The healthcare industry continues to evolve. The pace of change within healthcare is rapid, and the evolution is fast. There is great scope of practice advancements for physician assistants and nurse practitioners. More competition is greater for convenient and quicker options for care.- Legislative reform on the horizon. States attempts to make significant change to workers’ compensation system. Florida will again attempt to fix the plaintiff attorney caps that were found unconstitutional by the state supreme court two years ago. Pennsylvania had the part of its workers compensation statutes dealing with the evaluation of impairment found unconstitutional in 2017.
- Treatment guidelines and drug formularies. In 2018, California, New York and Arkansas will all be implementing new treatment guidelines or drug formularies. Georgia considered either treatment guidelines or drug formularies in 2017 and we expect them to revisit this again in 2018.
- Judicial watch. Every year around the country, judges modify the practice of workers’ compensation in their state based on their interpretation of the statutes. Along these lines, challenging the constitutionality of workers’ compensation statutes is a trend that is expected to continue in 2018.
- Raising workplace violence awareness. Given that 2017 marks an unprecedented awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace, we are adding workplace harassment as an issue to watch. employers small and large are looking at their secual harassment policies, training, and complain investigation processes.
- State-based system variations. Two people performing the same job for the same company in different states can receive significantly different workers’ compensation benefits. The very definition of an employee varies by state. From the administrative side, a lack of consistency with regard to state forms, data templates and even the definition of disability is very challenging to payers. Now is the time to address this issue.
- Fresh approaches to pain management. Everyone is keenly aware of the opioid crisis and the importance of tapering narcotics, narcotics avoidance, formularies, and deaths related to opioids. 2018 provides the opportunity to advance our understanding of these issues and willingness to change treatment protocols for patients in pre-pain, acute pain, and chronic pain states.
- Getting ready for the next natural disasters. Natural disasters can have a big impact on workers’ compensation and healthcare systems, including the risks faced by first responders, the disruption to your workforce, challenges to the benefit delivery system, and supply chain disruption.
- Facing down cyber threats. Health systems locally and worldwide were hit with ransomware in 2017 shutting down hospital and practice computer systems while demanding money in exchange for digital keys to unlock the systems. Workers’ compensation payers, service providers, and stakeholders are equally at risk. Past history shows companies without a solid cyber insurance program put their business at risk. Companies and customers will place even greater emphasis on cyber risks in 2018.
- Anticipating rate adjustments. Multiple brokers have indicated that the workers’ compensation rate outlook for 2018 is relatively flat. But with workers’ compensation being such a long-tail business, premiums collected today must cover losses 30 years into the future. As losses continue to climb, it is inevitable that insurance rates will need to increase in the future to offset those losses.
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