Deconstructing Comp

Send us a textMelissa Steger returns to walk us through the building blocks of the unique Texas UT System workers' compensation program. While the program is self-insured, they use a third-party administrator (TPA) in a hybrid system where the TPA staff sit on-site with the UT System staff who oversee the program. Covering 160,000 employees and over 250,000 students, UT System uses a variable rating system and has set up a culture where the individual institutions within the system compete against one another to achieve superior outcomes. The results? Truly innovative and remarkable. During Melissa's tenure with the WC program, and through a system of healthy competition, they initially saw program costs of eighty cents per $100 dollars of payroll. When Melissa retired last year, it had fallen to 8.5 cents per $100 dollars of payroll. How did this happen? Melissa talks about some of the nuances of their program including an annual retreat, where the hybrid staff come together to improve communications, get focused on core program goals and learn how they could continuously improve their results. Join us as we talk to Melissa and learn how UT System achieved such amazing results.Melissa also talks about flunking out of retirement. She is now VP of Business Development at WorkCompCollege.com ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textIn this episode, Yvonne Guibert catches up with Nelson Gonzalez, Executive Director - Florida, Rehab Without Walls® NeuroSolutions, and they talk about Return to Work. In the workers' compensation system, a return-to-work (RTW) policy or program helps injured or ill employees safely and efficiently return to work. The goal or purpose is to minimize downtime, reduce costs, and maintain employee skills and productivity. Join the conversation to hear Nelson's perspective on why RTW programs are so essential, why some RTW programs fall short, what a good RTW program should include, and more. Companies and resources mentioned during this episode include: Rehab Without Walls® - https://www.rehabwithoutwalls.com/ReEmployability - https://www.reemployability.com/Bag of Happies - https://bagofhappies.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textIn this episode, Yvonne and Rafael chat with Joseph Sousa, Workers' Compensation Program Manager for the City of San Diego. In our conversation, we learn from the perspective of a self-insured, self-administered workers' compensation program administrator, and what is important to that stakeholder perspective. One thing that stands out is the numerous benefits of operating a self-insured, self-administered program for both the employer and employees. The employer gains total control over various aspects, especially compared to purchasing an insurance policy from an external insurer. Since all employees work for the same entity, there is a strong sense of pride and compassion when it comes to supporting colleagues.The City of San Diego is regarded as a gold standard in workers' compensation programs. Some key elements of San Diego's program include:- An established culture of wellness and safety- Early intervention- Peer support and compassion for fellow employees- Effective communication- Self-efficacy, where injured employees take ownership of their recovery- Quality partnerships with medical providersJoin us as we delve deeper into Joseph's insights and learn more about the City of San Diego's workers' compensation program.More about City of San Diego: https://www.sandiego.gov/Council of Self-Insured Public Agencies (COSIPA): https://cosipa.org/Public Agency Risk Management Association (PARMA): https://parma.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textIn this episode, Yvonne and Rafael talk to Amy Cooper, Vice President Sales, Carrier Practice at Gallagher Bassett, and founder of Rise®, an amazing insurance community dedicated to empowering early-career professionals, attracting new talent, fostering networking opportunities, and providing access to invaluable resources, as described on the Rise® website. We are so excited to have Amy as our guest. We've been watching the tremendous growth of the Rise® community and the annual Rise® Leadership Summit that happens every June. So listen as we chat with Amy about the annual event, speed mentoring, fun pop-up events, and more! To learn more about the Rise® Annual Leadership Summit, please visit them at https://riseprofessionals.com/Use code "COMP100" to save $100 on registration for this year's event. 2025 Rise® Leadership Summit June 16-18 Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and SpaFt. Lauderdale, Florida¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textRecently, Yvonne and Rafael attended the 2025 Florida Bar and WCCP Workers' Compensation Forum, April 9-11, in Orlando, Florida. Unfortunately, there was no wi-fi available to do live streaming, which is what we planned to do, but we did talk to several folks and conducted short interviews to capture their excitement and thoughts about the conference. Conference interviews include: Judge David Langham, Florida Deputy Chief Judge of Compensation ClaimsStacy Hossman, Executive Director of WCCPOneill Martinez, FL MediatorYvonne and Rafael take time to catch upHolly Akers, Claimant Attorney - Jacksonville, FLYa'Sheaka Williams, Defense Attorney - Tampa, FLAdam Levy, Defense Attorney - Tampa, FLWe hope you enjoy this "bonus" episode of on-the-spot interviews at one of our top Florida conferences. The conference takes place again in 2026 at the same location at the Omni® ChampionsGate Resort in Orlando, FL, and you can check here for information about that and other events by WCCP: https://www.wccp.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textAfter much anticipation since we started this podcast, Stuart Colburn joins us for a special episode focused on Texas! Stuart, a shareholder at Downs & Stanford, P.C., has over 25 years of experience in workers' compensation. He shares his journey into our industry and expertly navigates the evolution of the Texas Workers' Compensation system since the 1980s. Throughout the conversation, he highlights the unique aspects that make Texas' approach distinctly different from those of other states.Stuart is board certified in Workers' Compensation Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and was the founder and first Chair of the State Bar of Texas Workers' Compensation Section. He co-authors the Texas Workers' Compensation Handbook published by LexisNexis and, as a certified lobbyist and frequent Division of Workers' Compensation conference representative, brings valuable policy perspective to the conversation.