My Saga with Mpower Concludes

My saga with Mpower continued this morning at 7:00 a.m. The short story is that I was able to resolve the matter and my phones are back in order, but the experience left a very sour taste in my mouth. It took me no less than some 54 minutes to resolve the mater. I was bounced from a Customer Service Representative to a Manager and intermittently placed on hold for periods of up to 10 minutes and repeatedly asked the same questions over and over again.

Once I finished with Mpower and started to ready myself for the day my mind still lingered concerning my conversation with Mpower and my feeling that I and my business mattered so little to them. The fact that their Customer Service has been poor is not a surprise to me and once again it is totally my fault for continuing to utilize their services. However, I resolved to understand how and why a company like Mpower would choose this tactic and totally disregard Customer Service despite that fact that they will do so at their own peril. This I can guarantee within the next 30-40 days I will cease to be an Mpower customer and my telephone, internet and other communications services will revert back to a mixture of SBC and Verizon.

But back to my pondering and trying to analyze why any company would let their Customer Service suffer and not make a sincere attempt to listen to and keep customers satisfied. On the drive into my office I put some thought into it and began to see a connection with bad Customer Service and companies feeling that their markets are disappearing and the fact that they are powerless to change the market forces that bring about such change.

The Vocational Rehabilitation community has begun to suffer greatly and that suffering has begun to reveal itself in bad Customer Service. As our industry deals with the passage of SB899 which eliminated mandatory Vocational Rehabilitation our industry has been hit by a powerful “market force” that will slowly but surely eliminate a vast majority of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors from our industry. The effect of the changes has been the abandoning of files by Counselors at mid-point and without most of the funds exhausted.

An agreement to utilize a Counselor results in the parties placing a call to said counselor’s office to determine if they are still in business. Injured workers are finding themselves out on a limb when they cannot move forward with a proposed plan because their counselor has suddenly and inexplicably gone M.I.A.

Is it human nature and therefore “business nature” that when the situation becomes dire humans and businesses begin to behave poorly, but do so because the end is near?

A bit of research on the internet quickly led some interesting facts about Mpower. Mpower has had an interesting past and in 2002 filed for bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy protection was so massive that Mpower effectively retired over $583.4 Million Dollars of debt. The brunt of this debt was to the very same telcos from which Mpower leased telephone lines. This is one of the main reasons why most telcos would be happy as clams to see the CLECs similar to Mpower vanish from the marketplace.

The dilemma faced by Mpower back in 2002 has not gone away and in fact the companies like other CLECs face difficult futures. An article on Wikipedia about CLEC’s states the following, “In October 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lower court's ruling stand (by refusing to hear the appeal) that voided rules requiring ILECs to lease certain network elements (such as local switching or the high-frequency portion of the loop) at a cost-based regulated wholesale price to CLECs.”

In other words the rules set forth by congress which allowed for CLEC’s to enter the telecommunications market are largely being rewritten. The result is that market forces are rewriting the rules for companies like Mpower in the same manner that the internet is rewriting the way we conduct business.

The problem faced by Mpower is that it is powerless to change. It has lost sight of the value of its customers this is a direct reaction to market forces it feels it is powerless to control and has resigned itself to be slowly and methodically be driven from the market. The slow demise of Mpower could take many years, but slowly and painfully it will suffer such fate leaving space for fresh new start-up companies that will embrace technology and focus on providing good “customer service”.

Have you been Firefoxed?

If for some stroke of total misfortune you are still using Internet Explorer (IE) on you computer. Please STOP and take action. You are to be forgiven if perhaps it came pre-installed on your computer and you don’t consider yourself an early adopter and thus never considered alternative browsers. However, just because Internet Explorer came pre-installed in your Windows machine does not mean you should'nt consider alternative browsers to IE.

The fact is there are a number of excellent browser alternatives to Internet Explorer. The best alternative and in my opinion the best browser is Firefox and it comes with built in features to protect you from malicious viruses, spyware and those dreaded pop-ups.

I’ve been a faithful user of Firefox for over 2 years and the feature that most attracted me to the browser was the ability to engage in tabbed browsing. Microsoft recently announced that Internet Explorer 7 will finally feature tabbed browsing, but why wait.

Do yourself a favor and get Firefoxed, trust me you and your computer will love it and explore the world of extensions. The extensions are small software add ons that allow you to monitor anything from multiple email accounts, stock prices, sports scores and even post to your blog all from within your browser. Once you go with Firefox you will likely never look back at Internet Explorer again.

