As you implement a workers’ compensation program, you will need a planning team. At least 60 % of this initial work will be done by your injury coordinator. Therefore, it is crucial the injury coordinator’s job functions are well understood by everyone on the team.
Since this one member of your company is responsible for managing daily claims and corresponding with the claims adjuster to develop strategies for each claim in the program, the person is given the title of Injury Coordinator (IC) or Return-to-Work Coordinator (RTWC).
An injury coordinator assumes several universal job characteristics.
1. To develop and implement workers’ compensation management programs, policies and procedures.
2. To develop and implement training
3. To track benchmarks to determine overall progress of the workers’ compensation management program.
4. To establish, coordinate and maintain communication pathways between employees, supervisors, senior management, third-party administrators, medical and legal personnel and others.
The injury coordinator’s (IC) chief task is to make the length of time out of work match the length of time an employee is medically unable to work. This saves you money. The IC also needs to be able to make sense of the medical service industry – or at least know when to ask to ask questions.
Furthermore, you must expect the IC to be the go-to person for correspondence going between the employee, the medical staff and the insurance handlers. It is helpful if the IC uses standard documents, developed specifically for your company for things such as reporting an injury, making a claim and so on. These documents work best if organized as standard forms and available to other team members, either electronically (ideal) or paper files. (workersxzcompxzkit)
The functions of the IC can be adapted to dovetail with the characteristics of each company, but generally some variation of these pivotal roles is implemented across the board for workers’ compensation management to be effective.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
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Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker about workers’ comp issues.