(Correction: Stuart mentions 2011 as the year Wikipedia and iTunes emerged; however, the correct year is 2001.)NOTE: Stuart shares a slide deck during this episode, which you can see in the video version on our YouTube channel. Resources mentioned in this episode:Texas Workers' Compensation Handbook 2025 EditionTexas Department of Insurance - Workers' Compensation Texas Subsequent Injury FundAmerican Medical Association (AMA) GuidesOfficial Disability Guidelines ODG by MCG National Comp ConferenceStuart Colburn bio¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textWe like to have fun with our episode titles when we can, hence "Alphabet Soup." Still, despite the fun name, this is an informative episode, particularly for those newer to the workers' compensation industry. Our guest is Jennifer Wolf, president and CEO of MWCIA in Minneapolis, MN. Jennifer expertly navigates through many of the common terms and acronyms we use. This is certainly not meant to be an exhaustive list of terms, so we have included several links for a more complete list for the nerdy folks like us: California Department of Industrial Relations GlossaryTennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Glossary of AcronymsFlorida Senate 440 Statutes Workers' Compensation DefinitionsPie Insurance Workers' Comp 101 GlossaryTexas Department of Insurance Workers' Comp Insurance GlossaryWe hope you enjoy it. If we missed a term or acronym you think should have been included, let us know! We may need to do a "Part 2" on terms and vocabulary! ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textJoe Paduda joins us to explain the basic framework of our workers' compensation system. In this episode, we discuss why our system is so complicated and some of the key features of several states. While Yvonne tries to keep the conversation focused on basics, Ralph and Joe wander on a few tangents, such as discussing the potential of a federalized workers' compensation system. Joe explains why that is not likely to happen and they explore Medicare and Medicaid components.Whether you are new to workers' comp or are a seasoned industry professional, this is a fun conversation that reviews some basic elements of our system and we introduce a few core concepts and terms such as frequency, severity, medical, indemnity, and administrative expense. Joe tells us what he likes about workers' compensation and it is a key element of why we have such good people in the system and why they work hard to make it better every day. You'll have to find us on YouTube and watch the video of this episode to see the cameo appearance of Joe's dog Oakley!Check out Joe's blog on Substack here: https://joepaduda.substack.com/You can find more information Joe has shared over the years at his original website Health Strategy Associates:https://healthstrategyassoc.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textJoin us as we kick off Season 5 with Alex Swedlow, President of CWCI and the "History of Workers' Compensation." Alex Swedlow is the President of the California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI). Alex is a previous guest on our podcast and we are so happy to welcome him back with his version of a brief "History of Workers' Compensation." As you will see, he is also a Workers' Compensation "nerd", just like Yvonne and Rafael, and he loves to talk about the history of our system which can be traced back over 4,000 years! Whether you are "tenured" in Workers' Compensation and insurance like the three of us are, or are new to the industry, we encourage you to listen for a quick summary of our endlessly fascinating system and its roots. Check out our new YouTube channel - @DeconstructingComp where we will drop our episodes in video format. For more information about CWCI, please visit https://www.cwci.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Send us a textHere we go with Season 5! We can't believe we are kicking off the fifth season of Deconstructing Comp! Co-hosts Yvonne Guibert and Rafael Gonzalez are back and ready to welcome a new season of conversations with their guests. This year, we are returning to our original idea of breaking down the workers' compensation system into bite-sized digestible nuggets of information. We call it the "Cliff's Notes" approach to understanding workers' compensation. Please join us on our new journey. We think it will be fun for professionals new to the industry and those of us who have been here for a while. Yvonne is committed to keeping episodes to 30-35 minutes! ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Yvonne and Rafael take some time to relive and review 2024 Season 4 and chat about a few changes they will make for Season 5. Thank you for listening! ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

We are so happy to introduce you to Elise White, President of Change Forward Industries, based in the Atlanta Metro area in Georgia. Join us for an interesting conversation with Elise. You'll learn about her educational background, including that she studied criminal justice and how that led to a career in insurance and claims management.Elise has 16+ years of experience managing claims for some of the biggest insurance companies, including Liberty Mutual, Travelers, and Zurich, and has developed quite an affinity for supporting at-risk youth, as well as at-risk industries. She recently launched Change Forward Industries. Listen to this episode to learn more about Elise, her career and what she's been up to lately, including some very important work with Diversity and Talent Alliance (DATA).Here are some resources related to our conversation: Change Forward Industries - https://changeforwardindustries.com/Article about RIMS/WCI Research Presentation: www.workerscompensation.com_Want better worker safety-tryEmpathyDiversity and Talent Alliance (DATA) , Non-profit https://www.diversityandtalent.org/Support the DATA Fundraiser - Workers' Compensation Empathy Relay Digital Game for $10: https://www.diversityandtalent.org/store/p/empathy-relay-digital-game-workers-comp-editionNote from Elise: "I did not state these stats with 100% accuracy, but here is the insurance data on the aging workforce and talent shortage within insurance:" Stats mentioned: 4% millennials interested in working in insurance careers, PEW Research50% of insurance professionals are looking to retire by 2028, National Association of Mutual Insurance We love Elise and we think you will too! Grab your headphones and let's go talk to Elise!¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

