Hello, Michael Stack here with Amaxx. So, it’s January 4, 2016, the first official work day of the year. Happy New Year to you. So, we had a good time over the holidays, ate a bunch of cookies, drank champagne, and watched the ball drop. This was actually the first year in a number of years that my wife and I actually made it to watch the ball drop. So, we had a good time over the holidays, hopefully you did as well. But, now it’s time to get down to business.
Here is our human nature, we’ll set these grandiose plans for what we want to accomplish in the new year. We’ll say “I’m going to lose 50 lbs, and I’m going to do that by eating an all kale diet”. Obviously that plan is doomed to fail before it even starts. And the same is true in your work comp program, you say “well I’m going to implement this program and we are going to save 50% in the first quarter, and we are going to do x, y, and z by implementing these crazy steps and getting everyone on board. Obviously that planned is doomed to fail before it starts as well.
Build Success Through A Series Of Small Steps
Here is how you build lasting change in our personal lives, as well as in your work comp program. It’s by implementing a series of small successes that you can build on. The first place to start in your personal life is to have that first healthy meal, or get to the gym, or whatever it is that you are doing in your program. It starts with that first small success that you can easily win, and what you do in your work comp program, the first step that I want you to know if where you currently are. Having an understanding of what those metrics are.
Look At Loss Run To Understand Date of Injury vs. Loss Reporting Date
Here is what I want you to do, I want you to take a look at your loss run. On your loss run I want you to get a sense of where you are. I want you to take a look at the date of injury vs. the loss reporting date; the date of injury, vs. the loss reporting date. You can get this information from something like a lag time summary report, to understand the first step in building momentum and building success in your program, is to know how well you are doing in the reporting of your claims. The first step again is to understand how well you are doing in the reporting of your claims.
There have been numerous studies out there that have shown the impact of the claim cost, as well as the litigation rates, the longer a claim goes unreported. But, I think the story of looking at the loss runs can really be more impactful for some people. Some people will resonate more with the studies, some people will resonate more with the story of the claims. If you are looking through these numbers and you are understanding the story; understanding John’s story, understanding Jeff Kelley’s story, and you see that it took 6 months for Jeff Kelley to report that claim. How is the adjuster going to be able to investigate that claim properly, how is he going to be able to establish compensability, and have any control over the outcome of that claim.
The first step again in the management of your program is understanding how well you are currently doing in the reporting of your claims. Get a sense of the story from your loss runs, and then put meaning behind the lag-time summary report.
You Can’t Improve What You Don’t Measure
The reason that understanding the claims reporting dates, the lag time reporting is so important, you need to have that understanding because you can’t improve what you don’t measure…you can’t improve what you don’t measure. So, having that first step, taking that first step to understanding those numbers, you’ll be well on your way to building momentum for success in your work comp program. And if that is not a number you currently know, you need to look that up, right now.
Remember, your success in workers’ compensation, your success throughout the year 2016, is going to be defined by your integrity. So, be great!
Author Michael Stack, Principal, COMPClub, Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their work comp costs by 20% to 50%. He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is co-author of Your Ultimate Guide To Mastering Workers Comp Costs, a comprehensive step-by-step manual of cost containment strategies based on hands-on field experience, and is founder of COMPClub, an exclusive member training program on workers compensation cost containment best practices. Through these platforms he is in the trenches on a working together with clients to implement and define best practices, which allows him to continuously be at the forefront of innovation and thought leadership in workers’ compensation cost containment. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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