The Insurance Journal reports that cost containment is the number one priority of employers (3/19/12 issue). Nearly half of the employers surveyed recently reported a Workers’ Compensation premium increase.
The latest statistics show approximately $60 billion in benefits paid almost equally divided between medical costs and payments directly to injured workers and their families.
Employers are now being much more proactive in contesting and defending Workers’ Compensation claims. The use of occupational health professionals to help to reduce and control workers compensation costs is now playing a more significant role.
At the upcoming SEAK National Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Medicine Conference, (July 16, 2013) Attorney H. Douglas Jones will be presenting: Critical Mass in Reducing Workers’ Compensation Costs – Occupational Health Care Professionals
Attorney Jones will go beyond the traditional defenses and provide advanced strategies to demonstrate the critical role occupational health professionals play. He will explain the interaction between the employer, carrier and TPA (third party administrator), defense counsel, the workers’ attorney, treating physicians, IME physicians, vocational rehabilitation experts, and the adjudicator. Attorney Jones will discuss strategies and a defense “team” approach that will significantly reduce workers’ compensation liability.
H. Douglas Jones, Esq., is the Member-in-Charge of the law firm Jones Howard Law, PLLC with offices in Florence, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. He provides state-wide representation of employers, TPA’s and carriers in workers’ compensation and related matters. He received his BA from the University of Kentucky in Journalism and his JD from Northern Kentucky University – Salmon P. Chase College of Law, where he also taught a course in workers’ compensation law. Attorney Jones has written extensively and lectured both nationally and internationally on all aspects of workers’ compensation law. He was selected as a member of The Best Lawyers in America and Best Kentucky Lawyers. He is co-author of three editions of Workers’ Compensation in Kentucky. He was selected as a Fellow in the ABA College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. Attorney Jones has served on the Board of Directors of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network (NWCDN.com)