When I went to law school they didn't teach us about risk management, nor did they teach us how to manage a workers compensation program, so I learned from the ground up, by attending RIMS in the spring and NWCD Conference in the fall. That's how I learned the field. Last year, for example, I attended RIMS in Boston and NWCD Conference in Chicago. In Chicago, I focused on sessions about the Federal Workers Compensation system and FECA to learn more about the similarities and differences. When I was new to workers comp, I came home with my bags loaded with brochures about new services. How could I possibly request an off-site vendor be added to my list of service providers if I didn't know there was such a service? How could I have asked for nurse triage if I didn't know the service existed? How could I ….. you get the point. You don't know what you don't know. Sure, I pass my business card out and network a lot at the conference, too, but that's part of the business. You meet knowledgeable poople and when you encounter a problem, those people are there to support you and give you suggestions on how to overcome the "obstacle-du-jour."

I speak daily with companies unhappy with their TPA or insurance carrier, but don't know the basics of cost containment. If you are even thinking of changing carriers or TPAs, I suggest you attend the sessions at the conference to make sure you are on the righ track. One thing I see VERY often is employers have misidentified their cause of their high work comp costs. They think it's the nurse case management or bill review that's driving the cost, when it is really poor management and operational practices.