October 24, 2013

Finally some great news for New York employers:  On October 23^rd The New York Workers’ Compensation Board announced that New York State’s employers assessments will be at 13.8% in 2014, compared to 18.8% in 2013.  This means a 25% decrease in assessments for New York employers in 2014.

The previous system was overly complicated and employers were charged differently depending on whether they insured with private coverage, with the State Insurance Fund or by self-insuring. However, a Business Relief Act that was passed earlier this year mandated the New York Workers’ Compensation Board combine several assessments into just one assessment in order to fund the state’s workers comp system.  

New York employers, especially those who pay high annual workers comp premiums will be overjoyed with the possibility of lower workers compensation insurance costs.  What many employers don’t realize is that they may also very well be owed money due to errors and overcharges committed by their insurance companies.  Apex Services workers compensation premium recovery service reviews your current and prior workers compensation policies on a contingency basis to identify these errors and recover refunds for employers. Either we'll get you a refund from your insurance companies or you'll know that you haven't been overcharged. Lower assessments, plus a compliance audit to provide a better underwriting profile, can spell a great 2014 for a lot of New York employers.

October 1, 2013

WorkCompWire

Workers in the healthcare industry suffer higher on the job injuries than most other professions, with more than two million reported lost work days in 2011. Despite this, the focus of safety in healthcare facilities has been primarily on patient safety, according to Safety Culture in Healthcare, The $13 Billion Case, a peer-reviewed feature in the October issue of Professional Safety, the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) journal.

“Pick any other industry, and the injury rate is less,” explained the article’s author, Scott Harris, Ph.D., MSPH, who added that healthcare worker injury rates are only less than outdoor wilderness professions such as commercial loggers and fishermen. “The injury rates are sky high.”

Since there is only one Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspector for every 59,000 covered employees across more than eight million worksites, few inspections have occurred in healthcare facilities.

With nursing homes recording the highest injury rates among all healthcare facilities, the most frequent injury is sprains, strains, and tears to the back, primarily due to overexertion from patient handling. Slips, trips and falls, violence and chemical exposure cause other injuries, with nurses being the workers who experience the highest rate of injury.

The costs associated with healthcare worker safety, also eventually trickle down to patient medical bills. For example, the cost of injuries in hospitals in 2011 exceeded $6.1 million, which required additional patient billing to offset the expense. Similar scenarios are true in nursing and residential care facilities and ambulatory health.

“The injury side of health-care costs has to be in there somewhere,” said Harris.

However, the weak occupational safety culture in healthcare facilities has not been ignored by OSHA, which in 2012, began targeted inspections and regional and national emphasis programs, with additional inspections at nursing, residential and ambulatory care facilities scheduled in the near future.

If you are an employer in the healthcare industry, you are more than familiar with high numbers of workers comp claims and subsequently costly workers compensation premiums. Due to the high number of incidents, various developments in claims, and the large sums of money involved, insurance companies are bound to make mistakes that end up costing the employer in the form of premium overcharges. Workers compensation premium recovery is a contingency-based service that reviews your current and past years' policies and obtains refunds and credits that are owed back to the employer. This service won't take up any of your time and doesn't cost you a penny unless we succeed in getting you back money. You only pay for results, not good intentions.

September 25, 2013

National Insurance Crime Bureau

The total number of workers' compensation claims across the nation is dropping but the number of questionable claims is rising, according to a new study.

Over the last 2 1/2 years, the number of workers filing compensation claims has dropped from 3.35 million in 2011 to 3.24 million in 2012, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a nonprofit company supported by more than 1,000 insurance companies.

Based on claims filed in the first half of this year, the number is on track to drop again, the bureau said.

But in the same period, questionable claims have risen from 3,474 in 2011 to 4,460 in 2012 and are on pace to rise again in 2013, the bureau reported Tuesday.

California had the largest number of questionable workers' compensation claims each year, but when ranked by claims per 100,000 residents, Delaware came out at the top of the list in 2011, Connecticut ranked first in 2012, and Maine ranked first in the first half of 2013.

