The WSIA Weekly, 1.29.16
Excitement
building for WSIA’s Spring Conference March 17th
Earlier
this week, we opened registration for our Spring Conference -- “The Doctor is In”
– taking place on March 17th in Bellevue, Washington. We’ve already
filled our exhibitor booths and attendee slots are being reserved. The agenda
focuses on the medical and health care side of workers’ comp claims management,
and we have a great list of industry speakers lined up. Check out details and
registration at this link,
and we hope to see you on St. Patrick’s Day in Bellevue!
Self-Insurance
authority bill introduced, heard in Legislature
Earlier
this week, Senate Bill 6602, sponsored by Sen.
John Braun, R-Chehalis, was introduced and given a public hearing in the state
Senate. The proposal, following the much-discussed performance audit of Labor
& Industries last year, would grant self-insured employers the authority to
issue their own allowance, interlocutory, and denial orders. While a modest
first step toward fuller claims authority, the proposal is promising. It is set
to be voted out of the Senate committee next week.
Also this week, Senator Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, introduced a bill proposing to create a joint legislative task force to study various issues in the State Fund and self-insurance regarding the use of Independent Medical Examinations. SB 6597 follows on a work session earlier in the legislative session on IME use among self-insured employers, which in turn followed comments in the 2015 report of the Self-Insurance Ombuds on concerns raised by workers about IMEs. It is unclear if SB 6597 will go very far, but the issue is unlikely to go away.
We
provide a weekly up-to-date legislative information service on multiple channels
during Washington’s legislative session on workers’ comp and workplace safety
issues. Check
here for our ongoing reports, or let Kris Tefft know if
you’d like to receive full reports regularly.
2015
Year in Review free webinar filling up fast
We’re down
to just about 25 log in slots available for John Klor’s complimentary 2015 Year
in Review webinar on February 23rd at 10:00 a.m. We’re capped at 100
log ins, so if you’re interested in this free training on the legal and
regulatory highlights from the prior year, reserve your space
today.
New website spotlight:
Still celebrating the launch of our new website earlier this month, we want to take the next few weeks in the newsletter to spotlight new or improved areas that members might not know about.
Webinar Archive
Miss a webinar you wanted to view, or need continuing ed credits on demand? Our entire recent catalog of webinars is now available for purchase and instant viewing:
Click Here for our Full Calendar of Events