Just two things today – Let’s start with the CorVel – Fort Worth PD incident.  After a police officer was shot, CorVel sent a nurse to the hospital, where the nurse was accused of asking “inflammatory” questions by an outraged Mayor.  This hit the print and video media, and CorVel has been pilloried by some for “insensitivity”.

My take is this appears to be blatantly unfair to CorVel and the responding nurse.

According to a piece in WorkCompCentral this morning, an internal investigation at CorVel indicates the nurse acted appropriately; CorVel is supposed to send a nurse immediately upon notice of a catastrophic injuries – standard practice across the industry. The nurse has a list of questions to ask, including the condition of the injured employee.  Evidently the nurse asked the family these questions, and the family was upset.  According to CorVel, the police liaison person mishandled the nurse’s visit.

I’m no CorVel fan, but they are getting a raw deal here.  CorVel has apologized to the family; from what I’ve read it looks like the Mayor is the one who should be doing the apologizing.

Bob Wilson has a slightly different perspective; he notes timing is everything.  True indeed, altho in this case CorVel would have been damned if the nurse wasn’t doing what s/he was supposed to when s/he was supposed to.

Coming on the heels of a not-favorable earnings report – with lower overall earnings driven by declining profits on the TPA and network businesses – this must make for some unhappy execs at CorVel HQ.

Maryland’s dropped the ball on doc dispensing in work comp

I’ve got to take state legislators, a few insurers, and the regulators to task here.  A number of stakeholders signed a letter agreeing to not propose legislation to address doc dispensing for the next two years.  They based this decision on data provided to the Workers’ Compensation Commission, data that – according to the Commission’s Chair – showed a decrease in physician dispensing from 2011 to 2014.

The Chair – Karl Aumann – is a good man, but I have to challenge this assertion.  I haven’t seen the report that Chairman Aumann is referring to, but hope to get a copy.  In the interim, I defer to WCRI, which reports an increase in doc dispensing in Maryland.  For some reason Aumann doesn’t trust WCRI’s information, which makes him one of the very few people who take issue with that august institution’s findings.

What’s most troubling is the letter  – and the logic for the legislative hiatus – completely ignores the biggest problem with doc dispensing; medical costs are higher, disability is longer, and indemnity expenses are higher.  The “it isn’t as bad as it used to be” logic is faulty at best.

I’d also note the letter misstates AIA – the American Insurance Association’s “position” on the legislative hiatus.  My sources indicate that AIA did and does have a position; they were NOT in favor of a hiatus and wanted a bill that would address the core issue.

This is a big weekend – it’s the opening of the college lacrosse season – here’s hoping your team does well…unless it’s Siena…

While the dust is a long way from settled, it is quite apparent there have been some major changes in personnel among some of the big players in workers comp services.

Two senior Coventry staff – industry veteran and network expert Bruce Singleton and COO Chris Watson – have moved on, with Singleton reportedly bound for Multiplan.

Coventry has promoted a divisional operator to the COO slot.

Watson is now at OneCall Care Management; different takes on his role.  Currently there are two COOs; one (Dave Olson) over PT, T&T, and imaging and another (Will Smith) on DME, home health, dental and the rest of the business.  Will be interesting to see how Watson fits in.

Long-time sales boss and all-around good guy Bob Zeccardi has moved into a different role, partially replaced by Matt Dougherty, former eastern regional sales VP.  In account management, Linda Lane has relinquished her position as head of account management to assume sole responsibility for servicing a couple of major accounts.  Her replacement is reportedly Jeff Flannagan.

Aaron Quick, a key executive involved with some of Align’s largest accounts, also resigned recently.

And, in the only public announcement, OCCM hired a new CIO on Friday as well, this time from outside the industry.

Word is there may be more changes afoot in OCCM’s C-suite – if they haven’t a;ready happened.

What’s driving these changes?

I’d guess Coventry folks have been reading the proverbial wall writing and are only too glad to move on.

As for OCCM – major changes in sales, account management, operations, and IT leadership point to rather more dramatic goings-on.

it appears the Align folks are ascendant; I won’t speculate as to why Apax saw fit to bring in another operator – if, in fact, Watson is in that role.

We will know a lot more this week.  Here’s hoping this works out well for those who deserve it to.