New National Workers’ Compensation Organization Formed

The workers’ compensation community has a new national organization and website to turn to for education, information and interaction.

The Workers’ Compensation Institute (WCI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to serving all members of the workers’ compensation community—risk managers, insurers, brokers, agents, employers, employees, and claims, medical, and legal professionals.

WCI has created a website and has Twitter account and LinkedIn accounts.

WCI is the organizing sponsor of the annual Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference (WCEC). Held every August in Orlando, the WCEC attracts close to 8,000 attendees and more than 300 exhibitors together for four days of intense learning, networking, and information sharing. The 2012 conference will be held August 19-22 at the Orlando World Center Marriott.

Now in its 67th year, the annual conference is familiar to many through the past sponsorship of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute (FWCI). The WCI and the WCEC are outgrowths of the long-established Florida institute. FWCI remains in existence under the WCI umbrella and continues its Florida focus, with the national organization providing a broader outreach across all states.

The WCI website contains state-specific and national workers’ compensation news and feature articles targeted toward claims professionals, members of the legal and medical communities, insurers, brokers, agents, employers and employees. In addition to providing information to all stakeholders, the website offers a platform for interaction and community building and promotes the annual national conference.

According to James N. McConnaughhay, founder of both the WCI and FWCI and general chairman of the conference, “Our national conference is unique in that we invite all members of the workers’ compensation community to participate. We believe that bringing people together in a collegial atmosphere of learning and communicating provides positive benefits to the workers’ compensation community as a whole. Our conference attendees include workers’ compensation professionals from over 35 states and a number of foreign countries. Our new website carries that inclusive idea forward by providing news and interactive opportunities to people from all workers’ compensation disciplines throughout the country.”

Source: WCI