Private school learns a lesson by seeing Mod drop 95 points

INSURED

The insured is a large non-profit school for physically and mentally-challenged students.

SITUATION

The school was being cancelled by its existing carrier of 45 years because of a poor history resulting in a 300% loss ratio and a mod tipping 1.88.

ASSESSMENT

It was determined that the situation was predicated on a lack of injury management. It would often take up to 37 days to report an injury, and once an injury was reported, there were no procedures in place as to the next steps. Both the Human Resources and Finance managers were new and had inherited an existing problem.

SOLUTION

Meetings were held with both the HR and Finance Managers with the first order of business to secure a carrier. The first quote was $500,000 (the school had previously been paying $133,000.) Finally, an insurance company was secured at $300,000 with a small deductible. A five-step plan was then put into place for the school:

1. Create a Safety Committee to establish a list of transitional-duty jobs to help an injured worker return to work sooner.
2. Utilize the services of a Registered Nurse who was on duty at the school instead of automatically calling an ambulance for every injury (it was determined the injured worker could often receive a higher level of care from a RN than the EMT).
3. Conduct employee-training sessions about what Workers’ Comp insurance does and does not do. By doing this, lost time was reduced, as both managers and injured parties learned the benefits of a Recovery-at-Work program.
4. Make sure a Patient Visitation form went with every injured worker to the clinic, so that the status was constantly updated and the injured worker could be matched to a transitional-duty job.
5. Finally, establish a three-ring binder of 30-50 available jobs to help the return-to-work effort.

RESULT

With everything in place, the CWCA’s program produced lasting value for the client. The number of lost-time injuries was significantly reduced, bringing about a six-figure decrease in premiums every year and an overall savings of $500,000 in premiums over the last four years. The Experience Mod also dropped from 1.88 to .93.