Throughout my career, I’ve learned to lean on a couple of very rudimentary, yet highly effective, elements to help keep me focused and composed in times of high anxiety and uncertainty. I hope this column will edify you and help you cope with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
On September 24, the Comp Laude® Awards and Gala featured eight industry leaders as part of the People’s Choice Awards, which is quickly becoming the signature event of the conference. This group of individuals represented the legal, medical management, client services, and marketing business verticals in workers’ comp.
Health care information technology may be making the world smaller in many ways, but wide divides remain in the care and claims continuum. Bridging the gaps in the workers’ compensation space requires a conscientious focus on collaboration, human to human. Collaboration effectively creates an interactive and adaptable system capable of delivering improved patient health outcomes.
For the past ten and half years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a group of very talented and passionate people. This group of amazing human beings has helped me to grow professionally and personally. For this I say, thank you! Be sure and stick with me and I continue to advocate for a balanced workers’ compensation system that ultimately benefits employers and employees alike.
The importance of the National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC) cannot be validated by someone continuing the work. Its importance was established in 2008 by U.S. Congress. Without appropriate oversight in the development of this content, anything might be called “quality” imperiling the well-being of injured workers. Here is my take on why “WorkComp Needs Quality Measures for Clinical Practice Guidelines”.
Sitting in a crowded legislative committee and listening to parties debate a bill inspired me to ask myself a very important question: When all is said and done and my actions are measured, am I truly a worker advocate? The… Read More ›
Is there a correlation between America’s increased #Suicide rates and the #OpioidEpidemic? The negative effects of inappropriately prescribed #Opioids on public health are multiple. However, the data shows that there is a promising #PatientCentric solution that is highly effective in preventing the inappropriate first exposure to opioids for #Patients.
#California’s success in removing friction from its #WorkersCompensation system hinges on all of the state’s stakeholders committing to work from the same standards and speaking the same language. Anything short of this type of cooperation is both counter-productive and an affront toward the collective effort to produce #ImprovedHealthOutcomes for California’s #InjuredWorkers.
As Louisiana HB 592 moves through legislature, Texas’ workers’ compensation system is again the center of national discussion. Texas Commissioner Ryan Brennan doubled down on advocacy for other states to adopt the Texas-model formulary proclaiming it “a model for the nation” and “the inspiration for many other states’ proposed formularies” citing improvements in return-to-work, medical costs and access to care. Surely, a system as unique as Texas relies on more than a binary list of drugs to accomplish the outcomes documented in its 2016 biennial report. Here is “The Truth Regarding Outcomes in Texas and the Guideline Never Discussed”. Due to reference of the Texas Labor Code, I welcome feedback specifically from the legal community on this piece.
As discussions about adopting #evidencebasedmedicine guidelines and #drugformularies become more common place throughout the country, it is imperative that the workers’ compensation industry have a good working knowledge of traits present in #trustworthy #EBM – not all guidelines are created equal. Misconceptions exist about the content, and the tools it powers, and who it benefits most. EBM is not primarily for cost containment, it not a license to deny needed care to patients, and it is not one-size-fits all medicine. Let me know your thoughts on how EBM can be better leveraged to improve the quality of care to #injuredworkers.
Carlos Luna News 