Archives for September 2017

North Carolina Industrial Commission Invalidates Basic Adjusting

September 20, 2017 By JL Risk Management Consultants

North Carolina Industrial Commission Returns Form 24’s To Adjusters

Is The North Carolina Industrial Commission taking the first step in making policy determination a legal matter in the Tarheel State?

Recently, I came across a few articles on how filing a Form 24 seems to be similar to practicing law. The North Carolina Industrial Commission has decided , without a chance for industry or public involvement, to equate filing an Industrial Commission form with bringing suit against the employee.

An adjuster in one of the articles went through the process of how an adjuster would have to hire an attorney then immediately remove the attorney from the file after the Form 24 hearing. The Form 24 is basically the adjuster requesting that an employee be removed from benefits, no more, no less.

If any of my readers were around in the adjusting world in the 1990’s, there was a decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court that opened all closed medical only claims for lifetime benefits. The big carriers started pulling out of the state rather quickly as one of the assumptions of the Experience Modification system is that these claims once closed usually stayed closed after a two year window.

Why I am bringing this point up is that the Experience Modification system in North Carolina – as in the 1990’s – did not take into account the litigious environment that will now exist in the state. I am not saying this is a bad turn of events to have to use defense attorney much more, but rather an unexpected one. Will this cost employers a large amount of funds?

One would have to say partially no, as this part of the Experience Modification system – better known as Allocated Expenses – ALAE – are not usually counted in promulgating an E-Mod. However, there are many more expense such as extending the Temporary Total Disability period and increased medical costs that would cost employers more in the long run.

Raleigh is our HQ so this hits very close to home. The North Carolina Industrial Commission has always been great concerning fixing these situations on an amicable basis with the help of the North Carolina Legislature.

Then again, I may be concerned about something that will never come to a full fruition. However, I wanted to point it out.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: North Carolina Industrial Commission Tagged With: Allocated Expense, Expereince Modification, Raleigh

Workers Comp Article Publishing Top 10 Concerns

September 13, 2017 By JL Risk Management Consultants

How To Start Your First Workers Comp Article

Your first Workers Comp article may seem like such a laborious task. After you write your first article, you will find the next is much easier and the third workers comp article flows to the screen almost like magic.

The Top 10 Concerns are listed below with the answers to these questions or concerns later in the article.

The usual concerns over posting your first article are:

I am not an expert in insurance or workers comp
There are experts more knowledgeable about this subject
I do not have a subject
Where will I publish it?
Will anyone ever read it?
Will the search engines rank it highly?
What publishing software should I use and why?
Blogging will use up too much of my time
How do I make money at publishing articles?
What if I make a mistake on a certain Workers Comp subject?

After publishing over 2,000 articles over 10 years, these are my assessments of the difficulties of writing your first article. (See above)

One does not have to necessarily be an expert in Workers Compensation to publish an article. If you research your subject and use backlinks to refer to the articles that you researched, you do not have to be an expert. Hundreds of workers comp articles are published weekly by non-experts.
Take one small aspect of Workers Comp and write an article covering the subject. I guarantee you there exists no expert that understands all the facets of Work Comp. Many blogs including some in workers comp are ghost written by other authors.
Read three of four articles or at least their first few paragraphs. This will furnish you with a few ideas. The more articles you read, the more likely you will publish a great article. Feel free to search this blog for any subject. Just use the search box at the top right of any blog page.
Publishing your article is one of the easy ones. If you go to wordpress.org and download the free WordPress software, you are on your way. Thousands of apps exist in WordPress to help you in your quest. My favorite is wpbeginner.com. They do a nice job of helping blog publishers get their website off the group. You can purchase a website address such as yourname.com if it is available. Websites are ridiculously cheap.
Your articles may not be read at the very first. You may have to publish a few before you will have them read. One great thing about publishing articles is that if one article is well-read, then your website visitors will look at the other articles you have published in the past.
The search engines are unto themselves. The idea is to at a minimum be noticed by the search engines. Also, remember that websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can be looked at as search engines.
See #4 above for the answer to this one. WordPress seems to be the hot publisher right now and Google mentions them often as a great way to publish articles.
You may use quite a bit of time when you first write blog articles. Keeping the number of words at 300 -500 should not demand too much of your time.
Making money at blog publishing is the only one out of this Top 10 Concerns for which I cannot provide a good answer. I have always provided the articles for free. The effort has paid off for me as it will you if you do not look for dollar signs as a reason to publish a few articles a month.
All bloggers make mistakes. Keeping your articles in your area of knowledge or researching the subject fully with footnotes/backlinks will usually avoid this situation.

The main accomplishment of any blogger is that first well-written article posting to your own blog inside of your own website. Once that occurs, you are off and running on publishing articles.

My last thought on this subject suggests that one be kind with what they publish in any workers comp article. The subject can be one of many controversies – your blog should not be one of them.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Filed Under: Article Publishing Tagged With: WordPress, workers comp expert witness

Statistical Proportions – Quick And Dirty Number Powerhouse

September 6, 2017 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Statistical Proportions – A Guide To the Quick and Dirty Estimator

I use statistical proportions as a very fast way to make predictions when you have three numbers and need to calculate the fourth one. My algebra teacher in Junior High School taught me how to apply them to many situations. Statistical proportions – often referred to as just proportions – can be a lifesaver if you need a number quickly.

dogs head statistical proportions sketch

Wikimedia Commons License – Floriunux

Below is an example of how it works:

Current Workers Comp Policy = 136,000 in premiums

The Experience Modification Factor is .92. What would be the premium if the E-Mod moves to .99?

Proportions have been referred to as cross-multiplication and here is why –

.92/136,000 = .99/x

.92x = .99 * 136,000

x = 146,347

Now, many variables go into an X-Mod or E-Mod. At least you have a fast way to estimate a number for budgeting purposes, etc.

That was a very raw example for Workers Comp but it does work to a degree. Many actuaries will argue with me that I cannot shortcut the full E-Mod calculation. However, the numbers do come out as I have compared the prediction to the outcome that actually happened with the premium.

The further you go away from .92, for instance 1.35, the more inaccuracy that may be built in, but not necessarily.

No, I do not use this calculation to make predictions or comparisons all the time – however – it is not a bad way to figure any type of what if situaion when you know three numbers and need to predict the fourth.

A great example is the dog’s head drawing as to how statistical proportions work. The webpage has many different ways to work with proportions.

This may seem too simple, but when you only have a minute to calculate an unknown number for comparison, this is a powerhouse. I have used them since the 8th grade – thank you Mr. Epperson.

Filed Under: Statistical Proportions Tagged With: E-Mod, Ex-Mod, experience modification factor