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MCN News and Events

Announcing MCN’s Newly Revised Cover Letter Creator

Medical Consultants Network (MCN) is pleased to announce the launch of our newly revised Cover Letter Creator. To simplify the claims process, we have designed the Cover Letter Creator so clients may select questions specifically for their requested service.

Whether the client is requesting a independent medical examination or peer review on a workers’ compensation, disability, or auto/liability/PIP claim, the Cover Letter Creator addresses questions on causality, return-to-work timing, medical improvement, and many other aspects of claims.

Each product type has been carefully evaluated by our staff so that corresponding Cover Letter Creator questions are always geared toward the specific aspects of the insurance and assessment type their clients are working with. The combination of MCN’s fully integrated nationwide systems, expansive physician network, and staff policies results in an efficient and conflict-free client experience.

With nationwide staffing, 20 regional offices, and over 20,000 scheduling locations among physicians and consultants across the country in all medical specialties, MCN is dedicated to providing our clients with actionable independent medical assessments.

To try the new Cover Letter Creator, contact a local MCN representative (information on MCN.com) or submit a referral through our on-line client portal.

 

Thank you, Doris McCroskey!

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Doris McCroskey has spent 24 years with MCN. We thank her for her hard work and wish her the best in Texas!

At MCNTalk our focus tends to be on the world of medicine, from the very specific field of independent medical assessments to broader discussions of the practice of medicine.

Occasionally, we post on contemporary issues which affect both, such as health care insurance policy, the opioid epidemic, obesity, and our more recent post on War Tourism.

Sometimes, however, we like take the time to make note of events more personal to us. To that end, we bid a fond farewell — as an MCN employee —to Doris McCroskey.

She has spent 24 years with MCN, most recently as our Spokane office manager. She leaves us for a new chapter of her life in Texas. We have many warm memories of her two plus decades with us and wish her the best.

We also congratulate and welcome to the manager’s chair in Spokane, Dana Townsend. Dana has been with MCN 17 years, serving as a Customer Service Representative.

MCNTalk Readers Paying It Forward

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After another successful year, MCN is delighted  to announce five non-profits that will benefit from year-end donations!

Thanks to the growing loyalty of our readers,  we sponsored a contest wherein MCNTalk subscribers could select a non-profit organization of their choice to receive a $200 donation in their honor.  We’ve listed the organizations below and provided a bit of information about each

At MCNTalk we frequently write about the issues we face in today’s world: the rising cost of medical care, the number of uninsured Americans, and medical challenges faced by everyone. When viewed as a whole, the magnitude of the situation is daunting, perhaps overwhelming, so it is good to have the opportunity to provide some support.

As an organization, MCN and our employees are privileged to provide financial support to umbrella social services organizations such as United Way and to the thriving arts community in Seattle as well.

1. Shane’s Heart: The Shane McCusker Foundation for Pediatric Cardiology

The specific purpose of The Shane McCusker Foundation for Pediatric Cardiology includes educating the public about congenital heart conditions and providing funding in the field of pediatric cardiology at UCLA’s Medical Center Mattel Children’s Hospital for the goal of servicing and saving children born with heart defects.

2. Hogan Cedars Elementary PTSO

The mission of the Hogan Cedars Elementary School Parent, Teacher, and Student Organization is to promote the continued welfare of our children and the improvement of our school.  They feel this goal can be most readily achieved by expanding the channels of the communication between parents, students, and the faculty through the establishment and the organization of on-going projects.

3. 826 Seattle

A non-profit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages 6 to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills and to helping teachers inspire students to write.

4. THON

Is a student-run charity at Penn State University provideing support to families of children with pediatric cancer and for cancer research.

5. Harrisburg Humane Society

The mission of the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area, Inc. is to build a better community for pets and people through compassion, protection, education, and collaboration.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent contest by subscribing to MCNtalk, and thank you to the contest winners for their choices. We hope you have safe and happy holidays!

For Holiday Cheer, We Made MCN Beer!