Click to Download

Apple + Dell & Microsoft = Interesting History

The Vocational Rehabilitation sector has lately all but disappeared and has resulted in Counselors scrambling to reinvent themselves, find new markets and revenue sources before the spigot completely dries out.

In these trying times I have found some inspiration by reflecting upon history. I'm encouraged by leaders who at their darkest moment have he courage to chose to take different path, to buck conventional thinking and set forth into unchartered territories. The company that has inspired me latetly is Apple.

Apple is arguably the hottest and sexiest tech company at this moment. However, I'm reminded of what Apple looked like in 1997.

At this moment Apple commands a mere 4% of the worlds market for personal computers. This number is expected to increase, given the halo effect brought upon because of the iPod and iTunes. However, Apple is also a story of good branding, design and execution. The fortunes of Apple are likely to increase as they roll out new products based on Intel chips beginning with the innovative MacBook Pro that houses the Intel Core Duo chip.

But, back to my point of inspiration. Just a mere 8 years ago (ok. I admit it 8 years is an eternity in the tech industry but humor me) Apple was a company who's future was questioned.

In fact Michael Dell of Dell computers made the following observation, at the 1997 Gartner Symposium Itxpo, he said, "Apple Should Close Shop"”. Michael Dell went on to say that the company should be closed and the money returned to it's shareholders. So, here we are in 2006 and Apple stock is at $85.58. The stock valuation places a total market value of $72.13 Billion for Apple. The Dell stock by comparison is at $30.58, which gives Dell a total market value of $71.97 Billion. It must be quite perplexing for Michael Dell to find that at this moment Apple has a greater market value than his company. It is probably annoying that Apple keeps churning out sexier products at a regular clip.

An aside and interesting tidbit was that in 1997 just days before the return of Steve Jobs to Apple, Mexican Billionare Carlos Slim Helu purchased 3% of Apple. He pays $17 per share and during the next 12 month period the stock soars to $100, as Apple launches several new products including the popular iMac . Overall, Carlos Slim Helu invests $25 Million Dollars. Did Slim Helu know something Dell did not, regardless of what he knew he earned a comparison to Warren Buffet by Wall Street as he pocketed more than $30 Million Dollars in profits from his Apple investment.

They say "fact is stranger than fiction" and in this case history reveals a strange bedfellow for Apple who is provided with a $150 Million investment from Microsoft. The investment is announced on August 6, 1997 at MacWorld Boston, Microsoft Invests $150 Million in Apple.

The last 8 years have seen the introduction of a variety of innovative products from Apple and despite the fact that it only commands a mere 4% of the PC market it is currently the tech company that it's competitors secretly yearn to be.

The Workers Compensation community and particularly Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors can take heart and learn some valuable lessons from the risks taken by Steve Jobs and Apple.

The counseling community has always been comprised of many talented and very resourceful individuals. Now would be a good time to look beyond our industry and find inspiration. Our community will with time renew itself and develop innovative products and services. The changes will be beneficial to our industry and we will one day reflect upon the legislative changes handed down by Sacramento as not very different from the ill fated comments of Michael Dell concerning Apple in 1997.

Google = Injured Worker + Insurance + Attorney + Voc Rehab Counselor

Lets try an experiment. Lets use the Google Search box provided below. Now lets type in our name or the company that we work for and see what comes up.

Do you or your company have a web presence? The questioned is can you be Googled? If you can, then give yourself a well deserved ego boost and then consider that you are an injured worker, an insurance company representative or perhaps an attorney, but you don't know any names of counselors or schools and will just use a generic keyword, such as: "vocational counselor", "vocational rehabilitation" or "vocational school". These keyword searches will reveal very limited and useful links for industry. I should mention and send props out to Allied who not only comes on the keyword searches of "vocational counselor and "vocational rehabilitation" but also comes up as a "Sponsored Link" which ensures that they are the first link on the search results page.

Now you may be asking yourself, Ok, but what does this all mean? It means that the traditional manner in which vocational counselors and schools have relied upon to receive their referrals no longer apply. SB899 has for the most part dismantled and deregulated our industry. Our industry is now faced with utlizing the same mechanisms that other industries use to target and reach potential customers. These mechanisms have always been there and they include media such as print ads in directories, periodicals and trade publications, but increasingly the directory of choice for consumers is the internet. If you don't believe me just take a look at the market value Google has created. Googles major source of revenue comes from "targeted ad searches". How much has Google built from targeted ad searches, well last week Google stock was at $463, this only amounts to a $140 Billion Dollar market valuation.

