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We are all well into the New Year, gauging the needs of our customers, the changing workers’ compensation insurance marketplace, and business conditions in general. We in Texas are engrossed in another important legislative session that may hold major reforms in store for our workers’ compensation system. I am sure a number of you are involved in similar scenarios with your legislative processes.
All of this brings to mind the old thought that the one constant in life is change. In workers’ compensation insurance, things are constantly changing, either because of the behaviors of the system participants – employers, workers, insurers, medical providers, and attorneys – or because the legislative architects choose to change the way the system works periodically. Each AASCIF member, because we are major system stakeholders and players in our respective markets – indeed, over one third of our members are the only authorized insurer in their jurisdictions – must be working constantly to help improve the systems in which we operate. Our behaviors must reflect best practices and our advice and recommendations to policymakers must be aimed at constant improvement. Whether we are the only insurer authorized in our jurisdiction or one of many, we are nonetheless the “dedicated market” for our jurisdiction, to borrow a phrase from my friend Steve Cavanaugh in Louisiana. The dedicated market role means we must act in the interest of an effectively functioning market, which means we must focus internally as well as externally on constant improvement.
One way we can do that is by sharing ideas and best practices. Our “All Committees Meeting” in Las Vegas in late January got us off to a strong start toward doing that this year. Over 70 volunteers met on January 20th as 10 different AASCIF committees and spent the day planning their work for the year. I was impressed with the level of thinking and planning to provide information to our members through AASCIF news articles and committee specialty seminars. The articles you see in this edition are products of that work. I was also impressed with the sophistication of the thinking – four different committees identified issues that need to be addressed arising from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Cross-functional thinking is alive and well! I hope you will watch closely for substantive articles in this newsletter as the year goes on, and take advantage of the opportunities to attend the various committee specialty seminars where items of major substance will be discussed in more detail.
Change is also coming within AASCIF. A major project we have undertaken is to modernize the AASCIF Constitution. While the Constitution has served well as the basic framework for overseeing AASCIF governance, parts of it have not been updated in years, and the document does not address some issues that it should. Therefore, we have undertaken a project to amend and update it, including renaming it “Articles of Association.” AASCIF after all is an association, and it is appropriate that the title of our governing document should reflect that term.
The AASCIF Executive Committee has reviewed and recommended a new document for approval by the membership. We will forward the proposed amended document to all members with the notice for our annual meeting that will occur in New Orleans in June, and the members will be able to review and vote on it at that time. No major changes are proposed for the way AASCIF operates – just improvements and clarifications that we hope will give AASCIF a much-improved governance document for the future.
Finally, I hope you are planning to attend our annual conference in New Orleans June 12th – 15th. Our LWCC friends have proved repeatedly that they are really fine hosts who know how to put on a first class conference with lots of fun thrown in. “Ease of Doing Business in The Big Easy” is the conference theme, and we all know we must continuously focus on making our customer interactions easier and more effective. I know we will pick up valuable pointers on this challenge we face daily. I personally am looking forward to a great conference with fun extra-curricular activities for everyone, and I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Meanwhile, I hope you are having a successful year and I look forward to working with you as the year goes on.
Russell R. Oliver
AASCIF President
2004 - 2005
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