It is quite wonderful when the finances all work out. I am sure many counties are hoping for exactly that occurrence this time of year. I'm specifically referring to our insurance programs, which had a very good financial year. Together they returned $4.7 million to their members in 2013! Here's the listing, in chronological order of the distributions:

PELICAN: $1 million dividend

PComp:   $1.2 million dividend

PCoRP:    $2 million dividend and $500,000 in grants

And for the first time since the economic downturn, the CCAP UC Trust was able to keep rates flat.

This does not just happen. We have been fortunate to have exceptional help which resulted in this success. First, there is terrific support and feedback from the members. This allows us to provide the services you want and need, and helps keep claims costs down. Second, we have active, interested board members who represent the members and make the tough decisions about funding, coverages and costs. Third, we have great advisors, from Willis Pooling and Willis RE for reinsurance coverage, to Liscord, Ward and Roy whose actuarial work is top notch.

We have put in place long range financial goals and we closely monitor annual costs and trends, and strive to only return money when we know the program does not need it for claims or other costs.

And the most important thing - this is money you would never have received if you were insured by a commercial insurance company. Indeed, it would have been their profit. Because CCAP's insurance programs are owned by the members, the members are the ones who receive the financial benefits.

Now there's a nice year end gift!  

Make sure you contact us when you need help with something,

                              John Sallade

The PCoRP Board of Directors has declared a $2 million dividend distribution to the membership. This is the third year in a row with a dividend; in both 2011 and 2012 the distribution was $1.5 million. With the 2013 dividend, PCoRP will have returned $5 million in surplus funds to the members in the past three years.

The dividend amount for each member is based on how much the member contributed to the PCoRP Loss Fund for each of the past five complete policy years (2006-07 through 2010-11), less the member's claims experience. Dividends are only paid to members which belonged to PCoRP in those policy years.

Dividend payments will vary from a high of $181,115 to a low of $93, and every member will receive a payment except for the three newest members of PCoRP (as they joined after the 2010-11 policy year).

Checks will be sent to the members in early December.

The popular PCoRP Loss Prevention Grants will continue, as the PCoRP Board authorized an additional $500,000 in funding for those grants, starting June 1, 2014. As done for the current grant funding cycle, any funds remaining from the 2013 grants will be combined with this new $500,000 funding and a new maximum grant per member will be released.

Between the dividends and grants, PCoRP returned $6.5 million to the members over a three year period. We cannot guarantee this level of dividends or grants will be available each year, and we encourage members not to budget for the receipt of this money.

The announcement of the dividends and grant funding were made at the November 24 PCoRP Annual Dinner Meeting. If you have any questions about the dividends, grant program or about PCoRP, please contact John Sallade.

Preventing accidents is the best way to control the cost of workers' compensation insurance, but even the most conscientious county will occasionally have accidents. When an accident does occur, returning the injured employee to a form of employment that is equivalent with his or her abilities is a very important goal.

A Return-to-Work (RTW) program is a county implemented program that meets that goal by allowing a recently injured employee to return to work under the restrictions of their treating physician. Although injured employees may be unable to fully perform their regular jobs, they can often do alternative, productive work while recovering fully from injuries. This is also referred to as light duty or modified duty.

RTW programs are mutually beneficial to both the injured employee and the county. Employees benefit by being back to work and provided modified work assignments rather than being placed off work. Various studies have determined that in many cases, RTW programs also accelerate physical recovery. The opportunity for re-injury is minimized since employees are required to adhere to their medical restrictions while at work. Normally employees want to work, and seeing their counter parts working and them restricted to a modified duty often motivates an employee to a faster recovery. Not to mention the emotional pride the employee feels working rather than sitting at home.

This is truly a win-win as counties stand to benefit from a strong RTW program as well. By showing their employees they care by promoting good faith and loyalty towards their employees (a well taken care of employee is more likely to readily return to full duty as soon as medically possible), controlling worker compensation costs (which in turn controls experience modification ratings and insurance premiums) and preventing and/or limiting lost work day cases.

RTW programs also help maintain an open line of communication between the injured employee and the county. If an employee is not promptly returned to work, that communication usually breaks down, which can impact effective case management opportunities and increases the chance of fraud. Lastly, counties save on reducing training costs for replacement employees and the replacements inability to perform their job as efficiently.

How successful is your Return-to-Work program? For assistance or more information regarding Return-to-Work programs contact the CCAP's Loss Control department at (800) 895-9039; or email us at:
 

Maureen McMahon, CPS, ARM, Loss Control Specialist

Andrew Smith, Loss Control Specialist

Dennis Cutler, CHSM, Loss Control Specialist

Gary Nicholson, CHSP, Loss Control Services Manager

It's been more than two years since the implementation of Act 22 in July of 2011 and the start of the PIMCC Act 22 Service in October of that year. The program has had a substantial impact on county budgets, saving an average of 87% for most and that's just on current costs! The average savings over what was paid prior to Act 22 is well beyond that. It has also had a significant impact on PIMCC. From the need to add staff to handle the invoicing to the change in our bylaws and the addition of Act 22 representatives on the PIMCC board, it has been transformative.

When we began the program we based the administrative fee on the historical experience counties had for inmate inpatient care. With savings in the program much higher than anticipated, we haven't collected enough to cover our administrative costs.   The PIMCC board examined various options for a fair and balanced distribution of administrative cost allocation before selecting a dual formula.

The new fee structure, which starts January 1, consists of two parts: a flat fee based on county class and an activity fee based on county charges from DOC/DPW. The activity fee remains the same rate as the last two years: 4.75%. The flat fee will be billed with your first Act 22 invoice of the year. The activity fee will be invoiced only when you have charges. If you have no charges by June, you will be billed your flat fee separately.

For more information on PIMCC member services or help with your COMPASS applications, please contact:

Ruth Moraski Keller (800) 552-2752

Carole Rusnak (800) 552-2752

Administrative questions -

Christie Ward  (800) 895-9039