In this episode, we get to know Evelyn Eury, Director of Program Claims, Occupational Risk/P&C Lead at Crum & Forster—a leading carrier in property and casualty, accident and health, and specialty insurance solutions. Evelyn shares her journey from studying journalism to her current role, where she navigates the intersections of workers' compensation, property & casualty, and other insurance lines.Our conversation covers a variety of topics, including:Saluting Veterans: Recorded on Veteran's Day, we honor Evelyn's husband, Seth, an active-duty US Coast Guard member, and all who have served our country.Cameo by Saint: Evelyn's Weimaraner, Saint, makes a guest appearance.Mentoring the Next Generation: Evelyn discusses mentoring young insurance professionals and inspiring them to pursue careers in risk and insurance.Mom Life: Balancing her career while raising three daughters, along with trends in beauty products and Sephora adventures.This extended episode is a wonderfully organic conversation filled with insights and heartwarming moments. Grab your headphones, your favorite beverage, and join us for an inspiring chat with Evelyn Eury!For listeners who are newer to the industry, here are links to the conferences we mentioned during the episode: CLM (Claims and Litigation Management):https://www.theclm.org/alleventsWorkers' Compensation Institute (WCI) Conference:https://www.wci360.com/National Comp Conference:https://wcconference.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Let's get to know Melissa Marks, Senior Leave Supervisor at Pepsico. What does a "Leave Supervisor" do for an employer? Shout out to our friend Natalie Torres for introducing us to Melissa. In this episode, Melissa shares her personal health journey and how it has shaped her empathy for others, particularly as she navigates her role working with employees who experience work injuries. Here is a link to Melissa's book, titled "Fight Faithfully"¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

We are so happy to bring you this episode featuring Dr. Crystal Cobos, Director of the Brain Injury and Concussion Clinic at Institutes of Health and Anne McDonnell, Advocacy and Affiliate Specialist for the Brain Injury Association ofAmerica and former Executive Director of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia.In this episode, we discuss the recent development announced in late July by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: CMS now officially recognizes Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) as a chronic condition. According to the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) this is a victory for the brain injury community. CMS has added TBI to its list of chronic conditions for chronic special needs plans (C-SNPs) through its Medicare Advantage program, effective for the January 2025 plan year. What does this mean for brain-injured employees and the workers' compensation community? Bottom line? We see this as a good thing. Tune in to hear what more these two experts have to say about it. For more information about Institutes of Health, Brain Injury Services, visit:https://institutesofhealth.org/For more information about the Brain Injury Association of America, visit: https://www.biausa.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

In this episode, you will hear from Jennifer Wolf, President of the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurance Association (MWCIA). She talks about what she studied in college, how she found her way into our wonderful industry, and how she loves our workers' compensation ecosystem. We also learn what a rating does and how it contributes to the overall workers' comp system. According to the MWCIA website: "The primary function of MWCIA as a Data Service Organization (DSO) is to produce an annual Ratemaking Report, which is the basis for all workers' compensation rates in Minnesota. Insurers then apply their unique expenses and loss experience to these base rates to create their own independent rates."In addition to her duties at MWCIA, Jennifer is also President of Kids' Chance of America. As you will learn, Jennifer is one of our brightest gems in the WC industry. Smart, funny, and a lover of our industry, she is the real deal.Grab your earphones, and let's go chat with Jennifer! MWCIA - https://www.mwcia.org/Kids Chance of America - https://www.kidschance.org/National Academy of Social Insurance - https://www.nasi.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Come along with us as we catch up with two of the brightest leading women in our industry: Marijo Storment and Jenn Ryon. We start, as we usually do at the beginning of our episodes, discovering what Marijo and Jenn studied in school. Then, we chat about what it was like to launch ForzaCare. Next, we take a deep dive to focus on an organization that is near and dear to our hearts: Alliance of Women in Workers' Compensation (AWWC). Yvonne served as a Florida ambassador to the organization for over four years in Tampa, FL. She still loves to support and advocate for the organization. Rafael has been a long-time supporter of AWWC. We talk about AWWC, the organization's mission, vision and what you can expect if you attend one of their events. We encourage everyone to attend a national event, or a local event if you have an opportunity. Jenn serves as Vice President and Marijo is the Secretary, both serving in prominent positions on the board for AWWC.So grab your headphones and get ready for a jam-packed fun exploration of one of the most influential organizations in our industry! They encourage everyone to leave their logos at the door, and come to their events to learn, network, and grow. For more information about Alliance of Women in Workers' Compensation: https://allianceofwomen.org/To learn more about ForzaCare: https://thinkforza.com/NOTE: since the recording of this episode, Jenn Ryon has transitioned to Prime Health Services. You can learn more about the company here: https://www.primehealthservices.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

We have a special treat for you just in time for a long weekend! Dr. Tyrone Spears, Chief of the Workers' Compensation Division for the City of Los Angeles, is one of the best and brightest in the business. Yvonne and Rafael recently caught up with him for a lively, thought-provoking episode! If you know Tyrone, you know he is a servant leader who continually does good things for others. Find out what he studied in school, what career path he considered, and how he found himself in the workers' compensation industry, an industry he has come to love. Conversations with Tyrone are always fascinating. He is the real deal. So, grab your headphones and settle in for a cozy conversation with Tyrone about leadership, mentorship, diversity, equity, inclusion, doing good for others, and being a good human. We also talked about politics, our 2024 bonus topic, since we talked to him the Monday after Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race. Some things we mentioned during the episode include: Dr. Tyrone Spears - books on Amazon.com-The Compassionate Leader-Land The JobHazel's Hands - https://www.hazelshands.com/Tyrone started this charity in his grandmother's name. Hazel's Hands provides resources, services, and leadership to meet the emerging needs of at-risk youth and their families in our communities.  ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Join Yvonne and Rafael as they chat with one of their hometown "sheroes" Brenda Cogdell, Director - Risk and Safety Division, Hillsborough County. Brenda shares her enthusiasm for her role at Hillsborough County and for the risk and insurance industry where she has dedicated her career to shaping a culture of caring for the employees she serves. Together we explore her journey from graduating from Tampa's University of South Florida (Go Bulls!) to entering the risk management industry, serving as the risk manager at the City of Manassas, Virginia, then coming back to Hillsborough County where she began. We talk about the culture Brenda is helping to build at Hillsborough County called "Workplace Possibilities!"Learn how Brenda's father's career as a longshoreman shaped her and how it sticks with her still today. She believes team members who get hurt or ill at work ought to be reminded they are still part of a team, or a work family. Brenda Cogdell is the real deal! She happily shares her expertise and encourages young professionals to take advantage of all resources and mentors along their career journey. Some of the organizations we discuss in the episode include: Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) https://www.rims.org/Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA)https://primacentral.org/Thank you for all you do Brenda! We LOVE you! ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Les Shute is the Chief Innovation Officer at Infinity Nurse Case Management. Join us in this episode as we learn more about Les, including what Les studied in school and what he aspired to do in his career. After graduating college as a Marketing Major and with a Minor in Computer Science, Les was recruited into the insurance industry and started as a workers' compensation adjuster! In this episode, we learn that Les grew up with a strong influence in computer programming. He has immersed himself in learning all about artificial intelligence andLes chats with us about OOM, "orders of magnitude," Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), neuro-symbolic AI, and other "mind-bending" scenarios and applications of artificial intelligence. We also discuss how AI may impact carbon-based life forms over the next 5-10 years. Get ready for a fascinating conversation about AI, a recurring topic we have discussed several times this year. As we always say, we love all our guests, but this episode is super fun and thought-provoking.  Learn more about Infinity Nurse Case Management here. Interested in learning more about how artificial intelligence has progressed since the 1940s? Check out this timeline courtesy of Veerloop.io.¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Here is a bonus episode where your co-hosts Yvonne Guibert and Rafael Gonzalez pause to reflect on Season 4 so far. Can you belief half the year is already gone? Neither can we. Join us for a quick recap of what we've done so far on our podcast. We talk about the guests we've had and those who are joining us soon. ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

In this episode, Yvonne and Rafael talk to Nikki Jackson, aka Nerdy Nikki. Why Nerdy Nikki? Because she loves talking about risk management and anything related to Property Casualty Insurance industry and she constantly pushes herself to learn more! She also loves to share her knowledge with others. We are lucky to know her! We get to know more about Nikki during our chat and we talk about how to attract and retrain new talent AND Artificial Intelligence, one of our favorite topics!  FACT CHECK CORRECTION: Yvonne mentioned Caryn Siebert and what she says about how much we spend on insurance. Note it is an average of 20% of our salary, not 30% as Yvonne said in the episode. Here is a link to Caryn's episode: https://deconstructingcomp.buzzsprout.com/1771455/9574613-caryn-s-adventures-in-insurance-and-workers-compCheck out Nikki's new website Elevate the Narrative and connect with her on ANY social media platform. She is literally on them all, including TikTok!!Elevate the Narrative:https://elevatethenarrative.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Let's get to know Jeff Gurtcheff, Chief Claims Officer at Corvel. He joins us from just outside Atlanta, GA in Alpharetta, and he is a former neighbor to Rafael! Wow!In this episode, Jeff shares his educational background, a little about what it was like to live next door to Ralph, his journey into the insurance and workers' compensation industry, and how he has grown up through the insurance industry.  We learn how at Corvel they are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to improve the claims management process and advancing the power of AI to make the job of adjusting claims something people can feel good about…helping people get better and get back to work!Also, we learn about Corvel University where they are training the next generation of claims adjusters right out of high school. How awesome is that!This episode is full of good information and we can't wait for you to listen! And another 1st: Jeff is a former professional baseball player!!Learn more about Corvel University here:https://www.corvel.com/corvel-university/https://riskandinsurance.com/tackling-the-adjuster-shortage-how-corvel-university-is-training-the-next-generation-of-claims-talent/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Another first for you! We are thrilled to introduce you to Chief David Picone, our first-ever fire chief on our podcast. He is the Fire Department Battalion Chief and Health and Safety Officer with the City of San Diego.  June is PTSD Awareness Month, so we are happy to share our recent interview with Chief Picone.  