ADJUSTED

Season 3 Wrap Up

July 25, 2022 Berkley Industrial Comp Season 3 Episode 41
ADJUSTED
Season 3 Wrap Up
Show Notes Transcript

ADJUSTED welcomes the Co-Hosts and podcast team to wrap up and reflect on season 3.

Season 3 is brought to you by Berkley Industrial Comp.

Comments and Feedback? Let us know at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F5GCHWH

Visit the Berkley Industrial Comp blog for more!
Got questions? Send them to marketing@berkindcomp.com
For music inquiries, contact Cameron Runyan at camrunyan9@gmail.com

Greg Hamlin:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Adjusted. This is our episode 41 Season Three wrap-up. So super excited to spend some time with all of our Co-hosts today. So with me, I have Alison Marlow, Matt Yehling. Mike Gilmartin. Scott, Hope Remetta, Natalie dangles, and I even have our editor, Jacob Holmes in the background. So we literally have the whole crew that was with us for Season Three. And I might even put Jacob on the spot today, because he never gets any acknowledgement. So Jacob, if you could say hello to everybody.

Jacob Holmes:

Hello everybody.

Greg Hamlin:

He likes to stay in the background, but we couldn't do it without him. He spends a lot of time cleaning things up and cutting out all my 'umms' and 'uhhs' and things that I say that don't work out. And he also does a really nice job cutting fire alarms and bird birds chirping in the background and any of the other 100 things that can go wrong and a podcast. So we definitely appreciate his help. So if everybody maybe we'll just kind of go around the horn. And if everybody could just introduce yourself and what company you're with. That'd be fantastic. So we'll just kind of start in order that I guess I name people off. So let's start with you, Allison.

Allison Marlow:

Well, I'm glad to be back. I'm Allison Marlowe, Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at Berkley Industrial Comp. And it was really fun to be back here in Season Three doing another episode with you, Greg. Excellent. And

Greg Hamlin:

Allison's in Birmingham with me as well. So yes, we get to both enjoy the sweltering heat of the South in July. So there's that. Yes. So next up, Matt, you want to introduce yourself?

Matthew Yehling:

Yeah. Hello, everyone. This is Matthew Yehling. I'm with Midwest Employers Casualty, our office is in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, along the banks of the big muddy, Mississippi. Hello, everyone. Thanks for having me back.

Greg Hamlin:

Matt. We're glad to have you. And of course, the other fun fact about Matt, if people haven't heard is he started his own podcast with MEC. So if you run out of content, and you're the kind of person that just can't get enough workers comp podcast, now's your chance. You can hop on board, Matt's podcast as well. So

Matthew Yehling:

Yeah, it's MEC Connect. If you're looking for more enlightening workers compensation information.

Greg Hamlin:

There you go. There you go. All right. Next up, Mr. Mike Gilmartin.

Mike Gilmartin:

Yeah, thanks, Greg. Mike Gilmartin, AVP of sales and distribution at Key Risk. And I am currently sitting in the South as well in Greensboro and it is too hot drag. It's like 97 degrees. So I'm not here for it, I need the winter.

Greg Hamlin:

I grew up in the Midwest. So this is always a terrible time of year. And I usually have a roll that I don't go West into our Las Vegas office in July. And I'm actually leaving today to fly out there. So you know, while the heat and humidity is bad once you get to like 120. It doesn't really matter if it's humid or not. It's just miserable. So that shows how much I love you, Natalie, that I'm coming out to Las Vegas. Next ups Natalie, you want to introduce yourself?

Natalie Dangles:

Yes, I'm Natalie Dangles. I'm with Berkeley Industrial Comp. I'm Regional Resolution Manager. And I am in Las Vegas office where today it's going to be a high of 107.

Greg Hamlin:

All right, well, that's a little light. This a little cooler than I was counting on. Bring your sweater. Natalie is on our team at Berkeley Industrial Comp and does a fantastic job. She's a regional manager out west. So So that's Natalie. Let's go to Hope.

Hope Remetta:

I'm Hope Ramona. I am the Catastrophic Resolution Manager here at Berkeley Industrial Comp. And I'm out of the Lexington office here in the beautiful bluegrass. Thanks for having me again.

Greg Hamlin:

Thank you Hope and I love Lexington, Kentucky, lived there for about five years and will always have a special place in my heart. So probably the most beautiful airport that I've flown into when you come in and see all the horse pastures and everything in the kind of the rolling hills. That's definitely a sight to see. So definitely if you haven't done that, you should check it out, guys. And then we have Scott things got you want to introduce yourself? Absolutely, yes. Scott Fink I'm the Assistant Vice President of Sales and Distribution. I'm out of the Midwest and certainly excited to be back. Right. And you are out of Wisconsin, right?

Scott Fink:

Yep, that's right.

Greg Hamlin:

Which I don't hold against them. Although, as far as being an Indiana fan, for whatever reason, like it doesn't matter how good a team we have. In basketball, they always find a way to lose Wisconsin, so I always got to remind Scott that he tries not to rub it in too hard when it happens year after year after year.

Scott Fink:

It's difficult not to sometimes.