By Erik Madrid

As the popularity of craft beer amongst drinkers everywhere continues to rise, so does the popularity of an age-old hobby: homebrewing beer.

In a report earlier this year, the American Homebrewers Association estimated there are approximately 1 million Americans currently brewing beer at home.

Homebrewing beer has many benefits:

  • It is a fun and affordable hobby
  • It allows beer enthusiasts to learn much more about beer
  • One can be much more creative in making the beer they want to drink
  • It’s a good way to make sure there’s always a supply of fresh quality beer on hand

At the MCN Corporate Office in Seattle, three of the company’s employees collaborated on homebrew recipes this past year – Erik Madrid (Physician Recruiting Manager), Erik Halse (Peer Review Product Manager), and Aaron Schultz (Accounts Receivable Coordinator).

Team Rainwater Brewing (as they’ve dubbed themselves) collaborated on two batches of homemade beer served at the company holiday party. On tap at the corporate office were seasonal Gingerbread Ale and an IPA (India Pale Ale).

The basic ingredients used in Gingerbread Ale and IPA.

Both the crafting of a recipe and the process of brewing beer can be as simple or as complicated as the brewer decides to make it. The four core ingredients making up any beer recipe are: water, malted grains, hops, and yeast. Simple enough, right? Not so much.

There are hundreds of unique types of grains and hops and several different strands of yeast to choose from. Mixed and matched in different quantities, and brewed using a wide variety of methods is what allows for such a diverse mix of beer styles; and is why within any one style, two beers can have incredibly different flavor profiles.

Factor in optional ingredients like fruit or spices and the possibilities are truly endless. Some extreme brewers craft delicious recipes using outlandish ingredients like jalapenos, bacon, and oysters (yes, oysters!).

The basic steps of homebrewing beer: 

Erik Halse (left), and Aaron Schultz, (right) check the H2O Temperature for the Mash.

The Mash: The grains are mixed with hot water (typically between 148-155 degrees) and allowed to soak/steep for one hour. This process is called the mash, and is done in a mash tun. During the mash, the grains are broken down and the fermentable sugars are extracted from the grain.

Homebrewers often use converted water coolers with false bottoms to easily maintain the temperature for the duration of the mash and then strain the liquid off.  After the initial mash is drained, additional hot water is added to the mash tun to rinse off any residual sugars – a process called sparging. The mix of malted grains make up the backbone of the beers flavor profile and contribute the color to the beer.

The Boil: All of the sugary liquid (referred to as wort: unfermented beer) from the mash and the sparge are collected in a kettle and brought to a boil. The wort is boiled for at least 1 hour, which allows for any of the naturally occurring micro-organisms and bacteria living in your water or the grains to be boiled off.

Erik Madrid, a homebrewer for a year and a half, has already brewed over 25 batched of beer.

The other big part of the boil stage is the addition of your hops, spices, or other adjunct ingredients (honey, fruit, etc) and getting all those flavors to come together just like a good soup.

The frothy wort of the Gingerbread Ale.

Hops contribute 3 key elements to beer: bitterness, aroma, and their natural preserving qualities. Hops added at the beginning of the boil contribute more towards bitterness and flavor; while hops added to the end of the boil contribute mostly towards aroma.  You can take 1 variety of hop and get a totally different flavor and/or aroma in your beer depending on exactly when and how much you add during the 60 minute boiling period.

 

 

Pitching the yeast: Yeast is a living organism whose role in making beer is to eat all the fermentable sugars, poop out alcohol, and fart out CO2. The 210 degree temperature of boiling wort would kill the yeast. Most strands of yeast used to make ales prefer temperatures closer to room temperature. Once the boil is finished the temperature of the wort is quickly brought down to a range ideal for the yeast being used. anitization of all equipment becomes crucial at this point and for every stage from here on out. The chilled wort is transferred from the boil kettle into the fermentation vessel, at which point the yeast is added (pitched).

Fermentation: A restaurant grade bucket or a glass carboy are the most popular fermentation vessels used by homebrewers. Once filled the fermentation vessel is sealed off with a plug and an airlock that allows some C02 to escape while the yeast is actively eating through all the fermentable sugars, but prevents any bacteria from entering the fermenter. For most standard alcohol content ales, your typical fermentation takes about 2 weeks.

