Deconstructing Comp

Send us Fan Mail

Listen to our latest episode with Dr. Adam Seidner, Chief Medical Officer with The Hartford. Dr. Seidner takes time out to chat with Yvonne and Rafael, and how he ended up getting in the workers' compensation industry, along some interesting details about his path from college to becoming a medical doctor. 

In this episode you will hear "a day in the life" as Dr. Seidner describes his typical work day and what that includes as chief medical officer with The Hartford. 

Dr. Seidner shares some interesting takeaways and lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has impacted of the future of work. Some of these include:

• mental health and stress
• moral impact on healthcare providers
• determining what guidelines to focus on
• social determinants of health

One of the top takeaways Dr. Seidner shares is this: "If you can address the psychological and social aspects of a claim, you can reduce the cost of the claim by 50% or more." And Rafael asks a simple question: "Why so much resistance from the workers' compensation industry if we know the ROI is there?" Dr. Seidner says it comes down to having courage to do the right thing. Listen to hear his full answer. Wow. Let that soak in. 

Find out what sport Dr. Seidner competes in and is nationally and internationally ranked!

We hope you will take the time to listen. It is the first episode where we dive into the medical side of workers' compensation and insurance. 

¡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 Fan Mail

Meet Caryn Siebert, Vice President, Carrier Practice for Gallagher Bassett. 

Caryn shares with us about her legal background, how she landed in the workers' compensation industry and she gives us a glimpse of what her current job entails. 

Lean in as Caryn talks about why she loves her job. Find out why she feels so lucky that she gets to do what she does every day. 

One thing about Caryn is that she loves to give back! A few of Caryn's passion projects include: 

• Mentoring young professionals about the insurance industry
• School of Risk Management Insurance, Cal-State Fullerton
• Kids' Chance of California
• Give Kids The World
• Diversity and Inclusion 

She also tells us what's happening in the industry that gets her excited. So get ready to learn more about Caryn. Are you ready? 

¡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 Fan Mail

Meet Jackie Arbelaez, Senior WC Business Development Manager, CORA Physical Therapy. The day before we interviewed Jackie, she fractured her hand. Did that stop her? Nope. She insisted on doing the interview anyway. Pain? What pain? Jackie is one tough cookie...she's strong-willed, determined, resilient. 

In this podcast episode we get to know Jackie and find out how she has navigated her career in workers' compensation. She's got great advice for anyone looking to learn more about the industry and her approach to business development for CORA Physical Therapy and the five states that she serves. 

A few of Jackie's success tips for business development in workers' comp:

• don't take "NO" as a never
• be persistent
• treat people with respect
• never stop learning
• build resilience

Grab a beverage, put in your earphones and let's get to know Jackie!

¡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 Fan Mail

Judge Robert Rassp is one of the coolest people in workers' compensation you will ever meet. Over 35 years of practicing law and he is now presiding judge WCAB Los Angeles District Office! There are so many cool things to know about Judge Rassp, you will just have to listen to this episode to discover them. Here are a few notable cool facts about Judge Rassp:

• Skipped his junior year of high school to start college at UC Irvine
• Met his wife while working at an observatory
• He is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
• Member of the renowned band CC&R, performing at comp events

Find out why Robert chose to go to law school, and many other fascinating facts about his amazing career in workers' comp. 

He is what we call a workers' comp nerd. Like Yvonne and Rafael, he totally geeks out on all things workers' comp. He eloquently describes workers' compensation as a "...beautiful marriage between law and medicine." He is a wonderful teacher and mentor, contributing countless hours to teaching others about our industry. 

Grab your favorite beverage, hop on the treadmill, go for a walk or do whatever you like to do  while listening to podcasts. Get ready...it's going to be a bumpy, but very cool ride!

¡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 Fan Mail

Can you believe it? We have released 14 episodes with more on the way! Our editor is on a break, so we decided to pause and reflect on our podcast episodes completed so far. We have really enjoyed getting to know the folks in the workers' compensation industry, learning about their career paths, decisions made from college that brought them to where they are today. 

We think it is such a fascinating way to peel back the layers and learn more about our guests and the workers' compensation and insurance industries. 

So grab your favorite beverage and take a break with us. This is a short one and we hope you will enjoy this bonus track as we think about our podcasting journey and share some good laughs along the way. 