In this episode, Chief Picone shares his educational background, his desire to be a rock star, his journey as a career firefighter, and how he has grown to be a steward for cultural change with the City of San Diego Fire Department. The success of San Diego's program has attracted attention from fire departments across the nation and even the Tokyo Fire Department, the largest urban fire department in the world, and Chief Picone has been an integral part of the program since 2017. Chief's call to action is for cities and fire departments everywhere to adopt similar changes that have been made in San Diego so that first responders get the care they need when they need it. Key elements to the City of San Diego's success include: commit to building a culture of caring (it takes work!)demonstrate to first responders that you care about them and value their effortsencourage claims professionals to spend time with first responders to better understand the demands of their jobsaccelerate access to careprovide access to skilled and experienced medical professionals who are equipped to handle the needs of first responders, specifically when they come forward with symptoms of PTSDA few points mentioned during this episode with Chief David Picone:Firefighters and police officers are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of dutyFirst responders may experience 200+ traumatic events in their career vs. an average of 5 traumatic events in the average civilian's lifetime1 out of 3 first responders develop PTSDCity of San Diego Fire-Rescue Health and Safety Officehttps://www.sandiego.gov/fire/services/health-safety-officeDrexel University's Fire Service Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) program for fire departments. Learn more here: https://drexel.edu/dornsife/research/centers-programs-projects/FIRST/our-projects/FOCUS/Institutes of Health is the company offering the "Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)" https://institutesofhealth.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Are you ready to get to know Dionne Lacey-Artis, Chief Business Officer and Customer Centric Leader at Optum Workers' Comp and Auto No-Fault?  Even if you DO know her, we think you will learn some things you DON'T know, when you listen to this podcast episode.Dionne is based in Atlanta, Georgia.  'Yvonne Guibert and Rafael Gonzalez enjoy deconstructing issues in workers' compensation, however, it seems our podcast platform has taken on a new role...deconstructing our guests, and discovering how they came to be in the workers' compensation industry. That suits us just fine, because getting to know people is essential in business, especially in our industry. Talking to our guests is always a fascinating journey, and so is this episode with Dionne. She shares many interesting facts about herself, like that she wanted to compete in the Olympics on roller skates, wanted to be a judge, she was a Tomboy, loves riding motorcycles and wanted to be a knee dragger, and so much more! Listen to this episode and we are sure you will learn some things about Dionne you didn't know before. Plus, we couldn't be happier to hear that Dionne and other leaders at Optum are serious about redefining and building a culture focused on customer experience. That means there is a huge focus on finding and developing good people who want to be part of that culture.  Here are some reference links for some things discussed during our conversation:What is knee dragging? https://www.motodeal.com.ph/articles/motorcycle-features/what-dragging-knee-motorcycleA song and video about Salvador de Bahia, Brazil called "Gente Bonita":https://youtu.be/jW0-jYz1PxI?si=Q49X0gmQG9vPwEf4Traveling to Salvador, Brazil:https://www.livemoretravelmore.com/salvador-brazil/Optum Workers' Comp and Auto No-Fault:https://workcompauto.optum.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Are you ready to meet Laura Michaels, MS, OT, PSHO, Occupational Health and Safety Manager for City of Palm Springs? Yvonne and Rafael recently met Laura at the PARMA 2024 conference in Indian Wells, CA, and boy do we LOVE her! Shout out to Jennifer Johnson for putting together a beautiful dinner at PARMA that brought us together. From the very first conversation, we knew we liked Laura. She possesses a very particular set of skills that combined make her one powerful risk and safety professional. She is getting it done with fantastic results in Palm Springs...Laura Michaels is walking the walk!Tune in to hear Laura's unique perspective on the healthcare provider shortage, her educational background, her career as an occupational therapist, and how she shifted into a career in California workers' compensation and risk management. She talks about several things important for entities to champion to get these kinds of results they are seeing in Palm Springs. It centers around building a culture where employees feel supported. This includes: supportive reporting, supportive rehab, 90-day fast track process, nurse case management, getting to know your providers, knowing the kinds of providers you need for your worker population, building trustLaura shares many pearls of wisdom in this episode: "I can't deny and I can't delay, but I can approve!" "Find ways to work within the workers' compensation system." Perhaps one of our favorite quotes from Laura, "Workers' compensation does not need to be a contentious situation...put yourself in the patient's shoes." #supportivereporting#cultureofcaring#fasttrack#preauthorization#outcomes#validation#curiosity#litigation#trust¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

In this episode, we get to know a real superhero in the workers' compensation industry, Josh Schuette, DPT, MBA, WRP, Director of National Workers' Compensation Sales and Account Management at Brooks Rehabilitation. While there are so many amazing things to know about Josh Schuette, one interesting  thing is, he thinks Ryan Gosling is his spirit animal! And, just like the famous actor who played Ken in the blockbuster Barbie movie, Josh is also originally from Canada! He also shared that during the recording of this podcast episode, he was wearing his "I am Kenough" shirt. Come along for another fantastic podcast episode with one of the best and brightest people in our industry. Not only does Josh share about his education and how he discovered the wonderful world of workers' compensation, we discuss the real issues facing everyone in the healthcare industry in regard to provider shortages. Josh also shares about his struggle to prioritize self care, particularly when working so closely with injured worker patients, and the toll that it takes. He even shares some of the strategies and activities he is using to manage his self care. We thank Josh for his transparency and as he mentions during the episode, we hope that his talking about his self care helps others. Thanks for all you do Josh! We love you! Learn more about Brooks Rehabilitation:https://brooksrehab.org/Here is the charity Josh mentioned during his episode:Ainsley's Angels of America - https://ainsleysangels.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Ramona Tanabe is our latest guest, right on the heals of the 40th Annual WCRI Issues & Research Conference, March 5-6, 2024, in Boston, MA. This is Ramona's second time as a guest on Deconstructing Comp. Join us as we discuss and recount highlights from the recent conference in Boston. Ramona turns the tables on Yvonne and asks her to share what sessions she learned something new at the conference. We also talk about Ramona's first year as CEO and how her experience has been. Plus, a few other fun details. To learn more about WCRI, visit them here: https://www.wcrinet.org/ Please consider becoming a member of WCRI to support their research efforts. Here is the latest report from the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) that Rafael mentioned during this episode https://www.nasi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-WC-Report-2021-Data-Final.pdf¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

