ICT to Host Workers’ Comp Conference

The Insurance Council of Texas will host its 2005 Workers’ Compensation Conference in Austin on Sept. 7. State Representative Burt Solomons of Carrollton, author of House Bill 7, the sweeping workers’ compensation legislation passed during the regular session of the 79th Texas Legislature, will be the conference keynote speaker.

Solomons’ morning address will kick-off the conference beginning at 9 a.m. He will be followed by Shannon Phillips Meroney, a senior attorney with Thompson Coe Cousins & Irons and Austin lobbyist for the insurance industry. Meroney provide an overview of the workers’ compensation legislation. Her remarks will be followed by a round table panel discussion.

The panelists will discuss recently passed workers’ compensation reform legislation, challenges that the new system will face and expectations about the impact the reforms will have on the Texas system. Panelists include: State Representative Helen Giddings of Desoto, chair of the House Business & Industry Committee; Lucinda Saxon, Governmental Affairs Manager at the Texas Association of Business; Richard Levy, Legal Director of the Texas AFL-CIO; David Henkes, M.D., a Texas physician representing the Texas Medical Association; and Richard S. Geiger of Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons. Geiger is general counsel for the Insurance Council of Texas.

The luncheon speaker is Jane Stone, a partner at the law firm of Stone Loughlin & Swanson who will discuss the use of ethics in our daily business.

The conference’s afternoon session will offer an overview of legislative changes impacting the indemnity benefit dispute resolution process by Robert Graves, Jr. of the law firm of Burns Anderson Jury & Brenner. Lisa Hannusch, president of the The Hannusch Group will explain the role of healthcare networks in workers’ compensation insurance.

The conference will conclude with a presentation by Julie Shank, R.N., a recognized authority on the Texas workers’ compensation system, who will discuss how the workers’ compensation reform legislation will impact medical benefits and other significant issues.

Registration and a continental breakfast for the conference will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the Omni Austin Hotel Southpark, 4140 Governors Row, in Austin, Texas.

Persons interested in registering for the conference may do so online at www.insurancecouncil.org/WorkersComp.

Additional information about the conference can be obtained by contacting ICT’s Cynthia Haywood at (512) 444-9611 or e-mail chaywood@insurancecouncil.org.