While optional, most brewers prefer to transfer their beer from the first vessel to a secondary fermenter. In doing so, spent yeast that settles to the bottom of the fermenter is left behind, preventing the dead yeast cells from imparting any unwanted flavors in the beer.

Gingerbread Ale bottled for secondary fermentation.

Getting the beer off his sediment also improves the clarity in appearance. These stages are referred to as primary fermentation and secondary fermentation.

Bottling or Kegging: Once fermentation is complete, the beer is siphoned into either individual bottles or a keg to be carbonated and then served. Carbonation will occur naturally in bottles, as there is still a small amount of yeast eating the last of the sugar content in the beer, but now the C02 created is no longer allowed to escape.

Using the bottling method takes between 2 and 4 weeks for the beer to properly carbonate and prime. Alternatively, the beer can be transferred into a keg and hooked up to a C02 tank for force carbonation. A high amount of C02 pressure is infused into the keg for a couple days until the desired carbonation level is reached.

MCN Holiday Beer Ready to be served!

Drinking: If you can’t figure this part out for yourself, we’re in trouble! Now, if you’ve gotten this far and haven’t become thirsty enough to grab a beer, then you must be at work.

Seriously though, give any beer you’re drinking the justice it deserves and pour it into a glass before consumption. The aroma and the color are part of the experience, and you just can’t get that from the bottle.

If you’re drinking a homebrew, remember to leave the last little bit behind in the bottle – the residual sugars and yeast that have settled after carbonation is complete are not the last thing you want to remember about the beer.

 

For the MCN Holiday Party, Aaron and the Eriks have brewed up a Gingerbread Ale and an IPA. The Gingerbread Ale is a Brown Ale with nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, cloves and candied ginger added throughout the boil to create a flavor and aroma profile very similar to gingerbread. The IPA was brewed with a mixture of a variety of hops to create a nice crisp and bitter flavor profile typically associated with a good Northwest IPA.

Interested in homebrewing? Ask Team Rainwater about equipment, recipes, tips, and more at MCNTalk@mcn.com or comment below.

 

 

War Tourism

By Brian L. Grant, M.D.

I write this during a quick trip to the sun of Hawaii, island of Oahu.

We took a drive up scenic Tantalus Drive, to catch an aerial view of Honolulu. At the turnout there was another car. Two young men and a woman. One of the men was in a wheelchair. He had no legs and wore a prosthesis for his left arm – a triple amputee.

We three exchanged pleasantries and I commented on his T-shirt that said “Team X-T.R.E.M.E”. He told me it has to do with veterans doing some extraordinary physical activities. I asked him how he was injured and he said Afghanistan in August 2010. His name is Todd Love. Todd is 22.

Our visit was brief and I did my research upon returning to the hotel. There were no shortages of articles about Todd. I contained myself until getting back in the car. This was an unplanned visit that served to accent our next planned stop.

Minutes later, we turned into the Punchbowl Cemetery, known as Arlington of the Pacific. This beautiful cemetery houses remains of approximately 53,000 veterans from World War I through Vietnam Era veterans, along with stunning memorials with graphic histories of these conflicts. Beautifully landscaped, it is a special, solemn and sacred place.

The next day we took in the most popular tourist spot in Hawaii, the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

A well-organized place, one gets tickets for a time slot to see an instructive film about the Pearl Harbor Attack of December 7, 1941 before boarding a small boat that takes you to the memorial building constructed in the water, above the sunken ship where 1,102 of the  1,177 sailors and marines killed on that vessel lie. All told, the 353 Japanese planes sunk four battle ships and damaged an additional four. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed as well as several other vessels. 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. The attack lasted slightly less than two hours.

