Hey there, Michael Stack here, CEO of Amaxx. This past weekend, over the Labor Day Weekend, my family and I spent a couple days in Washington DC, our nation’s capital. Now, our visit happened to coincide with the funeral services for Senator John McCain, to honor his life and his legacy.

Senator McCain Was Maverick of the Senate

Now Senator McCain was known as the maverick of the senates. Now, there were several reasons for that and very specific, instances where he earned that nock name and that reputation. But, the primary reason was, Senator McCain did things differently and took a path often different than the way things had always been done.

Senator McCain earned that reputation, earned that nick name as maverick because he did things differently than the way things had always been done. It earned him a tremendous life and a tremendous and highly respected career. If you look at your organization and worker’s compensation, I want to speak to very specific practices that may be happening within your company, very negative practices.

Do Things Differently Than Have Always Been Done

First one is punishing injured workers for filing claims, punishing injured workers for filing claims. The other side is encouraging injured workers, or encouraging employees not to file a claim at all. You may know in your heart, and of course, there’s tremendous data and research to back this up, that that’s not the right thing to do.

You’re serving up high workers comp cost, you’re serving up poor injured worker outcomes on a silver platter to your organization by doing either one or both of these two practices. But,it;s the way it’s always been done at your organization. I want to encourage today to take inspiration from Senator McCain’s life and legacy to change those practices. Those two very specific practices, to change those practices within your organization because when you do, you’ll be putting your program on the right track. To improve those injured worker outcomes and drastically drive down your worker’s comp cost.

Get on Michael Stack, CEO of Amaxx and remember, your work today and worker’s compensation can have a dramatic impact on your company’s bottom line, but it will have a dramatic impact on someone’s life, so be great.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a 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 & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center .

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

As an employer, you often hear the recommendation “stay involved in your workers’ compensation claims.” That is great advice, but way too often it’s where the discussion ends without any explanation as to what “staying involved” means.

Four Phases of Employer Involvement in Workers’ Comp Claim

The employer’s involvement in the workers’ comp claim begins before the injury occurs and ends when the employee is back at work, fully recovered from the injury. Let’s first look at four phases of employer’s involvement in the workers’ comp claim, then we will look at what the employer cannot do in regards to the workers’ comp claims.

The four phases are:

1. Pre-injury process
2. The injury occurrence
3. The claim process
4. The claim settlement

If you have employees, sooner or later an employee is injured on the job. The following are some suggestions about what you can do prior to the injury occurring that will impact on the outcome of the workers’ comp claim. Make sure you have “touch points” for each phase of the claim.

Here is an example of what is appropriate:

• Provide each new hire with an employee accident brochure outlining what the employee should do in case of an accidental injury.

• Have a written transitional duty policy.

• Provide each supervisor within the company a written guide on how they are to report and be involved in workers comp claims.

• Post the injury procedure policy where all employees will see it.

• Have a published returned to work policy.

• Have a strong safety program and tie the manager’s performance evaluation, raise, bonus or promotion to his or her safety record.

• Have a medical provider network in place through your insurance company or join a medical provider network for self-insureds. Make sure all employees know about and use the network. This is called your “penetration” — you should have a penetration rate of > than 90%.

• Prevent fraud by letting all employees know workers comp fraud takes money away from their raises and bonuses.

• Put up posters reminding the employee that workers comp fraud is a crime and will be fully prosecuted.

• Post all the state required notices in a place convenient for all employees to see including workers comp laws, OSHA posters and anything else required in your state.

• Post a list of the required medical providers (where allowed by state statute) or recommended medical facilities (in the states where the employee is allowed to select their own doctor). Consider using an outcome-based network where providers with exemplary performance are included in the network.

Author Rebecca Shafer, JD, President of Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is a national expert in the field of workers compensation. She is a writer, speaker, and publisher. Her expertise is working with employers to reduce workers compensation costs, and her clients include airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality, and manufacturing. She is the co-author of the #1 selling book on cost containment, Workers Compensation Management Program: Reduce Costs 20% to 50%. Contact:.