¡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 Fan Mail

In our latest episode, we chat with Margaret Spence,  CEO & Founder of C. Douglas & Associates and the Inclusion Learning Lab. Margaret is based in West Palm Beach and has traveled a very interesting career path. From adjusting claims, to underwriting, to risk management and human resources, she has covered a lot of ground in the industry. She has seen and done most of it. 

Margaret calls herself a "Catalyst For Workplace Inclusion, Equity, & Respect For Diverse Individuals." Diversity, equity and inclusion has become her primary focus when speaking in the industry. 

Find out why Margaret started the Inclusion Learning Lab and what it means to be an ally.  According to Margaret,  every single person brings diversity to the table and inclusion means that we look at the lense of every person and we say: "Who is forgotten?"

Learn more about Margaret and the Inclusion Learning Lab at https://margaretspence.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 Fan Mail

Meet Steve Nichols who joins us from the Austin, Texas area. If you want to know anything about Texas legislative issues, Steve is your person. Get to know him and subscribe to his Texas newsletter. Currently working as a consultant, Steve, served for many years as the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) Manager of Workers’ Compensation Services. 

Prior to joining ICT, Steve worked for the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission as the manager of medical dispute resolution, APA hearing administrator, and mediator. He also served 23 years in the military on active duty and as a reservist as a paralegal and military law office manager. Steve is a graduate of the University of Maryland and Troy State University.

Tune in as Yvonne and Rafael chat with Steve about how he got started in workers' comp and how he has navigated his career. 

In this episode, you'll learn about Texas workers' comp, recent legislative issues, Steve's experience with lobbying and more! Listen to the end to hear about Steve and Yvonne's Panama connection. 

For more on Steve's Texas newsletter visit: https://www.stevewnichols.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 Fan Mail

Bret Cade, senior sales executive with Ascential Care Partners, lives in the Greater Atlanta area and has enjoyed a successful career in the workers' comp industry. Recently he sat down with Yvonne and Rafael and chatted about his career in the workers compensation industry.  

While he graduated from college with the dream to become a sports broadcaster, when that didn't pan out, he started working as a vocational rehab counselor for a company in Savannah, GA. That put him on a much different path.  Listen to this episode to hear how Bret has navigated his career and how he ultimately ended up excelling at sales. 

Bret shares advice on how to approach sales in workers' comp: 

• Do your homework on a client. 
• What do they need? 
• What problem can you solve for them? 
• Get to know the business by getting to know your colleagues.
• Don't let "NO" keep you from building relationships. 

Rafael and Bret worked together in the past, so they share a special history and bond. Listen to them reminisce about working together as well as sharing their family stories.

Stay tuned to the end to learn about Bret's connection to Crete and a few Minoan secrets!

¡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 Fan Mail

If you don't know Ya'Sheaka Williams, you ought to! She is one of the absolute best in the business. She is young, already with a good number of years of experience under her belt, she is smart, honest, funny, kind and genuinely interested in doing the right thing. 

In this episode, Yvonne and Rafael chat with Ya'Sheaka about her career, how she got started and some of the obstacles she has had to overcome along the way. Ralph goes straight to the heart of the matter, asking Ya'Sheaka to tell our listeners what it was like coming into a male-dominated industry as a black woman. 

Yes HE did that! And her answers are full of good advice for all women in the workers' comp industry. Her outlook is amazing - so positive and focused on advocating for the injured worker.  Ya'Sheaka often speaks at conferences and works hard to educate the industry. 

Regardless of your role in the industry, Ya'Sheaka offers an honest and refreshing glimpse into her career as a defense attorney. She is based in Tampa, Florida and is the managing partner for the law offices of Eraclides, Gelman. 

¡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 Fan Mail

Heading into Labor Day Weekend, Yvonne and Rafael pause to wish you and your family a fun, safe and peaceful weekend. We have enjoyed our podcasting journey thus far and we hope you have too. 

Please take a moment to subscribe to Deconstructing Comp on your favorite podcast platform, and we would love it if you give us a rating and review. This helps others find our podcast too. We wouldn't want anyone to miss out on all the fun, now would we? 

Hasta luego amigos! 

¡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