Category: From Bob’s Cluttered Desk

The healthcare landscape is undergoing significant changes, with a notable trend being the vertical integration of medical providers. This phenomenon, where hospitals or health systems acquire physician practices, has led to a shift in how medical care is delivered and billed. The presentation at the WCRI Conference in Boston, MA, by Bogdan Savych and Eric Harrison, delved into the effects of this integration on the utilization of care and patient…

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In the “Day Two Keynote” presentation at the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Annual Issues and Research Conference, Dr. Constance (Connie) Noonan Hadley, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, addressed the critical issue of loneliness in the workplace. Her talk highlighted the significant impact of loneliness on both workplace health and productivity, and she offered a series of recommendations to mitigate this growing concern. Dr. Hadley underscored…

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In the realm of workers' compensation, the impact of psychosocial factors on claim outcomes has been a topic of considerable interest and debate. At the WCRI Conference in Boston, MA, a presentation titled "Psychological Risk Factors and Functional Recovery" shed light on this issue. The presenters, Vennela Thumula, a Policy Analyst with WCRI, and Dr. Randy Lea, a Senior Research Fellow at WCRI, provided a comprehensive analysis of the prevalence…

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In a keynote presentation at the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Annual Issues and Research Conference, David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University, discussed the current state of healthcare in the United States and his predictions for the future. Cutler highlighted the uncertainty in the healthcare environment, citing factors such as bankruptcies, budgetary issues, and workforce crises. He presented two frameworks for understanding the healthcare landscape:…

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The ostensible implosion and suspension this past week of the image generating feature of Google’s newly released Artificial Intelligence offering, Gemini, has furthered suspicions and fears about the potential foibles and threats of the technology. It has been widely reported that Gemini’s’ bias would not allow it to generate images of white people and instead would only create images of “persons of color.” This included versions of the Pope and our nation’s…

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[playht_player width="100%" height="90px" voice="en-US-GuyNeural"] As March approaches, the anticipation for the 40th Annual WCRI Issues & Research Conference is building among professionals in the workers' compensation field. Scheduled for March 5-6, 2024, in Boston, MA, this event promises once again to be a cornerstone for those seeking to understand and navigate the complexities within our workers' compensation systems. And I am once again looking forward to attending and writing about this…

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I understand the United States Postal Service has some major challenges. They run 31,330 post office locations in the US, some of them with automatic postage dispensers in actual working order. In 2022, they delivered 127.3 billion pieces of mail. They suspiciously do not report how many pieces are submitted to them, but they do manage to deliver 127.3 billion to their appropriate destination. Well, a destination, anyway. And they…

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Far be it for me to offer two blog posts in a row that reference the entertainment franchise, Star Trek. I am not a “Trekkie nerd” by any stretch of the imagination, although I do enjoy many of the 973 or so series the concept has spawned. Through many episodes there are numerous references and suggestions of the various technologies that make warp travel possible in the 22nd century and…

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To be honest, this post doesn’t have much to do with Star Trek. Ok, it has nothing to do with Star Trek, except for a clever play on words designed to suck you in and take you along for a joy ride of erudition.  Or not. Whatever, you’ve come this far. Might as well slug your way through the rest of this morass. The movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath…

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Last week’s WCRI Annual Conference theme was “Disruption, Resilience, and Evolution,” and it did not disappoint. Held in Phoenix, Arizona, it offered comprehensive information about the current state of the workers’ compensation industry, along with insight into what we might expect in the future. The selection of Phoenix for this year’s event proved to be fortuitous regarding futuristic trends; more on that in a moment. The keynote speaker for the…

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