I make a point of visiting war memorials and related sites during travels. Around 1984, I visited the Piskariovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Russia. This cemetery contains the remains of about a half a million victims of the 900 day Siege of Leningrad during World War II. Most of these were civilians. It was a somber visit with the laying of a wreath by our group. Marshall music played over speakers. The Russians knew war first hand on their soil and paid dearly in the past century at a level we Americans have fortunately been spared.

In 1994 during a trip to France, we visited the Normandy Beaches and the adjacent cemetery containing the remains of almost 10,000 Americans who died in and around the D-Day landings. You may recall the site from the film “Saving Private Ryan”.

As far as one could see were fields of crosses and the occasional Star of David. A short walk brings one to the cliffs overlooking the landing beaches, with remains of German bunkers intact high above the water.

Seeing the geography of the site first hand, I could imagine the terror of those soldiers as they came ashore, under fire from above. To the Germans, it was like shooting ducks in a barrel. Our soldiers knew that living or dying was a matter of a perverse lottery  of where the bullets and their bodies happened to be at any given moment. I understood sacrifice and heroism in new terms.

Our French hosts from Normandy treated us young Americans, born after the war, with thanks and respect for what our parent’s and grandparent’s generations did to liberate their country. How strange. I could not accept the credit but enjoy their friendship and hospitality to this day.

Prior to this visit, my exposure to war was from the tortured Vietnam era, during which I came of age as a teenager. It was a time of ambivalence to not only the war, but the men and women who served there. Thankfully, we have embraced the service of our soldiers, while that war remains a matter of ongoing debate, as have those that followed, including the Afghanistan conflict that claimed the limbs of Todd Love.

 

Since then I have visited the breathtaking memorials to Viet Nam, Korean War and World War II several times in Washington, D.C. I recall my first encounter with the Korean War Memorial one night during a jog along the Capitol Mall. I encountered the lifesize statues of soldiers in the dark, but with a spotlight on their faces, alert and on patrol. It was breathtaking, aligning the power of war with that of the artist.

I have visited several holocaust museums and the concentration camp at Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic.

I have driven along roads in beautiful Croatia, where from 1992-1995, citizens were being subject to genocide. And where today there are still signs warning of remaining mines in adjacent fields.

There are unfortunately no shortages of war memorials and battle sites that, could if one chose, become the primary travel destination rather than an interlude during restful vacations or business visits.

I imagine that to the degree that I travel, where war or memory of war is, I will visit. The reasons are complex. These sites, especially memorials, are generally places of somber beauty and often great artistry.

One shares the experience with fellow citizens and tourists from around the world in the U.S., or as a tourist abroad sharing it with the locals whose own people suffered or bore witness. I think about the sacrifices of war and how I would have fared if given the obligation or opportunity to serve. In most cases ordinary men were forced by circumstance and history into extraordinary situations. Some fought and some supported the fighters. Some died, some were wounded and some survived. In many cases civilians were slaughtered or starved.

The visits combine historic curiosity with honor and respect. These sites reduce the abstraction of war. Some glorify it with heroic murals and grand quotes, while others put stark numbers and names to the dead.

They cause one to wonder how it is that the wars start, how one side is seen as enemy to the other, while both generally view their cause as the right and just one. I think about the alternative of going to war or doing nothing in the face of evil and death of innocents. I wonder but doubt that such evil will ever end.

Why Art?

by Brian L. Grant MD

I love the arts. Whether music, theater, dance, visual – I love it.

Long before entering medicine, I participated as an enthusiastic amateur in piano, guitar, voice, ceramics, printmaking, theater and other endeavors. Today I still sing in a very fine choir.

Most of my time with the arts is as an audience member or observer. While I have no intention of quitting my day job, I regard myself as no less engaged or committed to the arts as an amateur and observer than if I was a professional in the field.

Art is all around us, in formal ways that we pay to see and in our environment. Fashion, architecture, landscape, and more are informed by individual and collective artistic sensitivity and awareness, not always conscious. We buy and consume based upon art, whether in response to a creative advertisement, or a beautifully designed device, home, or product. To a large degree we don’t notice art until we are in an environment where it is lacking; where designs are purely utilitarian with no eye to how it is experienced emotionally. Such places are sorry and depressing.

