Tom Kerr
Director of Public Relations
It doesn’t take much to entice an Easterner to visit San Diego. In fact, I can count at least three friends who left our coast to visit “America's Finest City” and never came back.
I felt that same westward pull when I first experienced this aesthetic, warm, picturesque city a few years ago at a RIMS conference, where I was among the last passengers to begrudgingly board a red-eye flight home. As the Comp Laude Awards and Gala kicks off next week at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, you can bet I’ll be first in line to depart for San Diego International.
Taking a look at the agenda, I’m already feeling the positive vibes emanating from this unique workers’ comp conference. The brainchild of the late WorkCompCentral founder David DePaulo, Comp Laude was designed to herald the many positives of our industry that often go untold. Organizers for this year’s event have taken DePaulo’s vision a step further, by expanding its educational offerings to three days.
The expansive list of breakout sessions kicks off Halloween morning with a Medicare Secondary Payer Roundtable Discussion with nine expert panelists including PRIUM’s Rx Professor, Mark Pew. A noted leader for his efforts to manage the overutilization of prescription drugs, Pew will also offer his insights in an afternoon breakout, “Prescription Dilemma in Medicare Set Asides,” with Melanie Schafer, Esq. The session will focus on generics, off-label use, compounds, contraindications and weaning/tapering.
Another session that I’m looking forward to attending is “Why Diversity & Inclusion Matter?” The breakout is anchored by a five-person panel, including Genex’s Chickita Mann, MSN, RN, CCM. The speakers will offer their varying perspectives and experiences in promoting and implementing inclusion, with Mann focusing on cultural competence in treating LGBTQ injured workers.
Even I get into the act, moderating a session Nov. 1 with Genex’s Laney Bond, BSN, RN, CCM, Chris Bingham, MD, and Becky Curtis on “Empathy in Managed Care: Where is the Love?” The trio of esteemed speakers will share their wealth of knowledge from the physician, case manager and injured worker’s point of view on how to prevent injured workers from getting lost in claims. They’ll also offer strategies to incorporate empathy into the recovery process resulting in considerable cost savings for clients.
However, the event I’m really excited about is the awards ceremony honoring those who have significantly contributed to workers’ compensation advances over the past year. Among the finalists for this year’s awards is Beverley Brown, RN, CRRN, CCM, a Genex case manager and Heart of Case Manager winner; PRIUM’s Pew, winner of last year’s prestigious Magna Comp Laude Award; and Jeremy Romero, the New Mexico police officer who earned the nickname “Robocop” after sustaining a spinal cord injury while on duty and returned to work and walking through the use of an exoskeleton device.
It’s bound to be an inspiring and invigorating week ahead and I hope to see you there. Just don’t hold the cab for me on the way back to the airport.
