|
NEWSLETTERS
NEWSLETTERS
|
In this issue
|
| • |
Case Study
Electronics Manufacturer Saves $85,500 in 3 years |
| • |
How fit are your employees? |
| • |
Healthier employees mean healthier profits "Fit and Happy Workplace" brings wellness coaches to the workplace |
|
Case Study
Electronics Manufacturer Saves $85,500 in 3 years
|
Insured
The business is an electronics manufacturer. The company employs 110 workers and has gross revenues of $30 million.
Situation
After splitting from a large national manufacturer, the company saw its Mod jump to 1.45, causing uncompetitive labor costs and a loss of profitability.
Assessment
It was determined that the increase in the Mod was a result of an increase in the severity of repetitious injuries to hands and wrists, due to the type of light assembly work involved. The Mod was also being driven up by a number of malingering claims and too much reliance by the manufacturer on their insurance company to manage the claims after they happened, resulting in higher premium costs. The manufacturer had no established return-to-work procedures nor 24-hour claim reporting requirements.
Solution
The focus was on lowering the severity of the hand and wrist injuries and improving the outcome of the malingering claims. A Certified WorkComp Advisor (CWCA) set up an occupational clinic relationship with pre-employment testing, including grip testing to eliminate potential future claims. A clinical relationship was also put in place for existing claims, the CWCA set up a return-to-work process and made the clinic aware that light duty was available as a return-to-work option. This assured early intervention, proper medical treatment and a speedier return to work. He also trained supervisors on 24-hour reporting requirements and the impact that Workers' Compensation has on the employer's costs, and started regular safety trainings. Furthermore, he worked with management to demonstrate the value of this process by showing them how much money they would save.
Result
Malingering has been eliminated and outcome from severe claims has been reduced from $35,000 to $6,500, resulting in savings of $85,500 for three years.
|
|
How fit are your employees?
|
According to the CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Promotion, Ohio Prevalence Data 2004, for every 100 employees:
* 77 eat less than 5 servings of fruits and vegetables
* 68 do not have regular physical activity
* 59 are overweight or obese
* 34 have high cholesterol
* 26 have high blood pressure
* 25 smoke
* 17 binge drink
* 10 have depression
* 9 have diabetes
* 8 have had a heart attack or a stroke
* 6 are chronic drinkers
In addition to the high costs of health care, this poor health means more frequent and costly workplace injuries, increased turnover, increased absenteeism and decreased productivity.
|
|
Healthier employees mean healthier profits "Fit and Happy Workplace" brings wellness coaches to the workplace
|
Everywhere we look today there are reports on the dismal state of fitness and wellness in the United States. During the past decade, there have been numerous approaches to wellness programs to improve our health and control health insurance costs. Yet double digit increases in health insurance premiums and the vicious spiral of changing health insurance carriers, downgrading benefits, and increasing employee as well as employer costs persists.
Why have the traditional wellness programs failed? Many are passive, remote and indirect and have too much reliance on self-direction. Although intentions are good, people do not remain committed. Traditional wellness programs simply do not generate enough employee participation to make a meaningful difference. In addition, the programs are not workplace-based, nor timely or flexible. They often are neither tailored to individual needs nor responsive to changing personal needs and goals.
Recognizing the importance of healthy employees in the long-term control of Workers' Comp costs, we have partnered with Wellness Coaches USA, to bring a powerful wellness model to the workplace. "Fit and Happy Workplace" deploys wellness coaches directly to the workplace to personally engage employees in a continuous process of improvement in lifestyle behaviors and personal health.
The process begins with building trust and rapport, educating and motivating, while conducting health risk appraisals and providing biometric testing (blood pressure, body composition, etc.). Then when employees are ready to participate, the Health Risk Coaching process provides systematic interaction with employees, in all work groups and locations for a fixed number of hours per week or month in an agreed upon schedule.
The comprehensive program includes nutrition management, weight control, fitness and exercise, smoking cessation, stress management, ergonomics, strength and conditioning, and pain symptom management. With the program, you will:
* improve employee morale
* create a culture of wellness
* increase productivity
* control employee benefit costs
* reduce employee absenteeism
* reduce WorkComp costs
|
Reduce Workers' Compensation Costs With CompScore Metrics
|
How do we keep score in Workers' Compensation? Typically insurance companies provide "top of the line measurements," such as total number of claim dollars spent in a given year, average claims costs for medical only claims and average claims costs for lost time claims to employers. They may even break down some injury costs by department.
Not surprisingly, these metrics drive decisions. They become goals and measures of success. In fact, metrics on claims costs have become so predominant that companies often reward their employees based on them. If injury costs go down in a department, it's a good thing and supervisors and employees are rewarded. If they go up, it's a bad thing and corrective actions are needed.
Unfortunately, this focus on total claims cost from one year to the next is incomplete and shortsighted. It fails to recognize or measure what's driving the claim costs. If the average medical cost per claim increased, was it simply a matter of medical inflation or did it have anything to do with something the employer could control? If it went down, was it luck or a result of the employer's actions?
