Workers' compensation professionals from across Tennessee have the opportunity to learn from industry experts during for the 21st Tennessee Workers' Compensation Education Conference. Registration is now open for the event that will take place June 6 through 8, 2018 at the Embassy Suites Nashville Southeast hotel in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Once again this year, the conference will feature nationally recognized keynote speakers, as well as local industry experts, who have extensive experience in the workers' compensation field.
Jessica Stollings is one the keynote speakers at the conference. She is an author and president of ReGenerations, an organization that optimizes generational insights to create a flourishing workforce today and in the future. Stollings will guide conference participants through the steps needed to transform generational and all differences into opportunity. Using research, best practices, and real-life examples, participants will learn basic generational insights. The discussion will then move into learning and action and how to harness the collective strengths of all generations.
Kevin Glennon is vice president of clinical programs at One Call. He manages an extensive clinical education and quality assurance program for home care providers and in-house staff that oversee medical care coordination for post-discharge injuries. Glennon will outline the impact an increase in workers age 55 and older will have on the severity of claims, as well as the effects on costs and outcomes. This session will also address common types of injuries among aging workers, as well as the complexities regarding treatment, recovery and return to work, particularly due to pre-existing medical conditions.
Two industry experts will speak about best practices in reducing the number of opioids in workers' compensation medical care. Mark Pew is a senior vice president at PRIUM and a nationally recognized expert on chronic pain and appropriate treatment. He will join Dr. Jeff Hazlewood, who is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and is a popular speaker each year at the conference. Their discussion will highlight options available to medical providers can who are trying to prescribe fewer opioids to workers' compensation claimants.
Dr. Marcos Iglesias, who is the senior vice president and chief medical officer at Broadspire, will examine why some injured workers recover quickly and others do not. He will also discuss why there is so much variability in severity and duration of disability given similar injuries or illnesses, as well as why some injured workers get stuck in a delayed recovery.
Participants will have the opportunity to hear the story of Curtis Weber's return to work after becoming a double amputee during a construction accident. Weber was 17-years-old when he was working on the prairies in Saskatchewan, Canada. A grain bin he was helping transport came in contact with an overhead power line and Weber became the ground point for 14,400 volts of electricity. He was given a zero percent chance of survival, but Weber defied the odds. He will share the story of his journey back into the workplace.
Terri Bryson is vice president of communications and marketing, as well as athletics, non-credit robotics and workforce development at Motlow State Community College, the fastest growing college in Tennessee. Bryson will discuss the increase of robotics and artificial intelligence in the workplace and the impact it is having on Tennessee employers.
In addition to speaker sessions, the conference will also have an exhibit hall where participants can meet with various service providers, as well as senior staff from the Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) and other Tennessee workers' compensation professionals.
Applications will be available to document continuing education credits for attorneys, rehabilitation providers, and human resources professionals. Certificates of completion will be provided for other disciplines.
Participants will also have the opportunity to take part in a fundraising auction benefiting Kids' Chance of Tennessee. The non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization provides children whose parents were killed or catastrophically injured in a work-related accident with college scholarships.