Greg Hamlin:

So and he's in the only place that's actually probably not miserably hot. So enjoy the weather while you can before the snow comes Scott not well. Finally, we have to take a pause. I introduced him briefly. Jacob's our editor, he's out of our office in Birmingham, Alabama. He wears a lot of hats. He's also appointed adjuster. So we're glad to have him help in this endeavor as well. And Jacob, maybe if you could share what it's like editing, adjusted, maybe give people the two minutes or synopsis of what it's like, having to get into the weeds and put together the episodes.

Jacob Holmes:

It's mostly like Greg said, it's removing a lot of if you're like me, you don't like to hear people breathe into the mic. So I take out a lot of that. Yeah, it really is just a lot of cleanup. It's very repetitive, very detail intensive. So takes a couple hours per episode, I think it's an average of about four hours of editing per episode of Adjusted. So I somehow managed to wrangle that and adjusting claims and doing some in house IT stuff on the side in the office.

Greg Hamlin:

He definitely wears a Superman cape. So we appreciate him helping with that. And there's a lot of time that goes in behind the scenes. So thank you for that, Jacob. Well, I want to just to kind of go around the horn a little bit and just give people's impressions. Some of you have done a several of these. I think Mike and Matt have done a lot. Natalie's done one Hope has done a couple I think and Allison's done several, but I want to just to kind of get your take guys what it's like to host an episode of adjusted. So maybe we'll start with the pros. Mike, what's your take? Haven't done this for a while?

Mike Gilmartin:

Yeah, I mean, they're fun, man. It's just like we said last time, it's like having a conversation with buddies. I think one of the hardest things about it is if the guest or whoever you're speaking with, maybe takes it down a road you weren't expecting or says some things where you have to like correct very quickly and turn it the other way, which you and I have experienced, but it's fun. I mean, I enjoy it. I enjoy talking to everybody. I enjoy hearing other people's perspectives, and it's a good time even with you, Greg, I have a good time.

Greg Hamlin:

Thanks, Mike. And he's right. I mean, that is hard. And we've had that happen a couple times where you know, an episode, you know, we I've had the opposite. Actually, Natalie had one where, you know, we I always do an outline. It's just a brief outline, because we try to keep it conversational, but it's just to kind of give me an idea of where we want to go with things. And Natalie and I when we met with Dr. Detling, like he was done with every single topic that I had to discuss, in maybe 15 minutes. I believe you want to talk about that experience and what it was like.

Natalie Dangles:

It was so much fun being a co host, but I did forget that Dr. Detling speaks so quickly. And he'll answer anything that you ask of him, but I forgot he speaks really quickly. And he was a great guest. And the one thing that I did learn from him and I wasn't aware of in the 14 years I've known him is that he had a prior shoulder and a prior leg injury in his youth, which is what attracted them to sports medicine. So you know, I uncovered that during the interview, which was really interesting, but it was hard because you're like, oh my god, we're done. You know, he's answered everything. But he was so quick. But it was exciting to co host especially being you know, Dr. Detling is in Las Vegas, he's one of the first providers that taught me worker's comp, I was a brand new adjuster. And now he's the director of the Vegas Golden Knights, which is so you know, exciting out here. We love them. So it was it was great. It was a great experience, I'd do it again.

Greg Hamlin:

Yea no, you definitely have to think on your feet in those situations, because you're like, Okay, well, how am I going to? How am I going to how many take us a little bit further and get a little bit more out of this so that there's less worth everybody's time to listen. So definitely appreciate you, Natalie. Now, Matt, on the other hand, usually, if it's like a really complicated medical one, I'm like, I'm throwing Matt in the deep end on this because he has a lot of the experience at MEC when it comes to Medicare compliance, which I do not pretend to be an expert on. I think I know enough, hopefully to keep us out of trouble. But Matt, what's what's been your experience cohosting Adjusted?

Matthew Yehling:

I, you know, as you said, we launched our own podcast here. And I appreciate now all the work that goes behind the scenes that Greg and Jacob and everyone involved with Adjusted does, there really is a lot of work, you know, just even the outline, and getting the people lined up. And hey, here's, here's what we'd like to talk about. And, you know, it's, it's really easy when you're the co-host and you give me the script or not the script, but you know, here's what we want to cover. And I'm like, okay, yeah, I can cover these, you know, five things like and we bounce it back and forth. And I do like that. It's conversational. And, you know, yeah, there's some questions that are scripted, but a lot of times probably more than half the time we're going off script and kind of flowing with wherever the person we're talking to takes this. So you know, I learned as much from these as As I thought I knew going into them. So it's it's been informational and informative for me to just really enjoy meeting the different guests and, and hearing a little piece of how they got into the the arena of workers' compensation is always interesting.

