By: Scott Rogers, Chief Client Officer, Sedgwick
Cultural and technology changes have rapidly evolved the claims management industry. Employers have many choices to make to ensure that when a workers’ compensation claim occurs, the employee is cared for properly and returns to productivity. The interaction with employees when an unfortunate event occurs impacts their feeling about their employer and can impact overall engagement. In a world where employers are fighting to keep talented workers, the employee experience cannot be underestimated. Most employers find that a partnership with the right third party administrator can help them meet their risk management goals and create a positive experience for their injured employees.
In this first installment of Leaders Speak, we’ll explore the benefits of outsourcing claim services and look at the most important factors in selecting the right partner. In the second part of the series, we will focus on the most meaningful ways to partner with your third party administrator to create an excellent employee experience and impact overall service and financial outcomes.
Why Outsource?
Third party administrators provide intellectual capital, technology, and can ensure regulatory compliance which is critical in today’s environment. This allows employers to focus their resources on their core business. Compliance issues including examiner licensing, EDI requirements and state reporting add additional complexities for employers who manage these risks themselves.
Technology also plays an important role in claim organizations. The ability to work across employers and create technology platforms that allow for the best injured worker experience is cost-prohibitive for most employers.
How to Select the Right Partner
Steps an employer should consider in selecting a claims management partner include:
Assess current program: It is important for businesses to continually assess their claims programs and look for ways to improve efficiencies and effectiveness. The right partner will focus on continuous improvement and evolution of the key elements. The introduction of arbitrary validations or market reviews can contradict the concept of continuous improvement.
Set goals for the partnership: It is critical to understand what success looks like when choosing a partner. Employers should have specific goals for their partnerships. These goals can be financial in nature but should also include metrics that focus on the injured worker experience.
Know what is important to you: Do you want a vendor, a partner, or a trusted advisor? Service providers vary in terms of resources and how they approach relationships. This is a critical decision when evaluating a service provider as it impacts your overall outcomes and your ability to partner to meet your objectives. Create an inventory of the things that are most important for you to meet your risk management goals and ask how the provider can support you.
Kick the tires: Meet in person with partner candidates to better understand, validate, and assess capabilities. Onsite visits provide a window into the culture of a potential partner along with an opportunity to observe employees working and solving problems on an everyday basis. Cultural alignment is a critical component of a program’s success. Meet the people you’ll be dealing with daily and make sure they understand your culture and expectations. Assessment of the actual team is needed to instill confidence and visualize future working relationships.
The most important part of selecting a partner is ensuring that all the capabilities and technical resources can support your objectives and that the organization has the flexibility to grow and change with you. It is an important decision with potential financial implications as well as implications to the way that your employees feel when something unfortunate occurs.
In part two of this series we’ll look at how you can maximize the performance of your partner.
About Scott Rogers
In his role as Chief Client Officer, Scott Rogers serves as an industry and Sedgwick thought leader, working with his peers to explore the intersection between client needs and innovative claims management solutions. Scott brings his passion for creating value through efficiency to every client relationship, elevating his role beyond client services to that of trusted advisor. His operational knowledge, ability to anticipate industry trends and keen focus on individual customer challenges empower Sedgwick to deliver a successful, outcomes-focused approach for every program.
With over 20 years of industry expertise, Scott has spent the last decade as an executive vice president, leading several business units across the U.S. and developing our industry-leading retail practice group. This role provided Scott the opportunity to establish industry-specific risk management best practices for the retail sector, including direct responsibility for customer relationships, claim results and managing colleagues across the country. Building on the extraordinary success of our retail business unit, Sedgwick is now leveraging Scott’s skills across other industry verticals, delivering thought leadership, program innovation, superior outcomes and a world-class customer experience.
About Sedgwick
Sedgwick is a leading global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits and integrated business solutions. The company provides a broad range of resources tailored to clients’ specific needs in casualty, property, marine, benefits and other lines. At Sedgwick, caring counts®; through the dedication and expertise of nearly 27,000 colleagues across 65 countries, the company takes care of people and organizations by mitigating and reducing risks and losses, promoting health and productivity, protecting brand reputations, and containing costs that can impact the bottom line. Sedgwick’s majority shareholder is The Carlyle Group; Stone Point Capital LLC, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Onex and other management investors are minority shareholders. For more, see www.sedgwick.com.