NWCR 2026!
The 2026 National Workers'
Compensation Review (NWCR) will be presented at WCI 2026. The second program will be Causation Analysis. A series of posts is listed at the conclusion of this one, providing a roadmap to the entire NWCR 2026 agenda.
Causation Analysis: AI as a Tool for Structured, Defensive Medical Reasoning
Monday, August 24, 2026; 2:10 – 3:10 p.m.
Grand Ballroom 8B (Entrance through corridor Grand Ballrooms 7 & 8)
The core of workers' compensation is medical. Medicine, it is often said, drives the analysis in these challenging personal injury situations. It is the physician who must answer so many of the difficult questions that the legal world has foisted upon them. While these include sticky subjects like maximum medical improvement, work restrictions, and impairment, the first task is often determining whether some outcome or complaint is or is not related to the insult or injury that has been alleged. Stated more simply, did that accident cause this malady?
Any casual observer of workers' compensation would be quick to realize that many documents are generated. These include the state-required reporting forms, financial records, and more. But we have also evolved to producing a vast amount of documentation regarding medicine. This includes patient-generated questionnaire answers, nurse or other paraprofessional interaction records, physician office notes, radiology and other diagnostic results, consulting physician reports, hospital status notes, and ultimately physician reports.
In the typical analysis process, this volume challenge is exacerbated by the inclusion of too many duplicates and repetitions. That is driven by the litigation process, the desire for completeness, and the fear of missing something important. Accuracy matters. Completeness matters. And time is most often at a premium.
In the 21st century, we have been presented with an opportunity to engage artificial intelligence (AI) in the collation, organization, and summary of these various documents. AI large language models (LLMs) are proficient at identifying duplications, ordering documents chronologically, and summarizing content competently. To be sure, these LLMs are not perfect and are as capable of making mistakes as any human is. But, they are powerful tools that may take the edge of that time premium mentioned above.
The 2026 NWCR will address frameworks, including the Bradford
Hill criteria, for analyzing causation. The "Causation Analysis"
panel will be
Causation Analysis: AI as a Tool for Structured, Defensive Medical ReasoningMonday, August 24, 2026; 2:10 – 3:10 p.m. (Room TBA)
The panel will discuss tools available for synthesizing the causation analysis, the application of frameworks for decision-making, and reaching causation conclusions that are based on the presented evidence. The goal is a process that leads to the appropriate conclusion as opposed to beginning with some conclusion that requires some justification or support.
There will be a discussion of how experts can appropriately delegate tasks in the causation analysis process, applying constraints and processes so that the outcome is produced efficiently and effectively without losing the primacy of the physician expert's scientific knowledge, analysis, and experience.
The ultimate goal remains the same today as it has always been. The parties all want the correct answer to difficult questions, such as causation. They need principled and replicable processes for analysis, synthesis, and rendition of expert opinions that are ethical, unbiased, and defensible.
In pursuit of those goals, balancing the capabilities and efficiencies of AI, the confluence of these tools and the causation analysis process is inevitable. The Causation Analysis panel will address the engagement of these tools in making a challenging process more efficient and effective.
Causation Analysis: AI as a Tool for Structured, Defensive Medical Reasoning
Monday, August 24, 2026; 2:10 – 3:10 p.m.
Grand Ballroom 8B (Entrance through corridor Grand Ballrooms 7 & 8)
Moderator:
Panelists:
Alex Alamazon, Esq., Almazan Law, Miami, FL
Mark Melhorn, MD, Mid-America Orthopedics, Wichita, KS
Heidi Sellers, Acrisure, Bradenton, FL
Heidi Sellers, Acrisure, Bradenton, FL
NWCR 2026 program overview:
Monday, August 24, 2026
1:00-2:00 Litigation Strategy
2:10-3:10 Causation Analysis
3:15-4:15 Stewardship of Truth
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
8:45-9:45 State of the States
9:55-10:55 Actuarial Insight and Mysterious Underwriting
11:00-12:00 Empathy
1:00-2:00 Rapid Fire Hot Topics
2:10-3:10 Beyond Exclusive Remedy
3:15-4:15 Strategies to Thrive in Times of Change