Greg Hamlin:

Yeah, that's been what's been the best takeaway for me in general has just been the ability to be exposed to people who are making an impact that I might not have ever have talked to. So, you know, and hopefully, I would have found some of these things on my own. But when you're working on putting together podcasts, you want to interesting topics. So some of the things like Plethy, where they're talking about remote physical therapy, I had never even considered that. And to me this, I felt like this could be a game changer. So the some of these ideas, as we've talked to some of these people and explored them had been really eye opening for me. So it's been interesting to see people who are changing things in the industry. Now, Allison, you've, you've done a few of them with me over the last well, almost two years, what's been your experience,

Allison Marlow:

I've really enjoyed having the opportunity to host with you. It's been very educational. I think that's one of the things kind of following up what you were just saying, the way we continue to innovate and grow is from learning. And it gives us a great opportunity to meet new individuals who are, you know, bringing things to our attention that maybe we wouldn't have had the time or opportunity to learn from. And so, my favorite, though, I have to tell you, and like the guests that we're going to talk about Tandeka on the podcast today, she was amazing, because she truly answered every question before we could answer it and made it very easy, though, to generate additional questions to talk to her about and to me, the hardest part about a podcast is just when if somebody is going and you go in the wrong direction, like you guys mentioned a few minutes ago, trying to think of the right questions to get things back on person, you know, back on track, can be you know, really be thinking on your toes, she was just such a joy. It was so easy. We, you know, for from my perspective, we were able to just hop back into the conversation and it was just very fluid. And, and I love that the even though we have outlines, it's not scripted. And so we're not this is not reality television. This is this is true conversation and getting to know individuals. And I think that's really very nice in today's society.

Greg Hamlin:

I completely agree. I joke all the time that I have new newfound respect for Oprah Winfrey. It's just because it's hard. It's harder than it looks when you have stuff moving. And you're trying to do it on the fly and put together the right questions to kind of move things along. Scott had the opportunity of actually though this was the first time we've ever flipped seats, and he actually interviewed me. And, you know, we had had some feedback of hey, you know, you all the question asking, we should we should kind of have the table's turned. And so I agreed to do that. Scott, what was that like for you? Well, to answer your question, Greg, I, you know, I would echo kind of what everyone else said. And when someone's a good conversationalist, and I'm gonna give you the compliment, because you're the person I interviewed. It's, it's very fun that to have that that conversation and to go through the podcast with them. And, you know, the other thing I would say, just from the podcast as an as a whole, in general, if, if you're a bit of an insurance geek, you know, it's something to listen to. It's kind of like an FDR fireside chat for insurance geeks. So you know, beyond doing the interview with you, I've enjoyed the podcast in general. Thanks Scott, I really appreciate that. Let's move on to Matt. Matt, you've probably you and Mike had done the vast majority of the Co-hosting, so you've probably had a lot of exposure to different ones. But in the time that you've been doing this, Matt, what what really stood out to you? Was there an episode or a person? You were part of the interview on that you thought this? This is something that I'm gonna remember?

Matthew Yehling:

I mean, we talked a little bit about Plethy already. And, you know, that was really interesting, you know, and that I went one direction with asking him, hey, you know, like, this part of this, you know, you know, supplementing the home exercise program, and are you finding, you know, injured employees aren't participating? Or is it kind of a catch 22. And he spun it around on me, and I wasn't trying to go negative or anything on it, but he was super positive about the whole exchange. And I think, as work comp adjusters, this is one area where I fell victim to this myself, you know, we get negative and we kind of see a lot of bad nasty things. And we go down that kind of negative mindset, rabbit hole, and he really kept it positive and spun it back and said, No, this is not, you know, to catch that kind of thing. This is to augment physical therapy. So if you're a physical therapist out there, he's not trying to put you out of business, right? But and if you're an injured employee, it's not to catch you not doing your home exercise program or not doing something so that work comp can release you it's really for how do we get these injured workers back to work as quickly as possible? How do we get them the best possible recovery? How do we ensure they're doing the right exercises at home? So he was really positive about that, and I really appreciated that. So that was one thing that jumped out at me about this year, the second one And you know, is jumping ahead probably a little bit is speaking with Joe Paduda. And, you know, I've read his blog for years, and really had an opportunity to get get down and talk about, you know, his bread and butter on pharmacy. And his knowledge of the situation is, is outstanding. And this is not a commercial for him. But, you know, having that and hearing that, like Scott already said, You geek out a little bit, because this is what we do all day. So and I think he even mentioned that at the beginning of that episode, like, wow, I don't know who's gonna listen to this. But I was kinda like, geeking out a little bit, because it's, to me, it's, it's interesting, and I can talk about this stuff all day. So I really appreciated that episode and, and gleaned a lot from his insight into the situation of pharmacy, as well. So those those two were probably at top, it's hard to say, because I mean, we speak to so many interesting people. And, I mean, yeah, I don't want to get too far ahead on some of the other episodes we covered. But to me, those were probably two of the big highlights that I really appreciated and learned a lot from those two gentlemen.

Greg Hamlin:

I thought it was fantastic. And just like you, I followed his blog, you know, since I'd been an adjuster, so you know, getting a chance to sit down and talk to him. You know, I met him at conferences over the last few years. But he just has a wealth of knowledge. So having somebody who, and I always love talking to those people who are sitting in positions where they are interacting with lots of different carriers and see lots of different problems and understand it maybe at a different from a different vantage point than where I'm sitting. And I thought he brought a lot of that. Mike, you talk to the other big work comp guru and Bob Wilson with me. What stood up with our discussion with Bob for you, Mike?

