Leaders Speak

Over the past several years, a number of US insurance carriers assembled exhibits to mark their first hundred years of underwriting workers’ compensation coverage under state laws that proliferated in the early 1900s. The displays included fountain pens, handwritten ledgers, mechanical adding machines, and bank checks. All are wonderfully antiquated… [Continue Reading]

In 1911 this country’s first state-based Workers’ Compensation laws were enacted. Catastrophic worker injuries and deaths followed by the financial ruin of families made it necessary for society to radically change the way workplace injuries were compensated and how employers would be protected in return. The American Workers’ Compensation system is just… [Continue Reading]

With the flurry of media attention on Health Care Reform, these past few weeks particularly, one thing seems clear – the impact of reform on Workers’ Compensation remains to be seen. However, thinking that there will be no impact would be imprudent. According to the old adage, “one thing is certain, and that is change”. Much of the change… [Continue Reading]

Medical expenses in workers’ compensation continue to climb even as the claims frequency falls. NCCI’s 2011 State of the Line report showed that medical losses grew at average annual rates of 8.9% between 1994 and 2001 and 6.7% between 2002 and 2009. Conversely, claim frequency declined by 4% in 2008 after a 2.7% drop in 2007, continuing a trend… [Continue Reading]

If someone threw a basketball and a golf ball at you at the same time, which would you try to avoid? Most people try not to take the hit from the larger basketball even though the golf ball can do significantly more damage. A basketball slammed into your face hurts, but a golf ball can cause contusions, a concussion and… [Continue Reading]

Interpretation today looks like case management did 30 years ago — no nationally required or accepted professional certifications and few standardized practice requirements. There is little oversight regarding fees and outcomes. As an industry, it is largely unregulated. However, several recent regulatory and judicial decisions may signal… [Continue Reading]

As the workers’ compensation industry redefines cost containment strategies, we must include emerging industries such as interpretation. Payers should apply the same level of scrutiny to interpretation services and its appropriate intervention points as they do to case management, utilization review and bill review. Let’s look at a quick history… [Continue Reading]

Over the years, the popularity of self-insurance has grown steadily. When rates for primary insurance skyrocketed in the 1970s, companies turned to self-insurance as a more economical way to cover workers’ compensation and many continue to pursue this alternative risk funding option to this day. Employers that didn’t possess… [Continue Reading]

The subject of self-insuring workers’ compensation has received a lot of criticism over the years, however, it continues to be a successful and cost-effective business option for employers when funding their workers’ compensation needs. Whether it be a large employer self-insuring alone or smaller employers that band together to form… [Continue Reading]

Today, workers’ compensation claims are often complicated by a number of factors, including a high volume of transactions; manual, labor-intensive business processes; delayed communications, and many other administrative hassles. Workers’ compensation leaders realize that technology is… [Continue Reading]