The profound challenges of the last two years continue to reinforce National Comp’s educational mission. As we select educational presentations for 2022, we’re looking for content that reflects these fundamental themes, common to all of us across industry sectors.

• Workers Are the Most Vital Asset. Essential workers have been dubbed the heroes of the pandemic, but all workers are essential. We share the goals of keeping them safe and helping injured workers heal. We’re working toward an environment where advocacy is no longer a topic or a program, it’s just what we do. Our educational content should reflect the strong worker-centric ethos the industry needs to meet whatever challenges come next.
• The Talent Gap Is an Existential Risk. Attracting and retaining talent is a core mission across the workers’ comp industry, now more than ever. But the talent crunch is impacting all our organizations. Staffing shortages lead to shortcuts and injuries. Safety training may play second fiddle to urgent productivity needs. Workers’ comp organizations must look to their own talent needs while supporting employers facing challenges of their own.
• Technology Is a Strategic Tool. The adaptability of technology has been at the core of solving problems we’ve never faced before, putting viable solutions into the hands of the organizations that need them most. Innovative sensor technology, AI-driven analytics and even facial recognition are now tools being used in ways no one could have imagined even a few years ago. We’re striving to infuse technology throughout our program offerings, with a focus on how it fits into the overall context of the problems organizations are facing now.
• Resilience Is Essential. As our industry weathers the remainder of this pandemic, we’re asking “How can we be better prepared for the next crisis?” With this year’s programming, we want to facilitate more discussions about the industry’s future, about the influences reshaping the industry, and about the tools employers and workers’ comp professionals need to adapt and excel.
• Insurance Is Foundational. When you peel back the layers, it’s clear insurance isn’t just about policies and rates. In an uncertain world, the contribution of brokers and carriers goes beyond claims, providing organizations with the essential support they need to solve problems and grow their organizations. National Comp’s mission is to embrace the full range of risk mitigation from prevention through claims management through risk transfer strategies, helping strengthen employers’ workers’ comp risk mitigation programs.

We’ve aligned our session tracks to reflect the scope of complex issues facing the industry now and moving forward. We seek presentations and presenters who will help attendees address the issues and trends they face across these categories. National Comp seeks a mixture of critical topics, hot-button issues and emerging challenges throughout these tracks.

• Medical Management/Pharmaceuticals. Navigating a path to the best possible medical outcome isn’t always clear. Advanced diagnostics and treatments aren’t always well understood. Meanwhile, the evolving landscapes of pain management and specialty pharmaceuticals continue to leave the employer and payer communities with more questions than answers. Industry professionals need fresh ideas to help them secure high-quality care for injured workers, while also ensuring that care is appropriate for each individual and cost effective for the payer.
• Legal/Regulatory. The legal and regulatory landscape impacting the workers’ comp industry seems to change by the hour, from pandemic safety compliance to the ongoing surge in paid-leave legislation and beyond. Workers’ comp professionals need innovative strategies for limiting current exposures and the latest intel on the trends that could impact them around the corner. We’re looking for content that meets these needs and can help employers get the most from their legal resources.
• Claims/Return to Work. The goals are simple: Administer benefits, get people better, get them back to work. But the roadmap to get there looks different for every organization. National Comp attendees are continuously looking to add to their arsenal of tools and strategies to eliminate obstacles that delay or halt recovery and return to work, including biopsychosocial issues, provider communication gaps and worker education. Whether injuries are common or catastrophic, medical-only or permanently disabling, payers and employers need up-to-date intelligence on the best way to get injured or disabled workers back on the job and back to their lives.
• Insurance/Risk Finance. With the growing complexity of workers’ compensation risk exposures, employers can’t rely on cookie-cutter solutions to manage their insurance needs. We seek presentations highlighting ways employers can more effectively partner with brokers and insurers to enhance their risk mitigation as well as leverage the best risk transfer strategies to meet their needs.
• Injury Prevention. Of course, the best claim is the one that never happens. Nationwide, employers are making great strides in reducing injury frequency, while claim severity continues to grow. In order to keep moving the needle, they need the freshest ideas on mitigating injury risks, fostering a strong safety culture, measuring results and getting the executive buy-in they need to support their efforts.
• Steal These Ideas! Inspired by our popular presentation of Teddy Award-winning workers’ comp programs, this track will feature employer-focused real-world solutions being put in practice right now and achieving measurable results, with peer-to-peer guidance on lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid.
• Industry and Talent. This track includes the high-level topics impacting the workers’ comp industry, including the intensifying pressures of the talent gap. What are the macro pressures impacting the workers’ comp industry, and what are their implications for the broader workers’ comp community? What are the trends that should be brought to the table, and what actions should be taken? We seek educational presentations designed to provide attendees with high-level perspectives and strategies that organizations need right now.
• CompTalks are dynamic 15-minute solo presentations — TED Talk style, but for the workers’ comp industry. CompTalks are designed to create a platform for the issues and ideas that workers’ comp leaders are passionate about sharing with the broader community.

Please take the time to download and read through National Comp's 2022 Proposal Requirements and useful suggestions for crafting a dynamic proposal.