Workers' Compensation Boot Camp Information

Boot Camp 2015
Atlanta Claims Association
Annual WC Seminar
February 5, 2015
8:00-9:00: Registration and Breakfast
9:00-9:10 Welcome and Introductory Remarks:
Greg Presmanes, Acting Chair, Workers' Compensation Seminar Committee
Kowalski Brown, President, Atlanta Claims Association
9:10-9:30: Honorable Frank McKay, Chairman, State of the Board
9:30-10:30: Moving Files to Closure
Strategies and techniques to push claims to file closure, from seasoned claims professionals, defense attorney,
and vocational rehabilitation supplier. Issues to be addressed include how to position a case for either
litigation or settlement negotiations, reserving, how to use light duty job offers both with the insured and
elsewhere to reduce time loss and disability benefits, tips on how to control medical expenses, third party
subrogation recovery, litigation management, and strategies for negotiating fair but cost effective
settlements.
Moderator: Doug McCoy, McCoy Consulting
Panel Members:
Garwynne Wiggins, Sr. Claims Professional, Sedgwick CMS
Yvonne Parker, Taylor & Associates, Vocational Rehabilitation Supplier
Sidney Mintor, defense attorney.
10:30-10:45: BREAK
10:45-11:45: Compensability
Making sense of the confusing case law on compensability: When does an accident arise in and out of the
employment? When are accidents idiopathic and not compensable? There are appellate court decisions
that can seem confusing. Hear the latest developments on this conflicting issue, from experienced counsel
for the defense, for the injured worker, and from an Administrative Law Judge.
Moderator: Hon. Viola Drew, Administrative Law Judge, State Board of Workers' Compensation;
Panel Members:
Lynn Olmert, Carlock, Copeland & Stair, LLP;
Susan Sadow, Susan J. Sadow, PC.
11:45-12:45: LUNCH.
12:30-12:45: Ann Bishop, President, Kid's Chance of America
12:45-1:45: When is Back Surgery Really Appropriate?
When is it better than pain management? What happens when back surgery doesn't work? Advice
on how to use pain management effectively, both before surgery, and when surgery doesn't work.
A pain management physician's view of when back surgery is really worth the risk.
Dr. Victor Allen Chin, Pain Management Specialist
Physicians Rome Surgery Center
1:45-2:00: BREAK
2:00-4:00: Mock Trial
We will present a mock trial on the issue of whether a catastrophic designation can be terminated
when the injured worker reaches retirement age. This issue is very important in settlement
evaluations to reduce the cost of paying out the indemnity; benefits to the 350 and/or 400 week caps,
or for the injured worker’s lifetime. This is loosely based on a true case, that was decided by the
Hon. Meg Hartin, Administrative Law Judge, State Board of Workers' Compensation, and affirmed
on appeal by the Appellate Division.
Moderator: Warren Sponsler (defense attorney)
Sponsler, Bishop, Koren & Hammer, PA
Participants:
Tom Holder (claimant attorney); Shannon Rolen (claimant) of J. Franklin Burns, PC; Judge Meg Hartin;
Jan Braunstein (FCE Expert); Earl Thompson (Vocational Rehab expert); Dr. Victor Allen Chin (medical
expert) and Cherylann McGirt, Litigated Claims Coordinator, Entera (employer representative)
4:00: Closing Remarks, and Door Prizes