Mike Gilmartin:

Yeah, Bob's pretty captivating guy. I think he's very charismatic. He was fun to talk to, I think the biggest thing, and we've talked about it on other podcasts, too, is just kind of changing the narrative of work comp. It's historically so adversarial and kind of slow and you know, statutory and everything else. And kind of changing some of the ways we say things and use different verbiage vermouth like you know, recovery versus claim in and an adjuster and just his talk about changing the narrative that goes along with work comp was pretty cool. And he has a different perspective, like you said, where he's not obviously not a carrier, and he's not an employer. So it's interesting to get his perspective, because he deals with with both and he obviously deals with a lot of injured workers as well. So I thought he brought a unique perspective to our conversation from from that standpoint, what did you think?

Greg Hamlin:

Yeah, I agree. I really liked Bob, I think he brings a lot of energy. And he's far enough away from the weeds that he's able to kind of see things maybe a little bit differently. And I thought that that was really nice in that, you know, it's hard if you've been if you've come up through claims, and you started as an adjuster, you've had enough times where you've been burned. And even if it's the 1%, those one percents can often be very loud. And it's easy to get to a place where you feel it starts to feel a little bit jaded. So having somebody who didn't go through that process and can look at it, maybe from a different vantage point. So you know what, like, really what we're about is helping people recover from injuries. That's what we're here for. And how do we do that better? It was just fun to to have that discussion with him. And hear some of his ideas. Allison, you already mentioned that you talk to Tandeka with me. And she's somebody I met through a friend who just brings so much energy to the claim space. And I think she was tackling a problem or is still attack a problem that we're trying to figure out? How do we bring young people into this industry? And how do we get them excited about insurance, which you know, it's we're meaning and purpose becomes such an important thing. Sometimes I think insurance kind of falls on the on the backburner as a less sexy job. So

Allison Marlow:

I agree, it's not a glamorous field. It's not something that you grew up going, oh, I want to go into the insurance industry. Little kids are thinking, oh, I want to be a firefighter or I want to be a lawyer, I want to be a doctor. Insurance is not in the forefront of people's minds and her passion for the importance behind education, early education and getting people interested in the industry. And all the benefits of it really fueled my fire. Honestly, throughout our conversation, she brought some great ideas to you and I about how we can be more proactive and understanding our younger associates and the opportunities for mentorship and opportunities to grow the industry, and how that they can then translate those messages back to individuals that are still in college to get them interested in a career. Obviously, insurance has been around a really long time. And you would think that there'll be more of a knowledge about it and the career the opportunities in their career and insurance, and it's really not And so I'm her passion to really draw people into it and understand and, and to help young people find jobs. Honestly, colleges don't do the best job all the time of helping people get down a career path. And I love that her company does that. So from my perspective, it just fueled like I said, fuel, my fire is generating some ideas for us to be thinking about at Berkeley Industrial Comp, and hopefully some other insurance companies will have an opportunity to learn from her and grow because we need young professionals.

Greg Hamlin:

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I really, if you're, if someone's listening to this, and you sit in a place where you are responsible for figuring out how to retain and attract top talent, especially young talent, I'd definitely recommend you just go through and listen to episode because she throws out so many resources and so many ideas that even if you tried three of them, you probably be better off. So definitely something to go back and take a listen to if you didn't catch it. Natalie, we talked about this briefly, you had the opportunity to interview Dr. Detling. So what's what was your big takeaway from Dr. Detling

Natalie Dangles:

He really cares about getting people back to work and back into, you know, whatever they enjoy doing. And I think that stems from, you know, he wanted to be an athlete, and he had a career ending injury in high school, and he knows what it's like to not be able to go back to doing what you love. And fortunately, he was able to pivot, and bring that passion into medicine, and still be around athletes and workers. But that's what I took from it, that he genuinely cares about people, and really wants to see them get back to doing what they love, and getting back to be able to work for their families. And he understands their stresses, he does want to make it better. And the one thing that I've always watched from him over the last 14 years is he's always one that's getting up on the latest techniques, how to perfect his level of expertise. He's a lifelong learner. So that's what I took away from it.

Greg Hamlin:

Yeah, I definitely sensed all those things, too. I think the one thing that I hadn't really considered that was nice to hear from the other side was some of the frustrations with the work comp process, where he was talking about, like, I tried to get this approved and utilization reviews looking at this, and it's like a dermatologist or something that's looking at this orthopedic report. And I'm like, you know, I get it, we don't want to pay for something we shouldn't. But like, I can't even really have an educated conversation with this person, because their specialty doesn't line up. And there are some games like that, where you can see there. There are pain points, even on the provider side, sometimes with the system, and it's not always insurance generated sometimes a statutory. Yeah. So I, I really enjoyed his take on that, Matt you, you had the chance to tackle Nurse Case Management with me, which is something that we talked a little bit in some of the earlier seasons about, but not really at that level of depth where we actually spoke with a nurse case manager, who was running her own company in Molly Kailyn. And that what stood out to you in our episode with Molly?

