible discussions:
(1) The challenges
of the Grand Bargain. Workers' compensation is a series of complex systems. It
involves and affects every American, despite the vast majority never noticing
or appreciating it.
(2) Legislative and
regulatory policy development. How competing interests and perspectives vie for
attention and primacy in a complex and evolving political process.
(3) The debates and
challenges of constitutionality. Recent years have brought unprecedented
volumes of legal challenges. The very essence of the Grand Bargain, access to
courts, freedom of association and more have been debated.
(4) Challenges of
due process and equal protection. Legislatures have provided special benefits
and presumptions to some workers. First responders have come to enjoy status
and benefits denied to others; more recently moves to compensate mental
injuries and cancers have begun.
(5) Subjectivity and
objectivity have each been decried and championed. Recent trends are toward
standardization, with states adopting treatment guides, impairment guides, and
medication formularies.
(6) The injured
continue to struggle with the truth of pain. The promise of opioids has, for
many, instead been a disappointing lie. Patients have acclimatized, doses have
escalated, addiction has become reality, and death has loomed. It is an
illustration of the convergence of medical art, science, compassion,
legislation, regulation, competing interests and the challenges endemic to
workers' compensation.
Your panelists are
fortunate to be led by moderator Paul Tauriello. Paul is Director of the Colorado Division, and a long-time leader in workers' compensation. He brings decades of experience to the podium. Paul has been involved in a variety of national workers' compensation discussions, and is a frequent presenter, panelist and moderator
at national conferences. He brings focus to challenges that these systems
face.
The Oklahoma
experience over the last few years has been intriguing on a variety of levels.
The state recently (2014) abandoned its' workers' compensation court process
and joined the majority of states with an administrative hearing process for
claims. It experimented with an "opt-out" for employers, which ambitiously
promised the best of everything to everyone, but which the courts concluded was
unconstitutional. From benefits to process, there have been various
constitutional challenges in Oklahoma, and throughout Bob Gilliland has been at
the helm.
In the Oklahoma system,
workers' compensation is managed by a three-member Commission,
of which Bob Gilliland is the chair. He has practiced law in Oklahoma for 51
years. The Commission there provides regulatory leadership, management of both
claims and administrative adjudication processes, and acts as an appellate
court to review decisions. Oklahoma has been fortunate to have Bob's leadership
and experience on hand during its' transition to a modern administrative
system.
Georgia's workers'
compensation system is similarly organized, with a three-member Board charged with the
overseeing the administrative, regulatory, and adjudicatory processes.
Georgia's Board similarly acts as an appellate body, reviewing the decisions of
the state's administrative law judges (ALJ). Chair Frank McKay was appointed in
2013, after practicing workers' compensation for 22 years. His experience was
both in trial and appellate practice, and he served on the Georgia Workers'
Compensation Advisory Council. Several states have similar organizations
focused on the challenges of both legislative and regulatory management of the
system.
And, unfortunately,
they were unable to find a third speaker of such caliber and so yours truly
will join the panel. I am humbled to share the stage with these luminaries of
the workers' compensation world.
We will endeavor, in
the course of 75 minutes, to bring a variety of subjects to the table. There
will likely be agreements and consensus, but there will undoubtedly be
disagreement and debate. It is the "must-see" of the Colorado
conference. Fortunately, it is followed at 5:00 by the Welcome Reception.
Frankly, following 75 minutes of discussion this focused, involved, and
passionate, you are likely to feel you need the break.
I look forward to
seeing you at the Regulator's Roundtable, Rocky Mountain style. Sit in the
front, we will be calling on those that try to hide in the back rows!
posted by Judge Langham @ 5:10 AM