Contact: RShafer@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

To have a successful, effective workers’ compensation program requires commitment from the entire organization, starting at the very top. Leaders must not only endorse the program but be engaged as well, for it to be of value to the company.

A lack of management support will be apparent to the rest of the workforce which won’t share your goals. But there are steps you can take to get leaders to fully embrace your injury management plan.

1. Speak their language

Getting the attention of management is largely a numbers game. Those in the C-suite need to understand the dollars and cents of an effective workers’ compensation program.

2. Play on what is important.

• Find out what matters most. Every organization has some way to determine its financial success. Find out what metric resonates most; the figure management discusses with shareholders, the board of directors or other senior managers. This could be
  • EBITDA: The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. This is the company’s net income with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back in. It eliminates the effects of financing and accounting decisions. It shows the company’s current operating profitability, or how much profit it makes with its current assets and its operations on the products it produces and sells, as well as providing a proxy for cash flow.
  • Net income number. This refers to the profit made after the company subtracts its expenses. Where revenue is the company’s total sales and is known as the top line, net income is called the bottom line, or the company’s earnings.
  • Revenue from operations. This is the income generated from an organization’s daily core business operations and is also called operating revenue. It is the revenue posted from selling the company’s products and services.

• Calculate the potential savings. This requires figuring out the cost of a full-time equivalent employee, then determining the possible savings from reductions in workers’ compensation costs. For example, if the important metric is the EBITDA and you know that the cost per FTE over the past three years has been going up, cutting that number in half could potentially reduce the EBITDA number by X percent. You want to use the company’s most important metric to frame the amount of revenue the organization must generate to cover its workers’ compensation losses.

• Define the impact of a claim. Either by your own calculations or through e-mod software.

• Compare the cost of a claim to the expense of something the company wants. Say your company had a recent workers’ compensation claim that cost $575,000 and the company needs certain equipment that costs $500,000. Explain that improvements in your company’s injury management program could have prevented that claim to show the money for the equipment could have been available.

3. Produce evidence of wastefulness. Whether it is outright fraud or just a lax attitude toward safety, management responds to pictures and videos of employees that translate to a culture of uncaring about the organization’s resources.

4. Present the numbers. A well-run return-to-work program keeps injured workers on the job or gets them back to work quicker. But company leaders may not truly believe that unless you show them real numbers from research:

• Up to 80 percent of lost work days are unnecessary.
• Injured workers out of work and receiving indemnity payments are 4X more likely to have an unsatisfactory outcome. The same research found that employees with similar injuries who either stayed on the job or returned sooner had better outcomes.
• The chances of an injured worker returning to the workforce in any capacity drops by 50 percent after 12 weeks of being out of work.

5. Give hiring advice. Management will be more apt to listen to you if you can present a way to avoid hiring the company’s next workers’ compensation claim. An easy, fairly inexpensive way to make sure the right people get hired is through an integrity test, such as the Merchant’s Integrity Test.

This is not a personality test nor does it require complex algorithms to interpret the results. The questions are direct and aimed at predicting the likelihood of problem behaviors from the person.

There are 50 questions that have been vetted and updated. According to psychologists who have studied the test, it works because people who engage in ongoing risky behaviors eventually rationalize their behaviors and come to believe there is nothing wrong with their conduct. More than 90 percent of applicants tell the truth about their high-risk behaviors.

Avoiding problem hires is one of the best ways of reducing workers’ compensation costs. Tests from Cornell University and elsewhere have indicated applicants who took and passed the test had half as many workers’ compensation claims as those who did not take it.

Summary

Having an injury management program may sound like a good idea to managers, but to understand its true value to the company requires looking at the numbers. Taking those numbers to management to frame a conversation that is meaningful to the organization can get leaders to be onboard with your program.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a 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 & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center.