One can find many treatises, articles, and books that try to answer the question “Why Art?” But I want to share a recent experience that prompts this entry.

The other night I attended a dance concert of the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. During the second piece I found myself drawn into the discontinuity of the unpredictable movements. I immediately associated and contrasted this to my daily life and the routines that I find myself in and how different the sense of the dance was from a typical day. The latter is largely predictable and draws more on the past. The former – the dance piece, forced me to challenge these assumptions and made me wonder if there were not perhaps some other ways of addressing certain challenges and relationships, leading to better personal, professional and business results. All the while as these thoughts unfolded, I marveled at the process with excitement and resolve to act a bit differently in certain contexts the next day and in the future.

Will a life transform from one good performance? Not likely. But if one surrounds oneself with examples of seeing the world differently through art, literature and even science, and stretches one’s mind as a result – isn’t that what education is about?

I can’t imagine a better experience or a world without art. It deserves all the support and participation we can give. Art is not optional in a civilized society. We can live without it, but why bother?

Medical Consultants Network Announces Rapid Growth in their Newly Established Group Health Division

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 15, 2012

Medical Consultants Network (MCN) is experiencing rapid growth in the group health sectors through expansion of their recently launched Independent Review Organization (IRO) division. As an IRO, MCN is certified through URAC, the leading national health care accrediting body. Health insurance carriers and patients seek IRO services when coverage decisions are appealed with respect to questions of medical necessity or contractual applicability.

Among its many mandates, the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) established federal regulations on health coverage appeals, requiring carriers to utilize multiple URAC-accredited Independent Review Organizations. MCN has seen substantial growth providing appeals reviews for a multitude of health insurance carriers and state agencies.

“Our IRO division is a logical extension of our strategy to provide national medical judgment services,” says Brian L. Grant MD, company Founder and Medical Director. “We are able to leverage our extensive network of expert physicians and other medical consultants in every specialty and state to serve a national client base in the largest health care sector.”

MCN’s IRO division builds upon the expertise of the company’s medical peer review division which has been successfully serving workers’ compensation, disability, and liability carriers since its founding in 1985.

The success MCN is seeing in the group health sector can be credited to MCN’s focus on clinical integrity, maintaining the highest of physician credentialing standards, and providing evidence-based determinations. Appeals reviews can be highly contested between the patient/treating provider and the health plan. The IRO is relied upon to provide an independent and objective opinion in these circumstances.

MCN’s ability to select a physician for each review from a vast panel of specialists nationwide is a unique advantage among Independent Review Organizations and allows for a selection of reviewers who are not only trained to complete the review, but also whose medical credentials meet the highest standards set by URAC as well as federal and state regulations, and have the clinical expertise to address the treatment or service under review.

The combination of MCN’s fully integrated nationwide systems, physician network, and staff policies results in an efficient and conflict-free client experience.

About Medical Consultants Network (MCN): MCN is the premier national provider of medical judgment services including independent medical evaluations, and medical peer reviews with a focus on Utilization Reviews. Founded in 1985 in Seattle, physical facilities and staff are located nationwide. Clients include insurance carriers, corporations, local and national government and the legal profession. If you are interested in learning more about MCN connect with them on their Website, Twitter, Blog, or Linkedin.

Now With the Elections Over, We Can Focus on Health Care – A View from the Trenches

By Brian L. Grant, MD

Pundits are debating the meaning of the recent election results. I believe that to some degree the election is a mandate to continue to address our out-of-control health care system and an endorsement by the  electorate to continue to develop and deploy the Affordable Care Act – aka ObamaCare.

Coming at health care as a physician, patient, employer, taxpayer and medical director of a company whose business it is to review medical claims for appropriateness of treatment and utilization – I believe I have both skin in the game and a deep perspective on the problems we face.

Long ago during residency, during my medical rotation, I concluded that so much of care was of little value in providing quality or quantity of life to those whose days were numbered. Those providing the treatment were unable or unwilling to ask the tough questions that would limit care in hopeless situations. Governed by good intentions, physicians were and still are largely expected to treat with little moderation. This decision is supported by the economic rewards of treatment, encouragement by the hospitals they work in, and a fear that denying treatment or moderating the testing provided might expose them to litigation.