In this episode, we talk to Joe Paduda, Principal of Health Strategy Associates, blogger, Syracuse Lacrosse fanatic, speaker and owner of a 1795 farmhouse in New Hampshire with a super squeaky farmhouse chair! Listen for the squeaky sounds during the episode. This is Joe's second time as our guest. We invited him back, specifically to discuss important issues related to the economy and how they may or may not impact insurance, and more specifically, the workers' compensation industry. Another interesting conversation, where we talk about several important issues, but mostly about how the economy at large impacts what we do in insurance and workers' compensation.  FYI - Yvonne planned to do a deep dive into election year shenanigans, but we didn't spend too much time there and went right back to the economy. So, no hysterical laughing fits this time. It's probably for the best. You can follow Joe and his blog here: https://www.joepaduda.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Yvonne and Rafael FINALLY catch up with Carlos Luna, who lives in Denver, Colorado. It took us a while to schedule an interview with Carlos, but it is well worth the wait! So, come along, and let's get all caught up with Carlos about his new role at New Reign Capital, his deep and varied thoughts about our amazing industry, and, sadly, as he shares his thoughts about the recent loss of a beloved work friend and colleague, Joe Frank Rodriguez. Talking to Carlos is very easy. He is extremely articulate and very knowledgeable about risk management and workers' compensation issues.  Like us, he loves giving back to the industry through charitable organizations and causes. As we always say, time flies by so fast during our guest interviews; that is no exception here. Once again, we learned a few things we didn't know about Carlos, and we are sure some of these things will surprise you too. Are you ready? Grab your headphones and let's go talk to Carlos Luna...Check out New Reign Capital here:https://www.newreigncap.com/Donate to the GoFundMe campaign for Joe Frank Rodriguez:https://gofund.me/8e5e0823From Yvonne: as I listened to Carlos' episode several times during editing, I was touched by Carlos' call to action to do more to take care of our industry's claims professionals, and it made me think of this song by Dwight Yoakam...hence the title to this episode. Enjoy!Let's Work Together by Dwight Yoakam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Jf7ah8Rxo¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

For the second year, Yvonne and Rafael identify ten issues to frame their conversations with guests as they kick off a new season. Here we go with Season 4! Are you ready? Our issues are...Provider Shortages - Healthcare jobs are growing faster than any other industry, yet there is a shortage of experienced doctors and clinicians to fill the openings. This is straining the entire healthcare system; we certainly feel it in workers' compensation. https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/health-202-primary-care-shortage-data/https://fortune.com/2024/02/14/america-shortage-primary-care-doctors-work-ai-physician-burnout-crisis/Chronicity - definition: the fact or quality of being long-lasting, as a disease, condition, or symptom; psychological influences, such as stress, can significantly affect the severity and chronicity of the illness (or injury).  Is workers' compensation contributing to chronicity? We are going to discuss it.  Economics of Inflation - we carried this one over from last year as inflation persists.  There is talk that we may be at a tipping point regarding how inflated medical costs impact healthcare, particularly with hospitals and other facilities.   Mental health and well-being - this is a favorite topic of ours. We are happy to see this issue becoming more commonplace at conferences and events in the workers' compensation industry.  Embracing AI - the future is here, and it is time to embrace how workers' compensation can benefit from artificial intelligence. How is AI already being used in WC, and how can it help us do the work smarter, faster, and more efficiently? Need for good education - this is hands down one of our favorite topics to discuss. It's not to say there isn't any good education out there, but we need more. We aim to uncover resources and encourage more good education.  Acknowledging bias - we all have it.  Are you aware of your unconscious bias? How does your bias impact your day-to-day decisions in WC, regardless of your role? How do your decisions affect a person's life (and the family attached to that person)?Federal benefits in workers' compensation - this will be one of Rafael's favorite issues because it is where he spends his time every single day! Here, we will discuss federal laws and processes that crossover into workers' compensation: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, ERISA, Veteran's Admin, tri-care, the Affordable Care Act, and more. Expanding workplace issues - there are so many! Starting with the ongoing talent shortage, workplace violence, our changing workforce - telecommuters, gig workers, aging workforce, high-stress levels, lack of leadership, need for hybrid work strategies (work at home vs. office), rules and regs + expanding presumptions, safety issues, inexperienced workers and so much more! https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/understanding-americas-labor-shortageDiversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) - one of our favorite topics to explore together. DEIB conversations have fizzled; some refer to diversity "fatigue," but we will not let it go. Rest assured, we will have several guests on to talk about DEIB. In Texas and Florida, DEI is under attack, and it is in other states as well. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/04/dei-jobs-diversity-corporateBONUS! Presidential election year. There is much to discuss as we enter the election year cycle. Who wants to talk politics?¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Join Yvonne and Rafael as they pause for a few minutes to reminisce about all the fun they had interviewing guests in their 3rd season! Grab your headphones and get ready for a few laughs -- you can always count on Rafael's laughter in each and every episode!¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Wow, what a fantastic conversation with Dr. Leslie Cadet, a native of Tampa, FL! In this episode, we learn that Leslie grew up in Tampa and started her education at none other than University of South Florida (USF), Yvonne's alma mater and Rafael's adjunct teaching university for 20+ years! From there, she went on to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where she became a medical doctor, then on to Harvard's T. H. Chan School of Public Health, where she earned her Master of Public Health (MPH), Occupational and Environmental Health. What an impressive education!After Harvard, Leslie decided to join the Air Force to help pay for her education, where she became a flight surgeon, with 1,080 successful combat missions and 2,000 airlift missions. And guess what? She loves to salsa dance! Un-BULL-ievable (that's a USF thing!)Her new mission is to radically improve the workers' compensation system, one patient and one provider at a time. It won't take you long to understand that Yvonne and Rafael are completely star-struck with Dr. Leslie Cadet. We both LOVE her!Learn more about Dr. Leslie Cadet's Ascend program here: Ascendoccmed.com¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

¡Qué lindo! ¡Hablamos con Julian Robinson en español! How lovely! We are speaking with Julian Robinson in Spanish!During our recording of our podcast episode with guest Julian Robinson, we learned he speaks fluent Spanish! So we recorded a short bonus episode talking in Spanish. Well, it's mostly Julian and Yvonne, with Rafael listening in. Still a fun diversion. ¡Disfruten queridos oyentes! Enjoy dear listeners!¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Join us as we dive in and get to know Julian Robinson! Julian is the workers' compensation director at the City and County of San Francisco. Julian shares his educational background, studying business and then embarking on a study abroad trip to India that ignited his love for travel and exploring other cultures. We discovered that Julian is fluent in Spanish! So, we recorded a short bonus track in Spanish that we will release very soon (watch for it!). Did you know that before the city adopted its name of San Francisco in January 1847, it was called Yerba Buena? It's a fact. Please connect with Julian on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianerobinson/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Come along for a fascinating conversation with Dr. Tomer Anbar and Duane Johnson with the Institutes of Health. We caught up with them during the WCI Conference in Orlando, Florida. Duane Johnson obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Health Services management from Indiana University Bloomington. Dr. Anbar studied clinical psychology,  psychodynamic psychiatry, and group psychotherapy.  While conducting research in Mexico City, he stumbled upon an interesting phenomenon during a specific time of the year: hospitalizations spiked at the same time birds started showing up dead. He discovered an interesting correlation. We learn that Dr. Anbar was among the first to study the biopsychosocial model of care and grew up learning from his dad in therapeutic communities. What do we want in workers' compensation? Proven clinical outcomes, accelerated MMI, and decreased claim costs. For more information about Institutes of Health: https://institutesofhealth.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Come along with Yvonne and Rafael and get to know Roberta Serena Mike, Field Claim Adjuster for Strategic Comp in Georgia!As you will learn, Roberta has spent her entire career in the insurance industry. She started with The Travelers and liked workers' compensation early on. In this episode, Roberta shares with us the twists and turns of her career.  She talks about leaving Garden City, New York, moving to Georgia, and how she built a name for herself with a solid reputation that had several companies seeking her out for the good work she does. We normally try not to "date" the recording of our episodes, but we were very close to August 17, "workers' compensation adjuster day!" So want to take moment and say "THANK YOU!" to all the wonderful workers' comp adjusters out there. Roberta started a Facebook group called "Workers' Compensation Career Mentorship Group." At the time of recording just a few short weeks ago, she mentioned she had 700 followers, but today she has over 1,000 (and growing)!Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6097845866894251And check out Roberta's "Nikon Bert" photography page: https://www.nusouthmoments.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Do you know Raja Sundaram with Plethy, Inc.? If not, you are in for a treat! Raja is a workers' comp newbie. He and his company Plethy have entered the workers' compensation scene in the last few years and they are making some big waves! If you missed the Star Wars reference in the title, it is considered one of the most iconic quotes from the original movie. It is from Yoda during his training with Luke Skywalker:  “No, Try Not! Do or Do Not, There Is No Try.” It is very fitting for this conversation, and Raja has real ties to Star Wars movies! Listen during the episode (he's a fast talker). As a newbie, he brings so much of what we need to the workers' compensation industry: an engineering mind, empathy, and innovation.  Raja's takeaway is this: " The workers' compensation industry is an incredibly noble profession that is about helping human beings have the quality of life that we all deserve." So, the Star Wars quote is so fitting. How are YOU showing up in workers' comp? Whatever your role is, ultimately, what you do impacts an injured person in some way. So, all you workers' comp Jedi out there...Try not! Do, or do not! There is no try. Come along with Yvonne and Rafael...let's go talk to Raja!Learn more about Plethy here - https://www.plethy.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Melissa Steger is the associate director of workers' compensation and unemployment insurance for the University of Texas System in Austin, Texas. In this episode, Melissa shares how she started her career in workers' comp, delivering workers' compensation checks. In that first job, she became curious, fell in love with workers' compensation, and has spent her career of over 30 years learning and working to make improvements to the system. For more information about UT System's workers' compensation program, click here: https://www.utsystem.edu/offices/risk-management/workers-compensation-insurance-0¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Come along with us and get to know Jim Allsup, founder of Allsup Employment Services and the Ticket to Work program for individuals who qualify for Social Security Disability benefits. Individuals who qualify are offered Vocational Return to Work services free of charge. In this episode, Yvonne and Rafael talk to Jim about the Ticket to Work program and what he says is a little-known benefit for individuals who qualify for Social Security Disability benefits. Learn more about the Ticket to Work program here: https://www.allsupemploymentservices.com/Check out Jim Allsup's expert services for individuals seeking Social Security Disability benefits. They offer nationwide assistance, and their representatives are available and ready to provide help: https://www.allsup.