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

Hey, there. Michael Stack here, CEO of AMAXX. So it was about two months ago now that my wife and I made a fairly life altering decision when we decided to homeschool our four young children. So we have a seven year old that’s in second grade, a six year old in first grade, and then five and a three year old who are both in preschool. Now reasons for why we made that move are many, but the main one is that we wanted to be very intense about the values that we’re teaching and the path that we’re on as a family.

Spend Time Coordinating Personal Lives, Work Comp Is Afterthought

But while the values, and the motivation, and the path that we want to be on is very pure and very strong, one of the things that we can never get around is the impact, and coordination, and planning for how we will physically transport the children to any activities that they’re involved in. And I think any parent who’s raised children can understand this challenge of getting this one here, and that one there, and this one here to the various activities, and the impact that it has on the day, the week, and the month, and the year for what it is that you’re going to sign up for.

But what we spend so much time and coordination and effort on that in our personal lives, let me ask you a question. How does your employee, who’s injured at work, physically get to the medical provider? How does your employee, who’s injured at work, physically get transported to the medical provider? Do you have a consistent plan for that? Do you have a system? Do you have a designated individual for how that happens and what you’re looking to accomplish? I’ll tell you the answer to that, that is most often given is, “Well, we just kind of figure it out most times. You know, sometimes the injured employee will drive themselves, and sometimes it’ll be a supervisor, and sometimes it’s just someone that’s there that can kind of pop them in their car and take them over to the facility.”

Intentional Workers’ Comp Transportation Plan

The lesson for today is to have a very intentional plan and I want to give you some very specific things that you should be looking for and trying to accomplish in your transportation plan. This doesn’t cost anything and it’s not very difficult to implement, but the impact it can have on that claim can be dramatic.

4 Steps to Workers’ Comp Transportation

So there’s the steps.

1. Designate Individual. Step one, designate and individual. Who is it? Who’s the person that’s going to take your injured employee to the medical facility? It’s that same person every time. And, if for some reason, they aren’t available, they’re not there for the day, it’s not Option A, it’s Option B. Usually this is a supervisor, it’s a manager, or it’s another designated individual at your site that you’re going to make sure that that person every time that takes that person to the medical provider.
2. Correct facility in a timely fashion. The second thing you want to do is you want to make sure they get to the correct facility. Make sure they get to the correct facility in a timely fashion. There’s so many things that could go wrong between point A and point B. You go here, you stop there, did they get into the right facility? Make sure they get to the right provider in a timely fashion.
3. Stay with Injured Worker. Number three is, that designated individual is going to stay with the injured worker while they’re getting their treatment at the medical provider. So that designated individual stays with the injured worker, makes sure that that provider knows about your transitional duty program, make sure they have the employer brochure, the medical provider brochure, whatever information that you’re conveying, and making sure that they’re getting that treatment that they need.
4. Return Injured Worker to Job or Home. And number four is, return that individual employee to the job site. And, if for some reason they can’t go back to the job site, then return that individual back to their home.

So these are the four steps. A designated individual. Making sure they get to the correct medical provider in a timely fashion. Stay with them, and return them to work. It doesn’t cost a thing, but the impact that it can have on your program can be dramatic.

Again, I’m Michael Stack, CEO of AMAX. And remember, your work today in Workers’ Compensation, it can have a dramatic impact on your company’s bottom line. But it will have a dramatic impact on someone’s life. So be great.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a 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 & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center .

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

As an employer, you often hear the recommendation “stay involved in your workers’ compensation claims.” That is great advice, but way too often it’s where the discussion ends without any explanation as to what “staying involved” means.

The employer’s involvement in the workers’ comp claim begins before the injury occurs and ends when the employee is back at work, fully recovered from the injury. Let’s first look at two phases of employer’s involvement in the workers’ comp claim.

