60 Summits in Montana
Overview
Summit Purpose
The Summits in Montana have three primary purposes:
- Promoting the adoption of the new work disability prevention paradigm for disability benefits and workers’ compensation systems embodied in the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) guideline entitled, “Preventing Needless Work Disability by Helping People Stay Employed.”
- Establishing an effective mechanism for getting the common sense and evidence-based recommendations made in the ACOEM guideline off the paper and into everyday use.
- Creating concrete action plans for stakeholders to implement the guideline in Montana, thereby lowering workplace disability (“medically-related” time away from work or on “light duty” with less than full productivity).
Background
The Labor-Management Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation, authorized under agency order by Department of Labor & Industry Commissioner Keith Kelly, outlined four areas to address in its project charter and workplan:
- Safety topics;
- Medical topics;
- Return-to-work topics; and
- Claim closure and settlement topics.
The Return-to-Work subject area has been addressed by a presentation on return-to-work from Richard Pimentel in September, 2007 and by a presentation on the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) stay-at-work/return-to-work guidelines from Dr. Christian in November, 2007. Dr. Christian's presentation addressed the 60 Summit concept of holding a "summit" in each of the 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces to facilitate wide-spread implementation of the ACOEM Guidelines. She led the Council and meeting participants through a successful “mini 60 Summits” exercise. Thereafter, the Council asked the Employment Relations Division to propose a workplan for conducting a Summit – or series of Summits – in Montana.
Summit Workplan and Organization
Create a broad-based planning committee of volunteers committed to propagating this new way of thinking throughout Montana that:
- Works under the direction of the Labor-Management Advisory Council and the Workers’ Compensation Study Project Core Team.
- Has a project manager from the Employment Relations Division assisting with coordination of the Montana 60 Summits effort.
- Plans and convenes at least three Summits in Montana for key stakeholders—employers, workers, insurers, healthcare workers, claims/benefit administrators, and others—in Missoula, Great Falls and Billings during the week of April 20, 2008.
Summit Process
Contract with Dr. Jennifer Christian and Webility to facilitate the summits and document the outcomes.
Ensure that each Summit:
- Introduces the new paradigm and the ACOEM guideline’s 16 specific recommendations.
- Challenges participants to decide whether to implement the recommendations in their own business, community and jurisdiction.
- Creates a respectful, independent, and high quality environment in which the participants can communicate and collaborate with one another to identify concretely how to implement them.
- Garners written commitment from participants to join with the State and LMAC to form an ongoing group that will work together over time to actually carry out the strategies and action plans identified in the summits.
For more information email or call Georgiana Kochman at 406-444-0982.
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