I wondered how many people would choose the care received if the system were somehow different, such as their paying directly for care of having the money available for some other use. I continue to ask this question today, while recognizing that many would abuse this choice, denying necessary preventive care to themselves or their children if given the option of diverting their health care spending to another cause.

But absent external controls on utilization and consumption – overuse and unnecessary care is common, and according to some, represents some 750 billion dollars annually, or about 25% of our health spend! This would suggest that we stand to gain far more from curbing spending and utilization than we do from discounting it.

And since patients and their families are largely shielded via insurance from the economic impact of treatment, they lack interest or incentive in invoking the economic self-interest that governs all of us in our non-medical personal spending behaviors, when we are not spending directly for our care.

Third party payments also mean that the costs of treatment are not responsive to competition, since everything is expected to be paid for at whatever price may be charged. Third party surrogates including insurance carriers, bill reviewers, and companies such as MCN whose work aims to control excessive and unnecessary costs are attacked by stakeholders including patients, providers, drug manufacturers, device manufacturers and hospitals when limits or denials are suggested or imposed.

As an employer, I have experienced annual increases well into the double digits in proposed premiums for our staff, only curbed by increasing co-payments, deductibles and some of the premium increases to the employees. This means less income for staff as their personal health spend increases – a trend common across the economy. The rate of increase has appeared to curb a bit over the past two years, perhaps in response to the reforms underway that improve the structure of the system by spreading risks to a wider population of insured individuals.

I grudgingly accept the need to provide coverage for employees, all the while wondering why this is the case. Staff do not receive company-paid housing, food or education; they get a paycheck to pay for some, and we all pay taxes to pay for other universal needs such as education. Why is healthcare a unique outlier by being tied to employment? How do we as a society rationally defend employer-based health-care given the outcome? The consequences are well-known.

They include most notably the lack of paid insurance for dependents and spouses under most employer plans,  total lack of coverage for many working people whose jobs don’t provide coverage, the unemployed, students, and those who are self-employed and either can’t afford care or choose to gamble by not buying coverage. Since hospitals do not turn away patients needing emergency care, those without coverage are either forced into economically dire straits if they have any money left over to pay, or the rest of us pay for their care via cost-shifting by these institutions to those who can and do pay. This results in higher premiums for those with insurance and the employers paying for them.

In a nation that extols the virtues of small business and entrepreneurs, how many men and women who might take the risk to strike out on their own are deterred from doing so because they can’t afford the high cost of individual health care, especially if they or a member of their family has preexisting risk that makes insurance unavailable or unaffordable. One would think that those who claim to champion a creative economy would insist upon health care being available and affordable to all. Yet by and large this was and is not the case.

As a patient and physician, I have had the opportunity to consume and provide care and see hospital bills that were extraordinary in their complexity and impenetrability, including excesses in line item charges, and inclusion of items that were not necessary in a particular case but dispensed to all patients admitted as standing orders. If you have the occasion to be hospitalized, call and ask for the multi-page actual bill submitted to your carrier rather than the several line summary they send you describing what was billed, what was paid, what was discounted and what you owe as a balance. It will be an eye-opener!

As a taxpayer I am aware of the massive multi-trillion dollar size of the US system, representing about 18% of our GDP or around a third more than those of other industrialized nations that have better public health metrics including infant mortality and life-spans. This excess spending decreases our national productivity and imposes burdens on all, and riches on a few.

Reasonable people can and should debate the details and the specifics; but like defense spending, entitlements and other massive expenses – health-care should be debated and addressed with data, not ideology! Those who believe that continuing the system with minor alterations are advocating the structural equivalent to putting lipstick on a pig. Concluding that this will somehow lead to meaningful change is either naive or willfully deceptive.