The four phases are:

1. Pre-injury process
2. The injury occurrence
3. The claim process
4. The claim settlement

Phases 1 & 2 covered in:

Part 1 – Employer Role in Managing a Workers Comp Claim

3. The Claim Process

Too many employers allow their involvement in the workers’ comp claim to end when they send the employee to the doctor. That is a bad mistake and will result in a steady increase in the amount of workers comp insurance premiums. The employer needs to have an established post injury process. It should include:

• Report the claim to the insurer, third-party administrator or self-insured claims office immediately. The supervisor or your workers’ comp claims coordinator should be reporting the claim to the claims office while the employee is still en route to the medical provider.
• Complete the Employer’s First Report of Injury and any other state required paperwork on the claim.   If the injury is severe and the employee will be unable to return to work within the waiting period, provide the claims office with necessary wage information for the calculation of indemnity benefits.
• Advise the claims office of the claimant’s prior history of workers comp claims. The adjuster’s approach to the claim varies significantly between the employee who never had a prior workers comp claim and the employee who has had 15 workers comp claims in the last ten years.
• Review your transitional duty program and find a job the employee can do within the treating physician’s restrictions.
• Be sure the employee’s supervisor (and co-workers if needed) are available to discuss the accident and injury with the claims adjuster and to assist the adjuster with the claims investigation as needed.
• Don’t alienate the employee – show empathy to the employee. When employees feel the company does not care about them and their injury and the company owes them, the claim will get ugly when employees feel it is time to stick it to the employer.
• Maintain an open dialogue – call the employee at home to show your concern and to offer assistance in processing the workers’ comp claim with the insurance company. Address any employee problems or issues right away. Also, call the employee on a regular basis until s/he is back at work.
• If you are contacted by an attorney representing the employee, notify the claims adjuster immediately.
• Immediately dispute any invalid or fraudulent claim.
• If the employee has a questionable claim or a subjective claim for neck or back injuries, and immediately goes to the television advertising workers comp attorney or a plaintiff’s attorney-oriented doctor known for excessive disability ratings, advise the employee immediately that you intend to fight the claim as the attorney and/or doctor has a history of inflated claims
• Monitor the state filings by the adjuster and any other claim related paperwork
• Monitor the Workers Compensation Board decisions – that means, reading them carefully, not just filing them away. Be ready to protest any finding or order you feel is unfair to you as the employer as all decisions have time limits for disputing the decision, with some time limits as short as 15 days.
• Monitor the medical progress reports to be sure the treatment is appropriate – for example – no physical therapy for the low back when the injury is a cut finger.
• Always advise the adjuster when the employee returns to work – the same day.

4. The Claim Settlement

Normally, it is up to the adjuster to negotiate the settlement of the workers’ comp claim. However, there will be occasions when the employer needs to be involved in the settlement discussions. This would include:

• Working with structured settlement consultant and professional administrator in settlement discussion if appropriate.
• Attending depositions and hearings.
• Attending the settlement conference (with settlement authority if you are self-insured).
• Working with the vocational rehabilitation specialist to accommodate the employee’s return to work if there are any ADA concerns.
• Providing rehabilitation training if necessary.

What You Cannot Do

Occasionally employers go overboard in their efforts to control the cost of workers comp claims. There are some actions you cannot do including:

1. Going without workers compensation insurance. This is a criminal offense in most states, you will pay fines, you will pay the claim out of company funds and you could end up paying your own cost to defend a lawsuit from the injured employee.
2. You cannot terminate the employee for filing a workers comp claim.
3. You cannot refuse to hire an employee solely because of prior workers comp claim history (unless the prior injury(s) makes it impossible for the employee to do the job under consideration).
4. You cannot charge an employee for any part of the workers’ comp premium.
5. You cannot pay the small claims out of company funds and not report them to the workers’ comp insurer.

By staying involved in the workers’ comp claim from before the claim happens to the time the claim is concluded, you will have a strong, positive impact on the cost of your workers’ compensation insurance.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a 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 & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center .

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.