What is needed are tangible and measurable metrics of factors driving claims costs. This focus has several advantages. First, it inherently takes a long-term view enabling employers to understand the underlying circumstances and conditions that are driving up work-related injury costs. Secondly, it isolates measures of the value of the employer's actions. This approach is much more than a difference in semantics; it not only will drive decisions in a different direction but it may also entail significant changes in an organization's management of Workers' Compensation.
CompScore Metrics, the four most important measurements for driving down Workers' Compensation costs, are:
1. Time lag
A well-known study by The Hartford has demonstrated that "time is money" for workers' compensation claims. A week's delay in reporting an injury can increase claim cost by 10%; claims filed a month or more after an injury cost 48% more to settle than those reported in the first week. Yet it is not only the lag time in reporting that is important to measure; along the continuum of care there are many points at which a claim can become snagged, slowed down or stopped dead in its tracks. Lag time to first doctor's visit; lag time to get report from doctor; lag time to see a specialist; and so on., all have negative effects on claims costs.
An employer can set their own baseline for improvement by examining injury records, writing down dates, and identifying excessive time lag. Reducing delays in care, and accelerating continuity in care and communication with the employer will drive down claims costs and improve productivity.
2. Disability duration and treatment
Excellent sources of disability duration guidelines and benchmarking data on time away from work are available. The Medical Disability Advisor, by Presley Reed, MD, helps companies more efficiently manage and measure the time employees are away from work by providing evidence-based disability duration guidelines for over 6,700 of the most common injuries and illnesses of working age people.
The gold standard for effective occupational medical practice from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines: Evaluation and Management of Common Health Problems and Functional Recovery in Workers, 2nd Edition, provides evidenced-based treatment guidelines for all types of injuries. These guidelines are the foundation for the State of California's Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule that requires doctors to use these treatment protocols for injured workers.
The evidenced-based guidelines offer the best standards of medical diagnosis, evaluation, and medical management in the workplace. With these benchmarks employers can measure the actual versus the expected disability duration for an employee based on their injury and determine whether or not the treatment matched the treatment protocols. The approach has met with success in California and warrants consideration as a national model.
Drilling down even further, there are predictive modeling programs that can identify claims that are likely to spiral out of control. Flagging these claims and monitoring vigilantly is another way that evidenced-based guidelines can reduce costs.
3. Modified Duty Days
A smooth, safe and expedited return-to-work is the mark of a well-run loss control program. The longer an employee stays at home, the more difficult it is to bring him or her back to the work environment. Return-to-work programs with modified work assignments are a crucial component in reducing Workers' Comp costs. Yet, modified duty work assignments are transitional, designed to reach the primary goal of returning workers to full duty at their original job. Injured workers should not be mired in modified duty for extended periods of time. Benchmarks are available to evaluate the employee's progress and reductions in modified duty days will improve productivity.
4. Physicians
The best way to measure a physician is by the evidence-based treatment guidelines. Yet, not all doctors follow them. Reviewing the cases treated by the same physician can reveal disconcerting trends - i.e. every one is referred for physical therapy. While state statutes differ with respect to the extent to which employers can direct injured workers to certain medical providers, the medical management of a workers' comp claim is essential to reducing costs. Holding physicians accountable to established standards is key.
Using CompScore metrics will lead to different insights and strategic decisions than the current claims-cost approach. They act as a mirror into the current processes. If it takes on average seven to ten days to report an injury, there is a training and communication issue. The employer can put a training initiative in place and measure the results over a three or six month period. If there are delays in the continuity of care, there is a problem with the physician and it must be communicated that it is unacceptable. Often times, delays can be resolved by using alternative specialists, improving communication, or simply being more aggressive on the telephone.
In the same way that measuring results is key to productivity improvement, measuring the factors that affect Workers' Compensation costs becomes the basis by which employers can reduce these expenses and, at the same time, better serve injured employees.
Since insurance companies are not providing this critical data, it falls to employers, along with their insurance agents, to take action on their own since it's their bottom line and employees that are at risk.
|
|
Previous Newsletters
May-2009
Apr-2009
Mar-2009
Feb-2009
Jan-2009
Dec-2008
Nov-2008
Oct-2008
Sep-2008
Aug-2008
Jul-2008
Jun-2008
May-2008
Apr-2008
Mar-2008
Feb-2008
Jan-2008
Dec-2007
Nov-2007
Oct-2007
Sep-2007
Aug-2007
Jul-2007
Jun-2007
May-2007
Apr-2007
Mar-2007
Feb-2007
Jan-2007
Dec-2006
Nov-2006
Oct-2006
Sep-2006
Aug-2006
Jul-2006
Jun-2006
May-2006
Apr-2006
Mar-2006
Feb-2006
Jan-2006
|
