DECEMBER 2024 11 Tim O’Gorman, Keefe, Campbell, Biery & Assoc. discussed the Primer on Subrogation Rights and Strategy. The day opened with a panel discussion led by Lou Sandoval, President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. Springfield legislators Illinois Representative Daniel Ugaste, State Senator Seth Lewis, and Assistant Majority House Leader Marcus Evans joined on stage to discuss how Springfield Lawmakers View Illinois Workers’ Compensation Joan Vincenz moderated the panel discussion on employer workers’ compensation costs, transparency and management. Panelists included Mike Burnett, Marsh McLennan Agency, John Brown, Convergent, Paige Bowling, Corporate Pharmacy Services and Mark Walls, Safety National. Ben Friedrich, Abacus Research, brought “show and tell” for his workshop on the Modern Investigator’s Toolbox. Amy Bilton gave an in-depth discussion about the Great Obliteration: How the Death of Chevron Deference Could Change Workers’ Compensation Claims Forever. The IWCC has implemented “Com pFile”, which is an electronic filing system for cases, motions, and de cisions. This system has been exten sively accepted and continues to meet expectations. Michael ended with an arbitration update and announced that arbitration hearings will contin ue to be held virtually. The next general session was the popular Case Law Update which detailed updates from Springfield and trends at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. Lisa Azoory-Keller and Adam Cox of Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie & Lowry, discussed recent cases that were seen by the Workers’ Compensation Commission. They provided attend ees with how the injuries occurred in the workplace and how the case was handled by the Commission. Lisa and Adam stressed the outcome of these cases and explained how future cases will be settled. Our last session of the day was a roundtable discussion on how obesity is driving cost and risk. Our moderator, Parin Chikani, Medical Account Director at Novo Nordisk kicked off the panel discussion. He explained the science behind obesity and how employees may use weight loss drugs to improve their health. Parin stressed what every employer can do to support their employees when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. Our panelists, Christopher Gibbons, attorney with Nyhan Bam brick Kinzie and Lowry along with Marci Rodriguez, Risk Management with UPS participated in a Q&A segment on how obesity has affected employees in their areas of expertise. Dr. Kern Singh enthralled the group with his presentation on Work Comp Spine Surgery: Fact or Fiction. He included the audience with quiz questions, and talked about ground breaking and cutting-edge use of minimally invasive and endoscopic outpatient surgical procedures. The final panel discussion of the day tied things together with a discussion of Illinois Workers’ Compensation Drivers. Bill Lowry, Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie, and Lowry, P.C. led the lively session. Panelists were Al Gapinski, NHRMA Mutual Insurance Company, Marci Rodri guez, UPS, Frank Totton, Caterpillar, and Preston Wolin, MD, Center for Athletic Medicine. They gave their thoughts on what changes in the law could help make the system work for employers and injured workers. We want to give a special thank you to all our sponsors and exhibi tors. This event would not have been a success without you. We will return in late 2025 with another interesting and informative workers’ compensa tion conference.
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