But, let's get back to Workers's Compensation which has always been comprised of Insurance Companies who in conjuntion Applicant Attorneys have chosen a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, who has worked with and evaluated an injured workers prospects for Return-to-Work. The Vocational Counselor would generally conduct an evaluation, occasionally refer the injured worker for vocational testing and assessment. Once evaluated, tested and assessed the injured worker would be referred and placed at a vocational school which provided any manner and type of training. The Vocational Counselor would implement a Vocational Rehalitation Plan, monitor to ensure all provisions were met and close out the file.

As of January 2004, SB899 repealed mandatory Vocational Rehabilitation and replaced it with the Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit (SJDB) what we commonly refer to as the "voucher". The new legislation has in effect removed the vocational counselor as a mandatory component for injured workers looking who are displaced from their jobs and will need to acquire additional training in order to facilitate their return to the open labor market.

Prior to SB899 referrals were made based on formal ties and longstanding relationships and alliances. The legislative changes will require that injured workers, insurance companies and attorneys look towards internet to find the limited amount of vendors that will remain in our industry. Our business depends on someone being able to find us at that precise moment that they need us. The internet resolves this problem because the searcher can simply type a keyword into a search engine and instantly locate a vendor or service provider within her area and engage in a transaction.

Our industry has been slow to adopt technology or create an internet presence, mostly because we never needed it, since we relied on our contacts to refer clients to us, but this is no longer the case. Our businesse climate has now changed and we must learn about the benefits of using the internet to establish our web presence and allow consumers to find us.

DWC to hold Spanish Language Seminars

The California Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) has begun to conduct free Spanish-language seminars on workers' compensation benefits and laws. The seminars are set up for workers that have recently filed a workers' compensation claim with their employer, but according to the DWC any employee can benefit from attending these seminars and anyone can attend.

At these free, one-hour workshops, attendees will learn about their rights to medical treatment, disability payments, return to work after an injury and how to resolve disagreements over a claim. The workshops consist of a presentation followed by a question and answer session.

The DWC provides the following information concerning the seminars:

-- Members of the news media are invited to attend. Spanish-speaking Workers' Compensation representatives will be available for interviews.

-- Injured workers can call 1-800-736-7401 and press 2 to get workshop and other Workers' Compensation information in Spanish.

*Note* This author called the toll free number and would rate the automated service as “Poor”. When calling the toll free number one reaches an English speaking operator and is then prompted to “Press 2” for Spanish. One would think that the DWC could provide a Spanish speaking operator for a toll free number that is intended to reach out to "Spanish" speaking workers. The automated system requires the caller to listen to as many as 7 options, navigate a series of prompts and be prepared to write down addresses and telephone number, because at no time can you reach a live operator, you can only receive information, leave a comment concerning the service, obtain telephone numbers for field offices, but need to hang up and call a redial those numbers.

The automated system could easily be made far more useful if callers were asked to press “0” to speak to a live operator at which time the can be prompted to enter their Zip Code and be connected to the Information and Assistance office that has jurisdiction over their claim. To it's credit he automated service does reqquire the caller to punch in their Zip Code to identify the office that services their area and does provide them with the address and phone number to that office. In my opinion the service falls short because it would simply be easier to route the call to the appropriate office for handling by the Information and Assistance officers, that will eventually field the workers inquiries. Overall, in its present state I doubt that the automated system will be utilized by any significant number of Spanish speaking workers, due to it's difficulty to navigate and therefore will have limited success in reaching much of the Spanish speaking workers in the community.

-- Flyers for the workshop can be downloaded in Spanish and English from www.dir.ca.gov/dwc. Click on the link that says, "Injured on the job? Need to know your rights?" at the top of the page

-- Spanish and English-language workshop posters are also available from the Division of Workers' Compensation by calling 510.286.7076.

Background information

The workshops will be provided in series of Spanish-language workshops which will be held around the state. The division is partnering with Cal/OSHA, the state's occupational safety and health agency, and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) to choose locations and inform workers about the workshops.

The DWC Acting Administrative Director, Carrie Nevans states, "We want to locate those workers most likely to be injured on the job so we can help them understand their rights," She added, "Coordinating with Cal/OSHA and DLSE helps accomplish this because they have extensive experience with high-hazard industries, the underground economy and receive complaints about substandard working conditions."

Conducting workshops for injured workers in Spanish is one of the DWC's first steps towards creating greater access to information about workers' compensation for all California's wage earners. It will be interesting to see the level of success the DWC will have in their outreach efforts to Spanish speaking workers.

This author plans to attend one of the future workshops and also to speak with the Administrative Director, Carrie Nevans office to address their success with these workshops, in terms of attendance and usefulness to Spanish speaking workers. A follow up report will be posted to this blog within the next month.

A Good Day at Soccer

Yesterday I posted the "Sad Soccer" video, as evidence off how even world class athletes can have that dreaded "off day", when nothing seems to go right. The great thing about sports is that there is always another game and the opportunity to rise above your obstacles, opponents and taste the sweetness and exhilaration of triumph, so I thought it would be fitting to post what a "good day" at work looks like. This video showcases Beckham, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Carlos, Zidane and more demonstrating their amazing soccer skills.

This video is courtesy of the new Google Video service. I found a few motivating and inspirational videos on the Google Video service, which employs a keyword search to find videos. I found a few interesting videos by typing keywords like "breakdancing", "motivating" and "inspirational". I actually managed to find four videos when I typed "workers compensation", two were news reports on the matter and the two others were short promotional videos one from a chiropractors office and the other from an attorney on the east cost promoting his law firm. I'm quite sure that eventually someone will upload videos of injured workers, with their identities masked, and show them performing all manner of physical activities they purportedly can no longer perform. It is already evident that people are willing to upload all sorts of video content and the number of videos is rapidly increasing. Google will delete any pornographic and material that they deem "inappropriate", but I'm sure that the video material made available on the internet, not just by Google will grow at a very fast pace within this year.

At the moment we can enjoy the fact that browsing thru the limited selection makes it easy to pick out a good video amongst 5-6 choices, imagine what it will be like when those choices are hundreds or potentially thousands of videos all found when you type the keyword of "funny". I'm quite certain that by then the "geeks" over at Google and other internet companies will implement some form of "ratings" system besides providing us with number of viewings or downloads of the video, which allows anyone willing to act as a judge to cast a vote ala Roger Ebert and help their favorite video gain in internet popularity.

Until then I can rejoice in the fact that browsing for good videos is fast and simple albeit because of the limited number of videos currently available, but make no doubt about it, video has hit the new internet and it will take over from now, whereby our computers will begin to look more like our TV's. This reminds of the old saying, "the only thing constant is change".

Reunion Concert

Relampago Del Cielo Grupo Folklorico
Reunion Concert

Saturday - January 11, 2006


La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts

Conceived and Directed by
Rosie Echeveria Peña

Co-Directed by
Marlene Peña-Marin
Emilio Rivas

Dance Captains
Javier Hernandez Delia Murillo Juan Lopez

Lighting
Kim Palma

Live Music
Mariachi Los Gavilanes

Generously Sponsored by

Law Offices of Federico Sayre

Coldwell Banker Elite

Rancho Santiago Community College District

Elisa E. Aragon
Casco Contractors, Inc.

Amigos de Orange County
Castle Financial Consulting, Corp.
DiMarco, Araujo & Montevideo Law Corp.
Health Dynamics
Law Offices of Al Amezcua
Spec Services, Inc.
Townsend Accounting Corp.

Two Happy Welcomes and One Sad Goodbye!

I met a good friend of mine for lunch yesterday. My friend Silvia happens to work for Foreign Trade Institute in Long Beach, California. She has actually been working there for the past 10 years. Over our Sushi lunch we were casually discussing the “State of Workers’ Compensation”, the lack of students, the closing of Vocational Counseling offices, reminiscing about old times and sort of catching up on each others lives.

Towards the end of our lunch Silvia asked, “If you have a bit of time could you come up and meet Richard ? I asked, Who the heck is Richard? Silvia paused and then responded “He is one of the new owners of Foreign Trade”. I was a bit surprised and asked, “When? How? What happened? This led to a discussion about just how much our industry is changing. Silvia pointed out that enrollments had steadily declined since the passage of SB899. She added that ironically her school was receiving calls from the shipping companies based out of the San Pedro and Long Beach shipping terminals, but had few graduating students to offer.

