Rapid Fire Hot Topics

NWCR 2026!

The afternoon of day two of the 2026 National Workers' Compensation Review (NWCR) at WCI 2026 begins with Six-Shooter Session – Rapid Fire Discussion of Important/Hot/Topics. A series of posts is listed at the conclusion of this one, providing a roadmap to the entire NWCR 2026 agenda.

Six lawyers and a brave moderator will strive to deliver the tribulations of fifty states in sixty minutes. The program will be

Tuesday, August 26, 2026; 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Grand Ballroom 8B (Entrance through corridor Grand Ballrooms 7 & 8)

I have served on this panel in the past, and it is an exhilarating experience. Each of the participants will have interesting examples to share from particular states. You can well imagine that some states present more fodder than others, but if it happened in the last 12 months, it is likely to merit mention here.

There are topics that universally challenge. For the last two decades, medical access has been a predominant issue across the country. The supply of physicians is simply not keeping pace with patient demand for a variety of reasons. One is that people like me are getting older in greater numbers, and we are demanding more care. Some of it is the rapidly evolving new treatments and the demand for specialists in that care.

Workers' compensation suffers in this challenge for various reasons. There are physicians who perceive the financial constraints of these systems to be too onerous. Some physicians do not appreciate the volume of paperwork, permission seeking, and documentation that workers' compensation requires. There is a perception that other payment systems, like group insurance, pay more reasonable rates for care, and that draws physicians to treat those patients before workers' compensation. In any event, there is room for improvement in our supply and provision of care and treatment.

Complexity seems to be increasing. The decisions in workers' compensation on issues like causation (see the Monday afternoon program Causation Analysis). States are perceived as more strenuously adhering to the purpose of workers' compensation, e.g., caring for work injuries, and striving to differentiate and exclude injuries that are merely coincidental with work or only minimally related to the work performed. There is some contention that the result is complex burdens of proof regarding causation and compensability.

Presumptions are always a hot topic. States have habitually added special treatment opportunities for specific occupations. These often operate within workers' compensation statutes, but can also be semi-independent parallel statutes. There are therefore potentials for conflicting statutes, difficult interpretations, and questions regarding which party has the burden in a particular instance and how difficult that burden may be.

These challenges and more are the burden of claims and risk professionals striving to make sound decisions. They confound or frustrate litigation counsel who sometimes perceive the foundations shifting beneath their feet. In the midst of it all is the allegedly injured person, their employer, and all of the perceptions and beliefs that they bring to the situation (see Empathy).

Rapid-fire it will be; dull it will not. This program is always informative, and the hour is always too short.

Six-Shooter Session – Rapid Fire Discussion of Important/Hot/Topics
Tuesday, August 26, 2026; 1:00-2:00 p.m. (Room TBA)

Moderator: Bobby Stokes, Esq., Retired, Austin, TX 

Panelists:
Stuart Colburn, Esq., Defense attorney; Gun Barrel City, TX

Mike Doyle, Esq., Claimant’s attorney, Los Lunas, NM

Jeff Napolitano, Esq., Defense attorney; New Orleans, LA

Annemarie Pantazis, Esq., Claimant’s attorney, Charlotte, NC

Phyllis Phillips, Esq., Mediator; Williston, VT
Hon. Cathy Surbeck, Judge, Philadelphia, PA

Monday, August 24, 2026
     1:00-2:00 NWCR 2026 and Litigation Management
     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