Storm & Security

16 STORM & SECURITY PROTECTION / PEOPLE IN THE KNOW 2014 PROTECT / YOURSELF An independent study by the Rand group found that employees of firms that offer health insurance are twenty-one percentage points more likely to file a workers' compensation claim, compared to companies that did not offer health insurance policies to their employees. The Rand Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. Rand is a non-profit, non-partisan, and committed to the public interests. Workers compensation fraud has been rising at 12 percent a year. The increase in health care coverage being pushed by the Affordable Care Act will act as a double impediment to a company's profitability. Health care costs will continue to rise as an aging workforce drives the cost of health care coverage. And, if the Rand study is accurate, the inclusion of more employees covered by health care will increase the number of workers' compensation claims, which will be increasingly more expensive. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) reported that in "the last few years, workers' compensation medical benefits in NCCI states have increased nine percent to 12 percent per year, nearly double the pace of compensation for lost work time, which has grown five percent to seven percent per year. This continues a pattern of dramatic cost increases in workers' compensation medical benefits." Integration of Health Care Received by Employees By integrating occupational safety and wellness programs, employers can reduce medical losses incurred in their health care program, increase productivity, and reduce the frequency and severity of workers' compen- sation claims. In a study by NCCI, similar injuries treated by the health care industry show that workers' com- pensation covered medical treatment was significantly higher for similar treatment. The NCCI study found that while prices for individual services were generally sim- ilar, workers' compensation typically pays higher rates, because utilization by the patient is generally higher in workers' compensation treatment schedules. This utilization increase may be because in most states employees pay no percentage of care from a workers' compensation treatment where a deductible, coinsurance or co-payment come out of the employ- ees' pockets; which numerous studies have shown that when employees have skin in the game they become better informed consumers of health care services. Since it is impossible to increase the level of significant costs to the employee, the employer needs to understand the dynamics at work and develop a policy and procedures to slow down the medical cost in both forms of employee treatments. Employee Wellness A study by an insurance carrier and a public entities association showed that obese workers file twice as many workers' compensation claims, and have 13 times more lost work days, than healthy weight workers. The Rand study showed that fitness of the employee and levels of education were positive factors in reducing workers' compensation reported injuries. The study also showed people in jobs that necessitate more strength are more likely to report injuries; but, fascinatingly, people in jobs requiring more fitness are less likely to report a workplace injury. The cardio fitness factor could be related to workers employed in fitness demanding jobs maintain a healthier weight than other employees. Addressing an Aging Workforce The workforce is growing older, and as it does it presents industry with better skilled and experienced workers, but also specific areas of risk management concern. Older employees have similar claim frequency when compared with younger workers, but the severity of their injuries is much higher. Return-to-Work Program Employers should provide a return to work program for injured workers, which would include implementing an effective modified-duty plan that is timely, sensitive to the well-being of the employee and instills a cultural attitude to show the employee that | by Don Leggett | Controlling Workers' Compensation Costs Rising claim fraud has been linked to health care mandates.

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