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Brandi Lewis is one busy woman! We were lucky to catch up with her at the WCI conference for a live podcast interview. Join Yvonne and Rafael as we talk with Brandi, learn about what she's been up to lately, and talk to her about the business she founded and now chairwoman of Health Plus Trans, providing transportation, translation, and ancillary services. Among her many skills and talents, Brandi is a phenomenal event planner and turned our WCI Salsa Party into a top-notch, red-carpet event not to be missed! She kicked it up several notches from our salsa dance party at last year's conference. She brought in a DJ from Miami, spicy professional salsa dancers, a carnival-inspired stilt walker, and so much more!To learn more about HealthPlusTrans, visit them here: https://healthplustrans.com ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Finally, Yvonne and Rafael catch up with Kirsten Kaiser Kus, an attorney with Downey and Lenkov, LLC at WCI. We have been hot on her trail for some time now, trying to schedule an interview. Luckily, she had time to spare and sit down with us at WCI. Get to know more about Kirsten and what she has been up to. Visit her profile here: https://www.dl-firm.com/attorneys/kirsten-l-kaiser-kus/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

We are so happy to connect with our brand new friends we made at WCI for the first time! Ash Afzal with Bismark Medical. Join us for a fun group conversation with Ash, Amina, Bilal, Mohammed and "T"Another set of first-timers that Yvonne met through the Whova app. Bismarck is a family-owned company in the DME business, and they are looking to expand into the workers' compensation market. Yvonne and Rafael are like two kids in a candy store!For more information about Bismarck Medical, visit them here: https://bismarckmed.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Catherine Benavidez and Art Nuñez from Injury Management Organization join us to talk about their experience at WCI and what they are up to at IMO at their corporate headquarters near Dallas, Texas, in Plano. For more information about Injury Management Organization visit them here: https://injurymanagement.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Do you know Maxine Topper? Wowza, do we have a treat for you! Meet her son Richard Boyer, anesthesiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-founder of HoopCare, a Cornell Tech Run Startup. Richard joins us to chat about his tech startup, HoopCare. HoopCare is transforming preoperative medical clearance with telemedicine and AI.Fascinating conversation. Yvonne and Rafael are super pumped up by conversations with such young and driven professionals who have their sights on workers' compensation and how they can improve the system. How lucky are we?Visit HoopCare's website here: https://www.hoopcare.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

A fun group, we are calling the "mod squad" includes Dr. Geralyn Datz, Jeffrey Adelson, and Stuart Colburn. We have a very fun and energetic conversation about dinner the night before and the beginning of the WCI Conference. Experience the energy of the WCI conference as we chat about this groups thoughts on various topics. They all love to poke fun at Yvonne, so laugh along with the conversation about dingers. We finally pulled ourselves together and talked about the conference opening session and some of the important topics discussed by Out Front Ideas co-hosts Kimberly George and Mark Walls. Come along for this fun "group" discussion. ¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Join us as we sit down with Zachary Rosenthal of Physicians Health Center to chat about the WCI conference and what his goals are for the conference. It was a pleasure to chat with such a young professional in our industry and someone who has been in the industry for a few years and sees the opportunity and potential for improvement. For more information about Physicians Health Center for more visit their website here: https://physicianshealthcenter.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Join us for an interesting chat with our new friend, Andrew Barson, who works with Frasco Investigative Services. We enjoy chatting about WCI conference fun and shenanigans (and healthy competition) on the new conference app, Whova. During this conversation, we chat about how Yvonne and Andrew met through the app and the importance of networking and cultivating relationships in our industry. Lots of good conversation and interesting surprises along the way. For more information about Frasco Investigative Services, visit:https://frasco.com/Andrew takes a moment to remark about how he's "beating" Yvonne in the Leaderboard competition and mentions that he has 50K points over her and that it was hardly a competition. In the end, Yvonne ended up in the #2 spot on the Leaderboard with 388K points, and Andrew in #3 with 316K points which is a 72K point lead. Fun times!¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Yvonne and Rafael talk to Chrissy Gaul LIVE! Sunday, as we gear up for the WCI  Conference starting Monday, 8/21, in Orlando, Florida. This is part of our LIVE! Conference series. These are shorter episodes and are unedited.To learn more about Carisk Partners:https://www.cariskpartners.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Yvonne and Rafael talk to Duane Johnson and Dr. Tomer Anbar LIVE! Sunday, as we gear up for the WCI  Conference starting Monday, 8/21, in Orlando, Florida. This is part of our LIVE! Conference series. These are shorter episodes and are unedited.To learn more about Institutes of Health:https://institutesofhealth.org/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp

Yvonne and Rafael talk to Natalie Torres LIVE! Sunday, as we gear up for the WCI  Conference starting Monday, 8/21 in Orlando, Florida. This is part of our LIVE! Conference series. These are shorter episodes and are unedited. To learn more about PriMedical, visit: https://www.primedicalinc.com/¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp