What you don't know about Workers Comp (Part 1)

I am going to touch on several factors affecting the cost of your work comp premiums.  These are all things that can be controlled and lower the cost of your work comp.

The Claims Process.  When your employee got injured what did you do?  Did you send them to the doctor who prescribed pain medication for a strained back and recommended they stay off work for a week?  Did you know that if your employee can be back at work, even lite duty work, within 72 hours of the claim, you save 70% of the cost of that claim.  In the case of a strained back, the employee could have probably been ok going home for the day, taking ibuprofen and coming back the next day for light duty. 

The longer your injured employee is out of work the worse your experience mod will be affected.  It's important that you or your agent are in constant contact with the:  Employee, Doctor, and Case Manager.  Believe it or not, sometimes work comp claims go unnoticed and you have an employee with a sprained ankle supposed to be out for a week, and he is still in the Work Comp system 4 weeks later.

From the time the claim happens to the time it closes, it is of the utmost importance to be involved.  Claims stay on your history for 3 years.  So if you mismanage a claim and let it get out of control, you will be penalized for 3 years.  The cost of that claim will affect your premium 3 to 1.  That's right, for every $1 paid on the claim you will end up paying $3 in premium.