The Illinois Chamber joined forces once again with the Illinois Self Insurers Association (ISIA) to host our Annual Workers’ Compensation Conference on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at the Doubletree Hilton in Lisle.
The annual event kicked off with opening remarks from Kassandra Silva, representing the Illinois Chamber’s Employment Law Council and Adam Cox, Executive Director of the Illinois Self-Insurers Association. Gina Rossi, President, Illinois Self-Insurers Association, also welcomed attendees and stressed how crucial this conference is for all Illinois employers.
The first session of the day was a panel discussion moderated by Lou Sandoval, President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. Panelists included Assistant House Majority Leader Marcus Evans, Illinois State Senator Seth Lewis, and Illinois State Representative Daniel Ugaste. They discussed how Springfield lawmakers view workers’ compensation and looked forward to expected changes in 2025.
The next panel discussion centered around employer workers’ compensation costs, transparency and management. Joan Vincenz of United Airlines was the moderator for the group. Panelists included Paige Bowling, Corporate Pharmacy Services, John Brown, Convergent, Mike Burnett with Marsh McLennan Agency, and Mark Walls, Safety National.
Following a short break, attendees diverged to attend one of three workshops. Tim O’Gorman, Keefe, Campbell, Biery & Associates led a lively discussion regarding the intersection between civil litigation and workers’ compensation. Ben Friederich, Abacus Research, held an interactive presentation covering the ever changing and evolving tools of the insurance defense investigations process. And Amy Bilton of Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie, & Lowry, P.C. dissected The Great Obliteration: How the Death of Chevron Deference Could Change Workers’ Compensation Claims Forever.
During the lunch hour, we heard from the Chairman of the Worker’s Compensation Commission (IWCC), Michael Brennan. Michael spoke on how Workers’ Compensation in Illinois is a 3-billion-dollar industry. The IWCC has implemented “CompFile”, which is an electronic filing system for cases, motions, and decisions. This system has been extensively accepted and continues to meet expectations. Michael ended with an arbitration update and announced that arbitration hearings will continue 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 attendees 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 Bambrick 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 groundbreaking 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 Rodriguez, 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 exhibitors. This event would not have been a success without you. We will return in late 2025 with another interesting and informative workers’ compensation conference.