Matthew Yehling:

Oh, you know, Molly mentioned, and I don't, I don't remember the exact quote, but something about, you know, when, when a mistake happens that you take ownership. And I think, like I mentioned earlier, we get focused in on the negative A lot of times, and we don't think of those negatives as opportunities and, and, you know, we learn from our failures, and I've had a lot of those in my career. So I would consider myself very learned, then maybe, but I think, you know, her talking about that and saying, hey, you know, you make a mistake, you take ownership. And that was a big piece of that. And, you know, we're all human, that, you know, I value when you have that nurse out there, and they're meeting with the injured employee, they're your eyes and ears on the ground. So she mentioned in talking about that, and taking the ownership of that, and how they humanize the situation and our, you know, our, your, your medical expertise, a lot of times either title phonically or with with the injured employee at the doctor's office. So, you know, taking that, and learning, you know, that you continue to grow and expand and, and, you know, just the injured employees, as Michael said, and we've said, you know, and how Bob just mentioned, you know, changing the lingo and, and worker's compensation, you know, when we're sending a nurse out there, it's not always it's not, I would say, it's not ever really a bad situation, right? We don't send them out there to, you know, do something to shorten the benefits. Yeah. Well, maybe, let me take that back. Maybe we do want to shorten the benefits, we want to get them back to work and we that our intentions are good, is what I'm trying to say. So I think she did a good job of relaying that and you know, learning from those her her own failures and mistakes and how do we turn those failures into an opportunity to grow and learn.

Greg Hamlin:

Absolutely. I still remember I kind of chuckled even just thinking about her talking about how when she was early in her career, and she had frustration with a doctor's office, and she was complaining to the doctor about the, the office manager and how terrible the office manager was it He's like, That's my wife. I just thought that was one of those moments. It's like, you know, whoops, yeah, so obviously, you just learn over time, you know, patience and intact. And, you know, it was fun to hear that story from probably 20 years before, when she was still learning, learning about workers' comp. So,

Matthew Yehling:

And I think she, she was a teacher, I believe it before. So she kind of had that teacher's heart and teachers mentality of continuous learning and growth. So I think that probably helps her in that field and probably transfers into what she's with the message she was trying to relay. But I mean, we all make those mistakes, you know, and sometimes we just kind of have to own it, move on, and continue to become better at what we're doing.

Greg Hamlin:

Absolutely. Also, Mike, I tease him a lot, because he's, I always say he's gone to the dark side, going to business stuff and is starting out in claims. You know, for those who don't know, Mike, Hope, and I actually all started around the same time, all for the same employer. And then Mike and I independently ended up in different Berkley Companies, realizing until later is like, Well, wait a minute, I think our paths crossed and hope and Mike actually worked together in Chicago, for previous employer as managers, and we're on the same team together. So kind of small world in general. So we all claims people, and then Mike has now gone to business development a little bit. And so that's okay. It's okay to go from the defense to the offense.

Mike Gilmartin:

No other jollity, Greg, it's fine.

Greg Hamlin:

So we need both right. As they say, in Alabama, you win football games with defense and offense, you can't you can't do it with just one. So. But Mike, you had the opportunity to talk to Insurica with me, and talk a little bit about the relationship from the agency perspective. And that's not always a window we see into very often, from a claim standpoint, I even think probably some carriers almost never have exposure to that on the claim side. So what were some of the takeaways, though, for you on that Mike?

Mike Gilmartin:

Yeah, I thought it was a good conversation. I think it sounds like, very straightforward, but the biggest thing he talked about was communication. I mean, I think in our industry, overall, there's probably a lack of proactive communication and making sure that the right people are involved in conversations. And so I mean, I think he shot shouted out Natalie, like, 700 times, so I don't know what she paid him. It's just proof that when you develop a good relationship, and you're proactive, and you communicate that good things happen with with an agent. And the other big thing I don't remember who brought it up was that every little thing that adjusters do to on a daily basis matters, and more globally. And so just taking a step back, sometimes understanding that what you do, and those little tasks you do every day are part of a bigger picture that deliver something to our agencies and to our policyholders is, is a good reminder for everybody. So I think that's, that's what I took away from it more than anything else.

Greg Hamlin:

I couldn't agree more, I think communication was huge. And I think, you know, it really stood out when he talked about like, honestly, it doesn't matter which carrier you go with, they're all the same, they're all equally bad. And really, what stood out to him eventually was just the importance of communication. And I think that's something we can all do a good job on. What's great about that is, it's something anybody could tackle, you just have to decide, okay, we're gonna we're going to let people we're going to let our agents know what's going on, we're going to communicate with them, so that they have the information to be successful. So I thought was a great takeaway of just some small things that we could do to really move the needle. And, and was a a good discussion overall. Now, Matt, I know we talked about this some already with Plethy and remote physical therapy. This is obviously new, and we were both trying to kind of get our arms around what what does this even mean? And I think I went into it, assuming one thing and as we got further into the interview, I really got I think I understood better their mission and what they were trying to accomplish, not to rehash our conversation earlier Matt, what stood out to you with the Plethy discussion?