Among cities, Chicago had the largest number of questionable claims in 2011, and Los Angeles took the top spot in 2012 and in the first half of 2013, the report said.

Among the most common workers' compensation fraud cases are workers faking or exaggerating injuries, or filing for injuries that did not take place at work, the report said.

This is a classic case of good news-bad news. At a time when the market is hardening, rates continue to rise, and payrolls are going up, decreasing number of workers compensation claims could spell some relief for employers. The bad news is that fraudulent workers comp claims can be a real detriment to your premium costs. Fortunately for employers, workers compensation premium recovery offers a way to recover overcharges and receive refunds on current and prior years' policies. It takes an employer 5 minutes to sign up, and refunds and credits will follow a few months thereafter. The contingency fee means that this service will cost nothing unless the employer receives a check, credit, or reduced premium in hand!

New Jersey Register

September 11, 2013

A rule amendment proposed by the New Jersey Division of Workers' Compensation will increase the maximum weekly workers' compensation benefit rate 2.1% − to $843 from $826 − on January 1. Maximum workers' compensation benefit rates are adjusted each year based on the average weekly wage. New Jersey claimants receive a maximum of 70% of their weekly wage up to 75% of the statewide average weekly wage, to be adjusted annually, according to the statute. A public hearing on the proposed rules change is scheduled for September 25.

What does this all mean for New Jersey employers? Most likely, a lot more claims for a lot more money. The reason why I say this is based on experience. Somehow people who are making very high salaries never seem to stay out of work when they get injured on the job. It is the low salary people who tend to stay out of work for long periods of time. When employees receive 70% of their salary tax-free while out of work, they tend to stay out of work longer. All this translates into higher experience mods and higher premiums for the employer.

The quickest and easiest way to lower your workers compensation experience mods and premiums is through workers compensation premium recovery. We knock down your current and prior experience mods and obtain refunds on your premiums. Our fee is contingency-based so you ONLY pay us for results. It's a win-win.

August 20, 2013

The National Academy of Social Insurance

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After declining in the wake of the recession, workers’ compensation benefits paid to injured workers and costs borne by employers increased in 2011 as the U.S. economy continued to recover, according to a new report by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI).

Total benefits rose by 3.5 percent to $60.2 billion. The benefits include a 4.5 percent rise in medical care spending to $29.9 billion and a 2.6 percent rise in wage replacement benefits to $30.3 billion. Total costs to employers rose by 7.1 percent to $77.1 billion.

"Workers’ compensation often grows with the growth in employment and earnings,” said Marjorie Baldwin, chair of NASI’s Workers’ Compensation Data Panel and Professor of Economics in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. When benefits and costs are measured relative to total covered wages, then benefits remained unchanged, and costs to employers rose very modestly (to $1.27 per $100 of wages) after declining in the previous five years.

The new report shows changes in coverage, benefits, and employer costs for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. State-level changes in 2011 include:

• Coverage and wages increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• Total benefits paid to injured workers increased in 29 jurisdictions. However, benefits as a percent of total wages increased in only 17.
• Employers’ costs of workers’ compensation as a percent of total wages increased in 31 states, and remained unchanged in four.
• The share of benefits paid for medical care exceeded 50 percent in 33 states.

Workers’ compensation was the first social insurance program in the United States; 2011 marked the 100^th anniversary of the first state laws. NASI’s report, Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2011, is the 16^th in an annual series. “The NASI report is an essential tool for experts in the field,” said Eric Nordman, member of NASI’s data panel and Director of Research at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The report provides the only comprehensive data on workers’ compensation benefits, coverage and employer costs for the nation, the states, the District of Columbia and federal programs.

As the economy continues to bounce back, more employers are hiring. This means higher payrolls, more workers compensation claims, and ultimately higher workers compensation premiums. Apex Services offers the quickest and easiest way to lower workers comp costs by reviewing employers' current and prior years' policies, identifying errors and overcharges, and obtaining workers compensation refunds for employers nationwide. This is done on a contingency basis, which means this service does not cost a penny to employers unless they get a refund, credit, or reduced premium in hand.