Our conversation eventually headed back to new owners and their plans given the state of our industry. Silvia said let me have them talk to you about their future plans and with that we left the restaurant and met back at the school. At the school I was introduced to Richard Friedberg the new owner of FTI. He introduced me to Revina Miller, the newly assigned Corporate Vice President for FTI. We met and they outlined their thoughts and future plans for FTI. They outlined their plans for providing training to Vocational Rehab and Voucher students, Title IV Funding, Workforce Investment Act (WIA), private Online Educational courses and tapping into Financial Aid. Both Richard and Revina possessed a visible sense of confidence about their seeming optimistic and ambitious agenda. We concluded our meeting and I departed.

While I was driving back to my office, I felt a bit sad about the changes over at FTI. I resolved to examine this feeling and concluded that it had to do with the fact that we have dedicated so much time and energy to what is now vanishing industry. I concluded that for most of us, we’ve managed to cling to this industry despite the fact that it is time to diversify and move onto new areas of business. The changes at FTI made me realize and focus on the need for Vocational Counselors to reinvent themselves and diversify their services.

The fact that Richard and Revina are new to this industry is certainly a major plus. Their fresh perspective, ambitious agenda and unbridled optimism will certainly serve them well. I wish Richard, Revina and FTI much success during 2006.

How much for your Attention?

I’ve spent the first few days getting back into the swing of work and frankly not paying much attention. This is always occurs to me when returning from the Holidays. I was out off the office for the last week of December and actually managed not to call in for any of my messages, I did not check my work email once during the week. I’ll admit that it was a bit difficult, but towards the end, I actually enjoyed the time away from the computer.

Overall, I probably spent a few hours during my one week vacation on the computer, mostly browsing the Internet. This for me was quite an accomplishment for me since I average 3+ hours of Internet usage on a daily basis. It did not surprise me how quickly I fell back into my routine and back to surfing the information super highway. I admit that most of that time on the Internet is spent reading a few blogs I have discovered. In fact those blogs are what inspired me to begin this blog. The blogs are mostly those related to business and what is now commonly referred to as Web 2.0.

I’m fascinated by the internet and especially Web 2.0. I can describe Web 2.0 as an Internet that is much more engaging, interactive and collaborative. This relatively new term has managed to make it into the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. You can visit Wikipedia and obtain a full definition here.

Wikipedia defines the Web 2.0 as: “Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a percieved ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes”.

The fact that most of our tasks and activities will be performed on a computer leads me to the topic of Attention. That’s right Attention. The basic definition of Attention is: Attention is the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one thing while ignoring other things.

Now if you are still reading this, then first “Thanks”, and secondly, perhaps I managed to get your attention. Now let us focus on what attention means on the Internet and why we should even care. It matters because my and your attention on the Internet can be tracked. If our attention can be tracked and placed into some data bank, it can be “sold and marketed”. In the Internet this is called a “clickstream”. This data is essentially “my attention” or clickstream and someone wants to make money from my clickstream.

Webopedia an online encyclopedia dedicated to computer technology says this about clickstreams:

“Clickstream data is becoming increasingly valuable to Internet marketers and advertisers. A virtual trail that a user leaves behind while surfing the Internet. A clickstream is a record of a user’s activity on the Internet, including every Website and every page of every Web site that the user visits, how long the user was on a page or site, in what order the pages were visited, any newsgroups that the user participates in and even the e-mail addresses of mail that the user sends and receives. Both ISPs and individual Web sites are capable of tracking a user’s clickstream. Clickstream data is becoming increasingly valuable to Internet marketers and advertisers.”

Should how you pay attention and what marketers and advertisers do with your attention be important to you? I believe it is important, because take issue at someone making money from my activities without my consent. This is one of those areas that observers of the Internet could not have forseen. It is an area that will probably remain rarely discussed or debated except within small tech circles and perhaps a few philosophy professors, but for the average consumer, he or she is unlikely to focus much, well pardon the pun, but attention to this matter.

So, are you asking yourself, What can I do? I believe that we should take the steps to track and database our attention. I believe we should control and maintain ownership of your attentions. A non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the basic rights of attention owners has emerged to assist us in this matter. The organizaiton is: AttentionTrust.org.