Matthew Yehling:

Yeah, 100% What? Yeah, I was on. I did the 180 like you did thinking, oh, you know, this sounds interesting. I think I know where he's going. But then it's totally, you know, learned what the mission of you know, the that the technology and how it's impacting and changing you know, things so quickly, I think was the message like workers comp is probably the slowest animal, right? We don't change and we don't adjust quickly. And Raja was hitting this from, you know, the tech world. And we talked a lot about like, why did you? Why did you do this? And we joked, like, well, he said, I saw the need. And I joke with him, I think I said something to the effect of, like, there's a lot of problems and worker's comp that can be fixed, fixed. But he's tackling that head on. And I really learned a lot from that interview and talking to him and changing my own perspective of, you know, the home exercise program and, and what Plethy is doing and augmenting physical therapy, they're not substituting you know, physical therapy and the benefit of the program. So, again, not a commercial for him either, but just the the ideas and the impacts that one person and one organization can have on the industry. And, and we are very slow to change, but it's coming and things are changing. So I think we need to be ready for that. And you know, the changes that Bob and everyone else is bringing that we've talked a little bit about before, like, we have to be ready to adjust and to change, and to be open to those changes. So I think that's the biggest thing I probably took away from that interview with with Raja was, there's a lot of things I'm probably stuck in my ways on. And he really kind of opened my eyes on what else in the industry can be changed? And how am I impacting that? And how can I be a part of that change and be more adaptable to that versus, you know, sticking to things that I've done historically, because that's the way we've always done it type of mentality. So trying to break that down and then be a positive change.

Greg Hamlin:

I agree. And I think one thing that really stood out to me in that whole interview was just the gamification of doing something that is part of someone's rehab, like I think about Fitbits, and how Fitbits has changed things where people do step challenges, and they challenge each other. And they do, they can follow along on their phone, and they can see their progress, and they can compete against other people. While there's not necessarily the competition aspect there, there is a certain fun factor almost of being able to open your phone up and track your progress and see how your whole exercise is going. And I know for me, that's something that when I had some home exercises, I probably wasn't as compliant as I should have been. And I joke I know several other people who I'm friends with that weren't as compliant need to get those caravans and they sit in a box around the table instead of actually being used the way that they were intended. And so anything to help move that forward. So then you don't have the unintended consequences of frozen shoulders and things like that. I just, I'm fascinated by it. So it'll be interesting to see how that fits into our, our space. Hope you had a really interesting one in that it was the only time we've actually talked to an injured worker that was one of our injured workers. And so Hope had the task of doing an interview with an injured worker, which is a bit different, right? Because a lot of the people who we talk to you are used to speaking at conferences, and, you know, giving presentations. And our interview, that Hope I and did was with an injured worker who was a blue collar worker, hope talking about that.

Hope Remetta:

I'm so grateful, Jamie was willing to talk to us, I think he did a beautiful job of showing the humanity of insurance, right, that our injured workers are so much more than an injured worker and a claim, right, that they're family, they have personal struggles, they, you know, he talks a lot about his daughter as being his motivation. And if we're, you know, not just treating our injured worker, but seeing them holistically, that that we can get them, you know, that we can help provide them better services. And Jamie, you know, he he was such a unique, unique injury in terms of catastrophic injuries, right, he had a very significant traumatic brain injury. So much so that we, quite frankly, weren't sure whether or not he was going to make it. And he has had a full recovery, which is phenomenal, and had it very, very, very quickly. He was back to work, regular duties and four months and, and, you know, talking to him about that experience and listening to him talk through the mindset that he had to have in order to continue to progress himself. And the importance of having a positive mindset, but also not only having the positive mindset, but recognizing that not every day, are you going to wake up happy, right? Not every moment? Are you going to be just like, oh, I can do this. I can do this, but recognizing that it's the bounce back, right? But that you can allow yourself to have that moment or those 30 minutes. And then you need to redirect yourself in that ability to pivot yourself and to pivot your mind to keep yourself moving forward. And I genuinely believe that had he not had that mindset his outcome would have been significantly different. Heck, we see that quite often right and our cases, and a difference and injured worker having a positive outlook on their capabilities. And it's something important. I think Natalie may have even mentioned her interview with the gentleman talking about, you know, getting back to things you love, right? It's not just about getting back to work, right, it's about getting them back to, you talked about not being able to lift his seven month old daughter post-injury, getting him to be able to lift up his daughter and get to play with her and having something knowing them well enough to be able to help them redirect when necessary, right. But also for them to have that focus of, of motivation, changes outcomes on on how their recovery occurs.

Greg Hamlin:

I love that, you know, I, I think we're so focused on return to work, which is great. That's what we're supposed to be doing. But sometimes we forget, that might not be the number one motivator for somebody, it might be holding their daughter, it might be in he talked about taking a certain number of steps to get from his bed to the chair. Those small steps, those small goals were really what helped him move forward. And I was impressed with that. I just thought about my own life, and how many, how many of the successes I've had have come from small steps like that. And so it was just a reminder, to me even of like, how you, how you how you succeed and things. So it was great.

