Your Workforce Management ProfessionalsSM
Loss Prevention
Loss Prevention. Critical to the bottom line. One of the biggest assets and costs for any company is its people, both senior management and employees. HR Consult can assist in reducing your current loss exposure, prevent future losses and control future costs through aggressive management. Whether you are faced with implementing a safety program, complying with an OSHA inspection, face unacceptable increases in your medical and workers compensation premiums or unemployment taxes, HR Consult can help! Contact us today for a no obligation consultation!
General Loss Prevention
Unemployment Claims Management
Injury Cost Management
Medical Claims Management
Medical Plan Development
Medical Provider Management
Safety Award Programs
Occupational Medicine Provider Management
Workers Compensation Carrier Management
Work Comp/Medical Plan Insurance Coordination
Workers Compensation Insurance Renewals\ Audits
|
Services
Safety Policy and Procedure Development
Safety Program Implementation\Training
Light Duty\ Return to Work Issues
Employee Assistance Programs
Employee Wellness Programs
Reproductive Health Policies
Chemical Dependency
Communicable Diseases
Stress Management
Smoking Policies
Safety Promotions
|
Safety Compliance
Accident and Injury Investigations
OSHA Injury Reporting and Administration
Onsite Safety Analysis
Job Site Inspections
OSHA Mandated Safety Training
Ergonomics and Work Hardening
Record Keeping and Reporting
Safety Program Management
Safety Inspections
Special Safety Considerations
|
Your people and your company also need to be protected properly against:
You also need to attract and retain qualified management and employees to help run your business successfully. It is important that your company and personnel are protected from lawsuits due to employment-related issues, errors and omissions or alleged mismanagement in the course of their daily responsibilities as fiduciaries, directors, officers or managers regarding:
HR Consult can assist you through audit, recommendations and program management in each area. Our help may even result in lower employer practices liability insurance! For a detailed examination of each area and helpful checklists, select an area of interest.
HEALTH BENEFITS
More and more, employee benefits are becoming a critical component of employment negotiations. With group medical representing one of a company's largest expenditures after payroll expenses, business owners should view this area as a potential risk to their balance sheets. Managed care programs, such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPO) and point-of-service (POS) plans can help employers attract quality employees and aggressively manage their health care costs.
Questions to consider:
• Do you require pre-employment physicals?
• Are you utilizing a managed care program to help control medical expenses?
• Do your provider networks offer sufficient selection to employees?
• Have employees been properly educated about their benefits (i.e., preexisting
conditions clauses, pre-certification programs)?
One note of caution: We are beginning to see a trend toward employee lawsuits when an employer's designated provider isn't performing. This can be especially true in HMOs, PPO and POS plans when the participant may not have the option to access services outside of the network or the network may not offer a sufficient selection of medical practitioners. Fiduciary liability coverage can help protect your company from these types of employee lawsuits.
EMPLOYEE INJURY
Creating a safe workplace will help reduce lost work time and the negative employee morale that accompanies an accident-prone work environment. Slip-and-fall and lifting accidents are common hazards that can be easily corrected with a strictly enforced safety program. Other workplace hazards include high noise levels and repetitive motion trauma. Many companies and agencies can assist you in developing a program to help prevent, minimize and cost control on-the-job injuries. OSHA and the National Safety Council are just two examples with other organizations are listed here.
Questions to consider:
• Do your workplace(s) follow applicable federal and state regulations?
• Have you established a company wide safety program that rewards employees for
adhering to the program?
• Are the tools and equipment that employees use regularly inspected for safety?
• Are there systems in place to encourage and reward employees for reporting and
identifying unsafe work conditions?
• Do you thoroughly investigate all accidents and identify any trends?
• Are your offices designed with ergonomics in mind?
• Does your worker's compensation premium pay for reporting and identifying unsafe
work conditions?
• Do you thoroughly investigate all accidents and identify any trends?
• Are your offices designed with ergonomics in mind?
Workers compensation insurance, a state-mandated coverage, is an important benefit for many employees because when they are injured on the job it pays for their medical costs and a substantial portion of their lost wages. Under this coverage, it is not necessary to prove negligence on the part of the employer. In many cases, workers compensation insurance is one of the largest expenses incurred by business owners. According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, in 1994, American business paid workers compensation premiums in excess of $28 billion dollars. Many different plans are available. Ask your insurance agent or broker about the program that is right for your company and operations.
Workers compensation premiums are used by insurance companies to pay for the two basic parts of a workers compensation policy- medical expenses and lost wages. All 50 states have laws and regulations that govern workers compensation. Knowing the employer requirements of the workers compensation laws in your state is the first step toward improving your control over costs.
Workers compensation premiums are used by insurance companies to pay for the two basic parts of a workers compensation policy- medical expenses and lost wages.
Workers compensation premiums pay for the medical expenses and lost wages are sometimes referred to as direct costs. There are additional or indirect costs associated with industrial accidents (and all other claims) that are typically not covered by an insurance policy. Some of these indirect costs include the overtime cost to replace the injured employee, your time spent filling out accident forms, and equipment or inventory damaged as a result of the accident, and lost productivity after the accident. The National Safety Council estimates that the indirect cost of accidents is between three and five times the actual direct cost. In 1994, the average direct cost of a workers compensation claim was $18,700. This means that the approximate indirect cost to the business for each accident was $74,800, which is not covered by insurance and thus reduces profit. Although both the direct and indirect cost of workers compensation often constitutes a major component of your expense, a practical and functioning loss prevention program can decrease them. Appendix C offers information to help business owners understand the basic practices that need to be undertaken to initiate such a program and to help achieve success. View the time spent putting such a program in place as an investment in helping to reduce a major expense item of your business.
The US Chamber of Commerce publishes an annual analysis of the laws in all states-a valuable resource for employers. As a business owner, you are acutely aware of where each dollar goes and what flows down to the bottom line.
WORKERS COMPENSATION CHECKLIST
Today, workers compensation accounts for about 50 percent of all medical care costs, and that number is expected to rise. Aggressive management of workers compensation cases through a managed care program (where allowed by state law) not only helps companies reduce medical care costs, but can also help the injured employee make a speedier recovery and return to work sooner.
Fraud has become much more common in workers compensation cases. Careful management of workers compensation cases, including close monitoring of the claimant's activities and a review of all medical bills and physician's diagnoses (where necessary), can help eliminate fraudulent workers compensation claims and reduce associated costs.
If one of your employees does have a work-related accident, there are several steps you can take to contain medical costs and help the individual recover quickly. These steps are not meant to minimize or jeopardize the quality of medical care your employee receives. But they assist you and your employees in better managing their medical care for everyone's benefit by getting them back to work sooner.
A. Pre-Loss Strategies Checklist
1. Where state laws permit, use a managed care organization, such as
preferred provider organizations (PPO) or health maintenance
organizations (HMOs), for workers compensation cases. These
established networks of member hospitals and physicians provide
a high standard of medical care to help return employees to work while
agreeing to prearranged discounts for their services.
2. Develop a program for reporting on- the-job injuries as soon as possible,
and communicate it to employees.
B. Post-Loss Strategies Checklist
1. Encourage employees who have been injured on the job to seek prompt,
professional medical care.
2. Should an employee become injured while on the job, report the incident
promptly, usually within 24 hours, to your agent or broker. The correct
telephone number for reporting injuries should be posted in a convenient
place.
3. Make sure the injured employee is contacted promptly by the insurance
company's claims representative.
4. Don't forget about injured employees during their recovery period. Show your
concern by staying in touch. &n
