Here Are The Types Of Workplace Injuries That Cost Employers The Most Money – Is Your Business Vulnerable?

When a worker becomes sick or injured on the job, the ways that this event can impact the bottom line of that business are many and varied.   Of course there are the cost associated with the down time your business may experience while that worker is at home recovering, but there is also the possibility of lost revenue due to lost business that you can’t engage in if you need that employee to get the work done.  And don’t forget that workers compensation insurance policies are experience rated so that means that your past losses will affect the rates that you pay in the future.  OSHA tells us that injuries and illnesses cause increased absenteeism, decreased productivity and reduced morale among the non-injured workers.   All of the effects can be expensive to a small business owner.   But among all of the types of workplace injuries, some in particular are more costly than others.   If your business model leaves you vulnerable to losses of these types, then this is a wakeup call for you to take protective action to prevent  these most expensive types of losses from happening to your company.

There are 5 types of injuries that currently account for 72% of all the direct workers comp costs for employers in the U.S.  These types of accidents  cause losses totaling over $35.7 billion dollars each year.  They are, overexertion, fall to the same level, fall to a lower level, bodily reaction, and struck by an object.  Take just a moment and think about each of these types of accidents, one at a time to determine if your business is vulnerable to that kind of loss anywhere in your work processes.    Once you have done this, think even more carefully about ways in which you could establish changed procedures or different workflow strategies that might help prevent that type of accident.

This is a big job and requires some out of the box thinking to imagine what might go wrong to lead to a loss of any of these types.  The good news is that there is professional help available to you to accomplish this.  Some insurance companies sell only workers compensation insurance policies and often those insurance companies offer a rich and inexpensive buffet of services and programs to help you evaluate and prevent injuries to your employees.  According to the U.S. Department of Labor,   employers can save $4 to $6 for every $1 spent on safety and health programs.  Also, workplaces with successful safety and health management systems are usually able to reduce injury and illness costs by 20% to 40%.  If you consider that overall lost productivity just from lost productivity due to injuries and illnesses in the U.S. costing companies an estimated $60 billion per year, you can readily see that taking a moment to consider loss prevention for your business could have an enormous effect on your bottom line.

I advise that you check in with yourself on these most costly types of injury causes, then check in with your workers compensation insurance company to see what they can offer you to help you prevent them.  If you find that your insurance company is not particularly helpful, or if they don’t have a rich offering of tools and knowledge to help you prevent more injuries, then I suggest you start looking for another workers compensation insurance company.

At Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC,  we represent a number of workers compensation insurance companies who specialize in this type of coverage only.  They have ways to help you reduce and prevent injuries in the first place, and they also have tools and knowledge to reduce the overall costs of injuries once they occur. If your business is located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee or Virginia, then give us a call, toll free at 877-687-7557 and put us to work for you today to lower your workers compensation costs, both now and in the future.

Mono-line Workers Compensation Insurance Companies – What Is It They Can Do Exactly?

Readers of my blog know that preach buying your workers compensation insurance policy from an insurance company that sells only workers compensation and no other types of policies.  This is because I have found that with their expertise and understanding of this insurance product they can reduce claims costs, and help get your employees back to work more quickly.  All of this helps them keep their rates low and save you money on your first policy with them as well as on your renewal policy.      Today I want to drill down deeper into this issue and help you understand what these extra services are and why they will cut your claims costs and save you money on your workers compensation insurance rates.  That way, when you are considering one of these insurance companies for your business, you will know which questions to ask.  Take it from me, not all of these mono-line workers compensation insurance companies are created equally.

To start, consider how these insurance companies often have an in depth medical bill review process for all medical claims.  The most talented at this have found that there are huge savings to be found simply by reviewing and challenging the medical bills themselves and their tricky coding.  Applying national guidelines for coding edits can often reveal huge savings by stopping some of the catch all codes where billing inaccuracies are often dumped.  One insurance company recently reported that unbundling overcharges found by in house bill reviews saved 49.8% on medical costs for an average claim.  Carefully applying medical limits and rulings to fees also generated savings of 38.46% on physician fee schedules.    Verifying the diagnosis according to medical records and examining medical records to ensure bill coding accuracy saved additional money on the medical portion of claims.