A visit to their website had the following: “When you pay attention to something (and when you ignore something), data is created. This “attention data” is a valuable resource that reflects your interests, your activities and your values, and it serves as a proxy for your attention.
AttentionTrust and our members believe that you have the following rights:

1. Property: You own your attention and can store it wherever you wish. You have CONTROL.
   
2. Mobility: You can securely move your attention wherever you want whenever you want to. You have the ability to TRANSFER your attention.
   
3. Economy: You can pay attention to whomever you wish and receive value in return. Your attention has WORTH.
   
4. Transparency: You can see exactly how your attention is being used. You can DECIDE who you trust.

When you give your attention to any entity that’s an AttentionTrust member, these rights are guaranteed.

Our Mission

1. Empower people to exert greater control over their “attention data,” i.e. any records reflecting what they have paid attention to and what they have ignored. We accomplish this by promoting the principles of user control, by distributing our Attention Recorder, and by supporting the development of other appropriate tools, standards and practices.
   
2. Educate people about the value of their attention and the importance of attention data.
   
3. Build a Community of individuals and organizations that will guarantee users’ rights to own, move, and exchange their attention data, in a transparent environment that gives users the freedom to decide how their data will be used.

How your attention on the Internet is used and marketed remains to be seen. Will Internet companies, online marketers provide consumers a right to their own data? This is an area that few consumers are aware of and even less consumers are aware that their Internet viewing habits are tracked, monitored and databased. It goes without saying that we should all pay a bit more attention at how we interact and use the Internet. Our attention matters because our data is being stored and then used by online advertisers and marketers to sell us goods and services.

It can be compared to me invisibly tagging along with you everywhere you go, quietly tracking your every move, documenting, observing and cataloging your every step, then using that same information to sell you the goods and services you will consume, all this without your knowledge or even your consent. Did I mention that your LazyBoy chair is very comfy, but you should really try that new StratoLounger!

Outlook of Work Comp 2006

What can we expect the Workers’ Compensation industry to look like in 2006?

Will 2006 be a better year for our industry now that some of the Voucher cases are starting to reach Counselors?

We intend to address these and other pertinent questions within the next few weeks. Today, we just want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season and wish them the best for the coming year. Happy 2006!

We here at Herrera & Associates have spent the better part of 2005 developing new services and entering new markets. We’ve made preparations to enter the Photo Copy Service, Interpreting and Translations, Transportation Services, as well as Durable Meds. All of these services are set to launch on March 2006, with the exception of Durable Meds which will be launched in the Fall of 2006.

We have also spent time collaborating with DataHouser, BetterBytes and 3rdIConsulting. We worked on several new software and technology tools for our industry that will be publicly released in May 2006. Those users of MyQRR Case Management Software and DateForecaster products will find a number of new tools developed by our Lead Programmer, Lavalle Houser.

We would also like to highlight a few companies that bring you Time Management and Productivity Tools. They are listed below and provide a number of worthy tools that smart businesses should integrate.

Zimbra.com - A killer 3rd party email tool.

OneWorkComp - Tools, Resources and Web based applications, Set to launch Feb 2006.

NextPage - Need to share a Document? This is the Document Management Solution.

Lastly, Marion Richardson, President of OBRA has committed to having his Board of Directors evaluate and perform a comparison test of all the Case Management Software Systems currently available for Counselors. They will compare DataRetriever, MyQRR and VRO, and all the software vendors have indicated that the recent DWC Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit Voucher Forms are now available. The results of the comparison will be published on this blog, the OneWorkComp and OBRA websites the last week of March 2006.

Diminished Earnings Capacity Evaluation

Kelly Winn of Kelly Winn & Associates in association with PowerTek Learning Center located in Anaheim, California will he hosting an educational seminar on Diminished Earnings Capacity Evaluations (DECE). The seminar will cover fundamental assessment and evaluations for injured workers who warrant Diminished Earnings Capacity Evaluations or Future Loss of Earning Capacity Evaluations. Kelly Winn will address the current trends and issues facing Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors who provide these types of services. The seminar is geared towards Vocational Counselors currently working or seeking to provide these types of services as well as Defense Attorneys and Applicant Attorneys looking to better understand this increasing, but controversial area of business. The seminar is scheduled for Friday, February 10, 2005. For more information and to register for the event contact Roberto Jarosanian at PowerTek Learning Center. He can be reached at: (714) 502-0146.