Hope Remetta:

And giving yourself grace to not be okay. Right. He talks a lot about this, you know, Jamie was I mean, he's been in blue collar work all this life, right. And he, when he's on at work, he's always doing stuff outside, he's never inside, he talks about he spends very little of his day inside, right?

Greg Hamlin:

His interview was outside,

Hope Remetta:

Right. So then you go from having this injury where now you're bed bound for a bet. And then you're told no, you have to sit in this chair, you know, this recliner. And you can really only move from, you know, maybe 10 feet at a time. And what that does is somebody and him giving himself the grace, that that's okay for this moment, right? This is not where I'm ultimately going to be. And I have this goal, and I'm going to get there and being okay with having the grace for yourself is huge.

Greg Hamlin:

That's great. So from there, Mike, and I tackled meeting with Brad Cantwell on structured settlements. And so when you hear structures settlements, I remember thinking, Well, I don't know if we can do this. I don't know if this is gonna be if anybody will be able to, like make it make the make it through. But man, Brad was great. Mike, what were your takes? Brad and structured settlements?

Mike Gilmartin:

Yeah, I mean, when you first told me I was doing that one, I thought it was gonna be a snooze fest, if I'm being 100% honest. Like, this is not the most fun topic. And it was actually the one I liked the most in all the ones I did this season. It I mean a little bit of what he was talking about. And it's tough to follow up Hope, because she had a lot to say. And it was very insightful. But most so it we work in a world that's so regimented. And I think one of the things I took away, or the biggest thing is that structured settlements can actually allow for a lot of creativity when it comes to settlement. And one of the biggest things is understanding and knowing what motivates the person you're working with, to help them kind of plan for what they need and what they want and utilize the structure for that. And it's a win win for both sides. So not only that, I think he talked a lot about, you know, mediations are generally very adversarial, which they are inherently. And this is a way to kind of break that down. And really focus on what people maybe want or need a little bit more than we do. And looking at the fact that there can be an outcome that makes both sides happy. So it was fascinating talking to him, and how long he's been in the industry. And it was much more interesting than I thought it would be Greg,

Greg Hamlin:

He has some great stories. So just, you know, win-win situations where he was able to make an impact on somebody's life. And, and I actually I think what I found the most interesting is that like, what it seemed like anyway, what keeps him going or what gets him up is finding these solutions that make people be able to move on with their lives and find happiness. And I was just like, you know, that makes sense. And so I really appreciated him and the time he spent with us and thought there were some great things there. And really, it opened my eyes, there's probably some opportunities that we've missed with some injured workers where we could use that to really help them reach what they're looking for and also meet our needs.

Mike Gilmartin:

I think we missed out on a lot because people are scared to use them. I think people just don't understand it. They don't understand the process, how it works, how to get them involved. And so I think it's one of the things is an adjuster, when you have 500 things to do. You're like, I don't even know where to start. And so, I mean, it's as simple as they're the experts, give them a call, involve them in the case and and let them kind of do what they do. But yeah, I think it's an opportunity that's missed a ton, especially for me when I was an adjuster and a manager. We just don't use them enough.

Greg Hamlin:

I agree. It's structures We're going to be difficult. I took Matt and I said, Let's go tackle Medicare, let's do two episodes on. Let's, let's start with a with Ametros. And talk about, you know, the funded accounts and then go right from there to Medicare compliance, which has to be the most exciting thing. You know, I don't know if the World Cup can compare to Medicare compliance, but that I had the task of tackling that. So Matt, what was your take on those two?

Matthew Yehling:

You know, Mike was talking about snooze fest, I got thrown under the bus with the snooze fest right? I think Andrea did a great job with, you know, the financing of Medicare and talking about the alternative options of what a administered account or self administered account would look like, in that aspect of the MSA process. So, you know, there are so many options, I think we get stuck in that mindset of this is how we do it. They're at MMI. I offer a settlement, it's got to be a lump sum, I give them that lump sum. But what you were talking about earlier about, what does the injured employee really want? What's their motivation? Are they worried about that knee replacement? And what they're going to do in 15 years? How do you address that with them? So those three, these three really built on each other with the structures, this the administered accounts, and then talking to Dan, on the the MSA process and getting the approval from CMS or not getting the approval from CMS, which could be its own debate and episode, maybe a future? Future episode. But yeah, I thought those three were nice back to back to back, because they all do interchange so so much. And there's a lot of confusion in the industry about MSAs and doesn't need to be submitted to CMS and what's compliant? You know, when do we administer this? When do we not administer this? When do we submit this? When do we not submit this? So clarifying some of that and removing some of the some of that misinformation is great. Dan offered to you know, if you wanted to call them and get a free, free, you know, free, you get what you pay for, but he even threw it out there like, Hey, if you have a question about this stuff, call me. You know, and, you know, he's a Medicare compliance officer at a very large MSA company. So, you know, again, learned a lot those, you know, appreciated speaking to both of them and spreading that information. So hopefully, somebody learned a little nugget, and they can move that forward. And they can take a different approach, like, Yeah, this is a case that can be resolved. And the injured employee, if you're an injured employee out there listening, here's how you protect yourself. And if you want to have, you know, future medical consideration, it's not about getting that. And we always, you know, I think Dan or somebody throughout the eying the boat and buying the truck or whatever, like, that's, unfortunately, again, that negative kind of stereotypes that we've thrown out there without when you settle your case, you go do this, it's like, yeah, that's not the intention. And most people, you know, really have legitimate like, how am I going to care for my medical needs in the future? How am I going to do this? Will this money cover that and kind of demystifying that demonstrating how we can help you? Here's how you can continue medical and be in charge of it, right? Because I think our biggest thing, and my biggest thing that I preach at Midwest is, how do we put the injured employee back in control, let's give them the control back. So they don't have to call the TPA third party administrator, they don't have to call the administrator, or they don't have to call the insurance company and say, I want to get approval to go back to the doctor, like, let's put it back in their hands so they can manage their own future medicals. So I think that's a lot of what, uh, you know, I would say, those two episodes really did a good job of, how do we how do we put it back to the injured? Boy, how do we fund that and get them in a situation where they're comfortable administering their own medical going forward? And, and it's not just throwing it back at them so that they have, you know, it's all overwhelming, you know, like, how do we ease them back into it as well. So I think those three episodes when you and Michael just talked about, and then this, these two, do a lot of that.

