The BWC has produced their 2008 MCO Report Card which is now available on the BWC website at MCO Report Card 2008. Because the BWC closely regulates the MCOs, the performances that it measures show minimal variation from one MCO to another. Vantage Occupational Health Plan strives to professionally meet our employers needs daily with friendly, personal, and timely service.

As you can see from the report card, MCOs are measured on

1.) First Report of Injury timing
2.) First Report of Injury turnaround

FROI timing measures how long it takes each of our employers to report an injury. As a smaller MCO, our timing is greatly impacted by the reporting delays of just a few of our clients over which we have no control. We are responsible for our turnaround time once that injury is reported to us. As you can see from the report card, our timing is a close second to the best turnaround time and considerably shorter than that realized by the rest of our competitors. That can be explained by our passion for what we do and how we do it.

No employer is too big or too small for us. Our clients range from international corporations to the local Mom & Pop shop. No employer is given preferential treatment. We treat our employers in industries that are more prone to accidents the same as we treat employers in professional services, thus less likely to have injuries.

The truth is an injury can happen at any time. You, as the employer, want to know that if it happens in your business, you can personally reach your MCO when you need them. Vantage Occupational Health Plan is here for you with personally-manned phone lines, timely, efficient, and objective processing and high quality medical management.

Next week, I will talk about what was omitted from the report card this year as opposed to report cards of the past.

Last week, we met with one of our clients, a prominent force in the fast food restaurant industry, which has numerous locations in Ohio. They presented, what in their opinion, was a comprehensive transitional work program only to learn that OHP’s Disability Management program offered new tools to control their subjective, open-ended wage continuation policy. Through OHP’s evidence based Disability Management program, the employer is now going to offer time limited wage continuation based on benchmarked durations of work disability. To learn more about Disability Management implementation for your company, contact us.
Some good news in this faltering economy for all you Ohio employers, the BWC has approved a 5% rate decrease effective July 1, 2008. For the whole story go to BWC approves 5% rate reduction
Just one last friendly reminder, May is open enrollment month for changing your MCO. Unfortunately most of you will be inundated with propaganda from every MCO in Ohio. Basically, if you are one of our clients and you actually know who we are, you know that we are good at what we do. If you are one of our clients and you don’t know who we are, you are obviously great at what you do. Keep up the good work.
Many companies are actively and aggressively recruiting new clients based on BWC report card statistical results. The real factor in determining your MCO’s effectiveness is your bottom line. What good is it to have impeccable entry times on FROI’s if your MCO is not actively working with your injured workers and their providers to get your employees back on track and in turn save you money on your WC premiums? Click on the following hyperlink to compare the lack of staggering statistical discrepancies between the top Ohio MCO’s. MCO Report Card 2008

New report touts the success of MCOs in Ohio Workers' Compensation

The Kilbourne Company, an independent actuarial consulting firm, recently conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Health Partnership Program (HPP) over its first decade of operation. The focus of the study is an analysis of the Ohio State Insurance Fund claim experience from 1995 through 2006 with particular emphasis on the impact of Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) on that experience.

The basic conclusion of the study as stated within “is that the Health Partnership Program has achieved its objectives and is producing value for the HPP stakeholders, which includes a broad cross-section of persons affected by the Ohio workers’ compensation system.” Some of the successes of HPP cited in this evaluation include:

· $443 million in net savings

· Injured workers returning to work sooner and safer

· 77% improvement in injury reporting lag time

· Approval decisions on injured worker claims processed 61% faster

· 53% faster turnaround of medical provider bills

· 35% reduction in the frequency of claims

· Substantial positive satisfaction rating by both employers and employees

As you can see, MCOs have been instrumental at improving the Ohio workers’ compensation system. Additionally, employers such as yourself, and your injured workers, have immensely benefited from those improvements.