Thought Leadership Articles

December 18, 2024 – The construction industry and comorbidities are two areas of concern in the workers compensation industry, which is grappling with a rise in so-called mega claims, according to experts who say technology is working to help curb runaway costs.

Costs associated with catastrophic workplace injuries that cost more than $2 million represent less than 0.1% of workers compensation claims but account for up to 2% of all costs to insurers, according to a report released Dec. 5 by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

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November 14, 2024 – Business Insurance interviews Rising CEO Jason Beans about key findings from Rising’s latest Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study report, featuring data from a survey of 1300+ frontline claims professionals.

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October 30, 2024 – The workers compensation sector is attracting more employees new to the industry, training them more and giving them more access to technology, according to Rising Medical Solutions LLC’s benchmarking study released Wednesday.

Based on 2023 data, the latest report is the 11th edition of the annual report and is based on responses from about 1,300 claims professionals, the Chicago-based managed care company said.

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June 5, 2024 – Employers, insurers and claimants should start planning for changes to how Medicare’s liabilities are accounted for in workers compensation settlements, experts say.

The changes, which will remove the reporting threshold in settlements that include Medicare set-asides and define penalty amounts, could increase the likelihood of significant fines for noncompliance and prolong settlement negotiations, they say.

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February 5, 2024 – The acquisition of physician practices by large hospital systems is having an adverse effect on states’ workers compensation systems, experts say.

While proponents of so-called “vertical integration” in health care say the practice benefits consumers by delivering care more efficiently, workers comp researchers say consolidation drives up pricing due to decreased competition and can have a negative effect on return-to-work outcomes. And the efficiency argument, they say, relates to administrative efficiency, not patient care efficiency.

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November 7, 2023 – With 30 percent of claims payers achieving top performer status, what steps can the remaining 70 percent take to catch up? This is a pivotal question the Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study has continued to ask over its past decade of research.

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November 1, 2023 – Implementing advanced technology and frontline patient advocacy are neck and neck among the fastest-growing trends in workers compensation claims management, but the best results for patients often come from balancing the two, experts say.

Improved access to data and more efficient communication should not be allowed to sterilize the claims management process, they say.

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