Greg Hamlin:

No, I agree. And I think they're both complicated topics, but I thought they both suggested a nice job of making them understandable, which is sometimes complicated when you start getting into regulations and compliance and they both did a really nice job explaining the why behind why they exist and how to go about doing that.

Matthew Yehling:

And I don't think we I don't think anyone quoted any like legislation or anything, so it was so we made it through with that. Where we made it without that. I think we glossed over Chris more a little bit. And I think that was one episode that I you know, I don't want to go backwards too much, but I thought he did a great job. He was a recruiter, a national insurance recruiter. Just real quick, you know, when we talk about you talked about Tandeka and getting young people interested, but we also want to get people to stay. Right. So Chris talked a lot about what what keeps employees at, you know, if you're the insurance carrier, if you're the TPA out there, what keeps employees and I think, you know, if you want to learn a little bit of insight of what makes them leave, and what makes them stay, I'd go back and listen to Chris Moore's interview. And two really quick takeaways, there were, it's not none of this is rocket science, right? It's common, a lot of it is common sense. He mentioned that, you know, what makes people leave a lot of times is they only talk to their manager or supervisor when they're in trouble. And that's bad, right? Like, we need to change that, as an industry, we need to communicate with people. And be you know, when you if you're looking at Chris was a professional or a college basketball player, and I don't know if he went on to play professionally or not. But anyway, he talked about coaching, and what do coaches do, you know, if you're in basketball, you pull the guy to the side immediately, and you correct his mistakes so that he can get back on the court and be a performer immediately. And he learns immediately. And how do you think they learn from that mistake, they go back out there instantly and fix their error fix, you know, what they're working on? So I think, you know, as managers, that's something we can do better? And then what makes people stay right is feeling valued, you know, the opposite, right? How do you make them feel valued, you know, so increasing that likelihood that they're going to stay, make them feel valued. The only time you're talking to them shouldn't be when you want to correct a mistake, or call them into your office or calm and to room and make them feel anxious and antsy. So I mean, common sense stuff there, I think, very valuable, great, great interview, found out that, you know, he played against my college team. And you know, he's a great guy, and doing some good stuff out there, too.

Greg Hamlin:

I completely agree on that. And I'm glad you brought him up. We almost missed that, that discussion. And, you know, a lot of people don't probably don't know this, but I've got the stats behind the scenes, that's actually our most listened to episode of this last season was what causes people to stay, and what causes them to leave. And so that obviously resonated with people going through think, well, it's been an unusual hiring season, post-COVID world, or I guess, I guess we're still in it, I don't know, if we will officially be done. But the world definitely changed. And he did a nice job of really talking about things that haven't changed. That's really the same things. He just spent time on it and reminded us of what causes employees to leave their employment and go elsewhere. So thank you for catching that. Matt. Overall, I just want to thank each of you for your involvement. It's a ton of time, everybody who does this volunteers time, none of us has, where's a podcaster hat, where that's a full time job. So we all do this as an extra thing. And I appreciate everybody's time and doing that and the energy that they bring to it. I'm also excited about these this upcoming season, we've got some fun stuff planned. There will be two best of episodes, where I go through and share reshare, some actual audio clips of some of my favorite quotes throughout the time that I've been doing Adjusted. So stay tuned in for that. And then we'll go right into the next season which will take us to the end of the year. We've got some great things lined up already scheduled recording is already happening. And so I'm excited about that, you know, we're going to talk about from an economists perspective of workers comp, which we've never done that so that'll be totally off the radar. And we're going to hit on a couple other things that we've just never had the opportunity to do. So looking forward to that. Hope you join us for that. And remember to do right think differently, and don't forget to care. That's it for this week, guys. Thanks.