Now let’s take a look at some of the service options that have also proven to reduce the costs of workers compensation claims.  Companies that offer an online notice of injury and fast claims reporting have seen huge reductions in claims costs.  To learn how fast reporting cuts claim costs, read my blog on that topic here.   Another money saving approach has been to assign one claims adjuster to each company for all claims.  Imagine how having the same claims adjuster on every claim will cut down your time in claims processing and help you build a relationship with someone who will be working hard to help you reduce your claims costs and prevent claims from happening in the first place.  Implementing  proactive return to work programs that get the employee back to work in some kind of capacity sooner have proven to save the employer money both in terms of claims costs but in down time and replacement worker costs.  This not only shows other employees that you care about them, this also has the added benefit of getting the injured employee back to work full time much more quickly.    And many of these insurance companies employ highly trained and very experienced special investigation units.  These units investigate possible fraudulent claims to control unnecessary expenses associated with these kinds of claims.

Many employers who stumble on to a mono-line workers compensation insurance company to protect their business may only see the lower price on the front end.   And that can be a trap as often a mono-line workers comp company may come into a state with lower rates in an attempt to buy up business before raising their rates in years 2 and 3.  But to save you money today and tomorrow, an insurance company needs to be proactive in implementing techniques and training that will help reduce the frequency and severity of future claims as well as to reduce the costs of a claims that have already occurred.   

At Clinard Insurance Group we represent several fine mono-line workers compensation insurance companies that can save you money on your workers compensation insurance both today and tomorrow.  We insure hundred and hundreds of small businesses all across North Carolina and South Carolina.    If you would like help with your workers compensation insurance policy, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.  

Work Comp Insurance Claims – Quick Filing Save You Money

Recently a study by The Hartford Financial Services Group found that the longer a business waits to file a workers compensation claim, the more that claim will cost.   This direct correlation is no surprise to me; I work in the insurance industry and see the effects of delayed claim reporting frequently.   However, for many businesses this correlation may not be so obvious.  And an even greater number of companies may not understand how higher claim costs will come back to bite them in insurance premiums down the road.  

A common first reaction to this study by many business owners and CEOs might be that they don’t really care about inflated claims costs because the insurance company is paying the claim, not them.  But higher claims costs in workers compensation will affect your rates both directly and indirectly and with delayed reporting also come lower productivity and fines levied against your company.    The indirect cost to your company are driven by the simple formula that the more money that every insurance company has to pay out in claims each year, the higher the rates will be for everyone the next year.  There is a more direct impact for business though.  Workers compensation is an experience rated insurance policy so this means that your loss results this year will show up in your own rates in future years by way of your experience modification factor.  The truth is, the higher your claims costs are now, then, the higher your work comp premium will be in the future.   The link to your experience modification factor is direct and undeniable.   It is important then for you to understand every way that you can reduce the amount paid out for your company’s workers compensation insurance claims.  And quick reporting is a simple fix for most companies.

The Hartford Study shows that the costs of delaying the reporting of a claim beyond the day of the accident increases the costs of the claim by greater and greater amounts as more time passes.  For example, the study reports that filing a claim between 7 and 14 days after a an accident occurs results in an average of 18% more paid for that claim than if the claim had been filed on the day that it happened.  Waiting 15 to 28 days will increase the costs of that same claim by an average of 30%.  Wait 29 or more days and you will see claims costs jump by 45%. 

To better understand why this happens, let’s take a quick look at some of the reasons why early reporting reduces the costs of claims.  Early reporting allows the insurance company to control the medical costs of the claim by directing the appropriate treatment and care for the injured worker.  Early reporting also reduces the duration of a claim’s total activity, which cuts down on the claims handling costs incurred by the insurance company for that claim.  By shortening the claim cycle, the insurance company can get your employee back to work sooner and this reduces your lost productivity.  Quick reporting also allows for better fraud detection and also reduces the chances of attorney involvement.  I don’t have to tell you why involving an attorney almost always drives up claims costs do I?

Looking at it from the other side, there are also a number of reasons why late reporting increases the totals costs of a workers compensation insurance claim.  Late claims reporting can often turn minor injuries into much larger ones with higher settlement costs.  If the insurance company is brought in late on a claim, then often you miss out on the chance to take advantage of the insurance company’s negotiated medical provider fees.  This almost always results in higher medical costs.  And don’t forget that you as the employer could face significant state fines for delayed claim reporting.

You should take some time to make sure that your managers have an established claims reporting process that kicks into action the minute you have a workplace accident that injures an employee.  Setting this up in advance and monitoring it to make sure that it is functioning effectively can save your company in lost productivity, fines and higher work comp insurance rates.  This is a simple way to save your company significant money.

At Clinard Insurance Group, we are  a full line, independent insurance agency located in Winston Salem NC.  We are very active in the workers compensation insurance market and we insure hundreds and hundreds of businesses all across North Carolina and South Carolina.  We would be happy to answer your questions about workers compensation and help you find a policy that will save you money, not only today but for years to come.  Please call us toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.