I struggle with the concept of personal freedom vs. personal responsibility, the role of government and who should pay for choices. Others do as well. Thus the debates on public health and safety, lifestyles, chronic illness and self-determined behaviors and how much the government should regulate what we do, how we consume and who should pay for these choices. Many entries in MCNTalk have addressed these topics that include obesity, tobacco, vaccinations, and those who question if and how these should be regulated and who should pay. Again one can debate the details and the ideology, but we can’t escape the expensive outcomes for individuals and society.

Democracy is a participatory sport in a game with real consequences for all. We wish our legislators well, thank them for their service and will be there loudly exercising our freedom along with them in the coming years.

Salman Khan – A Hero for Our Times

By Brian L. Grant, MD

A recent Forbes article, “One Man, One Computer, 10 Million Students: How Khan Academy Is Reinventing Education,” is inspiring and significant.

Another article “When Salman Khan Met Bill Gates,” features an interview with about Salman Khan,36, describing how he started his virtual classroom of more than 10 million students out of a closet in his Silicon Valley home.

I have been following with interest a tidal wave of innovation in online learning via a number of sites that have basically put online courses from major universities including the Khan Academy, Ted Talks, and more.

This trend is disrupting education in a major way, democratizing it and causing many to reconsider the cost/value equation or meaning of a campus education.

Clearly college has value, but is it the classroom? Or is it the peer group, the overall milieu, the dorms and frats, the football games, the mentoring of professors, the degree path, the proctored tests and graded papers?

Colleges and universities are increasingly expensive. Online learning is free or nearly so. The disruption that it represents may be epochal, allowing those without means anywhere in the world, to learn at a level that rivals the wealthiest students.

All it takes is an Internet connection, which I have seen in remote places and will be as common as electricity, accessible to the majority of the world.

In the end, great colleges and universities succeed by selecting capable students. They don’t make people smart, but take smart people and give them information and hopefully knowledge and some skills. But college is a beginning and online learning is another parallel path that is figuring itself out.

The main point is that continuous learning is essential in life. It requires first and foremost, a decent brain to start with, and character that includes motivation, curiosity, and hard work.

Think about a day long ago, when there was no Internet, no cell phones, no email, no Google or Facebook. Somehow business took place. That year was 1980!

Online learning, along with tried and true books help all of us to be lifelong students. See what is online, not to mention good old-fashioned books and lectures.

Whether about business, literature, politics, philosophy, computer programming, art or whatever moves you or is needed by you – experience alone without outside input does not cut it. Our own unique experience is skin deep and a mile wide.

I look forward to learning more about and partaking in these new learning opportunity and seeing how many carve out their own educations with or without the college experience.

Subscribe to MCNTalk – Win a Contest!

Thanks for reading our blog and our newsletter. Most of our readers visit MCNTalk directly from the web, link from another blog, or click on the link when they get our occasional newsletters. We would like to encourage more direct subscribers from our client base – those involved in the management of injury and disability claims.

Subscribing is an easy one-step process. All you need to do is head over to the MCNTalk home page. In the upper right corner, below the MCN logo, you will see a box with the text above “SUBSCRIBE TO MCNTALK.”

Enter your email and you’re finished. You will then receive direct notification of new postings by email. You control how often you receive notifications – from immediate, to daily to weekly – or you can always unsubscribe at any time and continue to visit MCNTalk on the web.

Now to the contest: MCN will select 5 subscribers at random who provide eligible client business email addresses and we will donate $200.00 to the non-profit of the 5 subscribers choice. You can benefit your favorite charity in your community, region, or nation – just by subscribing.
The Fine Print:

  • While anyone may subscribe to MCNTalk, contest eligibility is restricted to those subscribing from a business email of a client company, or entity that manages claims.
  • The winners will be contacted by email by MCN and will have 5 days to respond, or an alternate will be selected if we can’t reach them at the subscriber’s email.
  • The recipient must be a tax exempt US non-profit that has a web presence and who MCN is able to reach.
  • The deadline for subscribing is November 30, 2012.
  • The winning organizations will be announced by December 14th on MCNTalk.

Questions may be directed to MCNTalk@mcn.com