March 30, 2023 — Work Comp Central has started its 2023 series of podcasts with an interview with Bill Zachry, a prominent figure in workers' comp for a long time, former risk manager for Safeway Markets, and winner of the Risk and Insurance Management Society Risk Manager of the Year award in 2014 (among other accolades). We'd call Bill a grand old man of comp, but he's younger than your correspondent, so we'll go easy on the "old" bit.
If workers' comp is a significant part of your portfolio, we suggest taking 30 minutes to listen to the podcast ( Bill Zachry: Who gets paid to do the right thing? (buzzsprout.com) ). After a couple minutes of host chat, Bill gets into several significant observations about how to make comp work better. Here are a few highlights:
- Why having a serious comp claim of your own makes you a better claim manager*
- How to reduce comp costs by 40 percent in the real world
- How to deal with the misaligned financial incentives built into the comp system
- How attorneys "disable" their own injured worker clients
- How to deal with chronic pain claims
These are just a few of the topics covered in this wide-ranging interview. You might also want to hear Bill's answer to the question: "What's the best-kept secret in the comp industry?" A podcast is a thin rendition of the pleasure of sitting down with Bill face to face, but do yourself a favor — take a listen.
*An experience Bill and I share; hence the point is very well taken. When he talks about providing injured workers with the best care from the best doctors, he's not mouthing platitudes. We both know from our experience what it means to be a claimant and how your future hangs in the balance.
Author
Dr. Gary Anderberg
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