Some people are in heaven here in Boston. There are statistics, graphs and extensive analysis, presented by skilled academics with many, many initials behind their names. The WCRI Annual Conference in Boston is the absolute Woodstock for Statisticians, Actuaries, and Cost Containment professionals, except this Woodstock happens every year, has bathrooms, and everyone generally leaves their clothes on. There is data galore for open and flagrant consumption by everyone attending.
If only we could legalize data for medicinal purposes…..
Most interestingly, while many of us have been talking about the future of workers’ comp, here in Boston we are likely seeing it unfold. This is because WCRI has a better grasp on trends and historical results in comp than just about anybody, and as everybody knows, understanding our recent past should give us a decent view of our immediate future.
The folks at Safety National are doing a bang up job of blogging about the various sessions via their Conference Chronicles blog, with 4 excellent articles appearing in our own Blogwire Friday morning. I don’t need to rehash the specifics at the moment, as their reviews are really quite competent and will give you details on what is being covered here. I, on the other hand, will do what I do best. Next week, when the dust settles and the attendees have all gone home, I will bravely weigh in on various topics and provide my customarily snarky commentary.
Please note, the snarky commentary will not be directed at WCRI or its data, which is overall very good. No, my snarkfests will be more focused on some of the trends their data reveals, such as scumbag doctors who continue to creatively utilize their patients as profit centers.
But more on that next week.
In the meantime, as I write this, half a day of data Nerdvana still lies before us. Today’s emphasis is primarily on the “State of the States”, as well as forward looking sessions on Resilience, Renovation and Reform. This has been my first visit to WCRI, and despite the fact that (weather wise) the world has ended here in Boston, I am glad I made the trip. I look forward to processing all I learned here, and converting it into my usual brand of verbose, snark filled and relatively useless analysis.
After all, this is Nerdvana, and someone has to do that job.