June 6, 2017 — Chicago, IL — The Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study’s 2017 annual survey is underway, keeping pace with the industry as it strives to do ever better in managing claims. Now in its fifth year, the study continues its potent method of validating how and what higher performing claims organizations are doing compared to industry peers.
Reprising its 2014 survey questions, the study will not only further specify the high performer’s profile on an expanded set of successful behaviors, but it also will benchmark the industry’s overall progress in the past three years. Finally, the survey will continue its exploration of the emerging claims advocacy approach to engaging injured workers.
The study’s 2017 focus was once again guided by its Advisory Council of diverse industry executives. “This is the only large-scale survey of claims leaders in workers’ compensation and it’s important that we substantiate key best practices that are driving better performance,” says Rachel Fikes, vice president and study program director at Rising Medical Solutions. “Similar to mainstream media, communications about our industry often skew to the negative. Capturing the positive behaviors organizations are employing to advance the industry’s delivery of benefits is integral to the study’s mission.”
Since its inception, nearly 1,200 claims leaders nationwide have contributed their collective intelligence to the study’s research on a number of front burner topics such as key performance indicators of success, building talented staffs, and transitioning from process management to outcome management models. Their insights have quantified widespread operational challenges, created a maturing benchmark tool, and pointed the industry towards those differentiating practices yielding the best results.
The 2017 confidential survey will continue throughout June, and is open to management, director, and executive-level leaders who oversee workers’ compensation claim operations for payer organizations. Those who take the survey will receive a copy of the 2017 Study Report which will be published in November. Claims leaders who wish to participate can take the 2017 survey by clicking here.
About the Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study
The Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study is a national research program examining the complex forces impacting claims management in workers’ compensation today. The study’s mission is to advance claims management in the industry by providing both quantitative and qualitative research. Through surveys and interviews with claims leaders nationwide, the program generates actionable data for claims organizations to evaluate priorities, challenges, and strategies amongst their peers. Conceived and directed by Rising Medical Solutions, the ongoing program is a collaboration of industry executives representing diverse organizational perspectives, including the Study’s Principal Researcher and Advisory Council:
- Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director | Albertsons Companies
- Darrell Brown, Chief Claims Officer | Sedgwick
- Linda Butler, Manager, Workers’ Compensation | Walt Disney World Resort
- Rich Cangiolosi, Vice President, Western Region | CCMSI
- Kyle Cato, Workers’ Compensation & Safety Manager | Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
- Laura Crowe, Risk Management Director | Presbyterian Healthcare Services
- Pamela Highsmith-Johnson, RN, BSN, CCM, Director, Case Management | CNA
- Daniel T. Holden, Manager, Corporate Risk & Insurance | Daimler Trucks North America LLC
- Marcos Iglesias, MD, Vice President, Medical Director | The Hartford
- Raymond Jacobsen, Senior Managing Director | AON Benfield
- Jim Kerr, Vice President of Claims Operations | TRISTAR
- Kelly Kuri, Claims Manager | Frank Winston Crum Insurance
- Tom McCauley, Owner & Consultant | Networks by Design
- David Price, President | POMCO Risk Management
- Trecia Sigle, Associate Vice President, Workers’ Compensation Claims | Nationwide Insurance
- John Smolk, Principal Manager, Workers’ Compensation | Southern California Edison
- Tom Stark, Technical Director, Workers’ Compensation | Nationwide Insurance
- Cathy Vines, Director, Healthcare Cost Containment Strategy | CopperPoint Mutual Insurance
About Rising Medical Solutions
Rising Medical Solutions is a national medical-financial solutions firm that provides medical cost containment and medical care management services to the workers’ compensation, auto, liability, and group health markets.