In December, Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw convened and facilitated a discussion on the potential creation of an advisory board to help improve the state's workers' compensation process. Although representatives of the various stakeholder groups — carrier, legal, health care, governmental, and regulatory — attended, agreement on the need for such a board was far from unanimous. Rehabilitation and health-care companies and claimant's counsel expressed the most interest in creating the council; support from other quarters was muted, at best.

"In my view, the main question on the formation of a workers' compensation advisory board is defining its mission and assuring its effectiveness," said Attorney Rich Fidei, who heads the regulatory division of Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate. "Workers' compensation was substantially reformed by the 2003 Florida Legislature and in a 2009 legislative correction of the Florida Supreme Court's decision on attorneys' fees in the Emma Murray v. Mariner Health case. Many believe that these reforms have dramatically improved Florida's workers' compensation platform and have served as a model for meaningful, positive change. In this context, are there issues significant enough, and will the advisory board have enough influence, to warrant the expenditure of valuable resources [to create the board]? If so, the advisory board would be a good forum for open dialogue on the issues."

The Florida United Business Association (FUBA) sent a representative to the meeting, but despite participating in a previous statutorily created advisory panel, the organization is not currently in favor of a new one. "At this time, FUBA does not believe the creation of a new panel or advisory group is warranted or needed," Executive Director Tom Stahl said.