June 11, 2008

Minnesota conference to examine issues that affect state's workers' compensation system

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) will sponsor its first-ever Workers' Compensation Policy Summit Conference June 17 and 18, 2009, at the Grand View Lodge in Nisswa, Minn.

The two-day policy and education conference will feature 20 breakout sessions led by experts and stakeholders in workers' compensation and occupational safety and health. The conference will examine current issues that affect employers, employees, insurers, medical providers, legislators, attorneys and anyone who comes in contact with Minnesota's workers' compensation system.

"Injury rates continue to fall, yet workers' compensation costs continue to rise in Minnesota and across the nation," said Commissioner Steve Sviggum, Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. "This conference will bring interested parties together to find needed balance and new ways to benefit our two most important stakeholders:  the injured worker and the business that pays the premium."

The breakout sessions will feature roundtable discussions about possible workers' compensation system reform ideas that range from how to break the workers' compensation drug addiction to advanced medical cost containment.

The conference will feature keynote speakers as well:

• Commissioner Steve Sviggum will moderate a rapid-fire debate about current public policy issues, including illegal immigration, obesity compensability and narcotics in workers' compensation, with a panel of industry, insurance, labor and legislative representatives.



• John F. Burton, Jr., editor of Workers' Compensation Policy Review, will evaluate Minnesota's workers' compensation medical costs and offer solutions for cost containment in the near future.



• Dr. Richard Victor, of the Workers' Compensation Research Institute, will discuss other states' recent reforms and cost-containment measures, and strategies for overall improvement in Minnesota's workers' compensation system.

Registration, speaker bios and conference information is online at www.dli.mn.gov/Summit.asp.

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News media contact:
James Honerman
(651) 284-5313