Archives for August 2016

Classification By Analogy Can Affect Workers Comp Rates

August 31, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Classification By Analogy

The term Classification by Analogy is one of those workers comp buzzwords that generates a large number of emails and call to us. The term is usually mentioned by a workers comp auditor or rating bureau.

One of the challenges of classification is when there is no direct classification for a business. Sometimes, no code fits.

California’s Rating Bureau – the WCIRB (Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau) publishes many great explanations of workers comp terms as does the NCCI. The rating bureau has that covered with the classification by analogy moniker.

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Any business or operation specifically described by a classification shall be assigned to that classification.
Any business or operation not described by a classification shall be assigned to the classification(s) most analogous from the standpoint of process and hazard.

The dictionary term for analogy is:

a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based
similarity or comparability:
Biology. an analogous relationship.
Linguistics.
- the process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to existing patterns in the language, as when shoon wasre-formed as shoes
- a form resulting from such a process.
Logic. a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.

The #5 definition may make ones head spin. That definition is important when it comes to Workers Comp ratings by analogy.

Here is a great example of the #5 definition above by the WCIRB –

For example, Classification 2501(1), Clothing Manufacturing, contemplates cutting and sewing of fabric to produce

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clothing and is often assigned by analogy to employers that cut and sew fabric to produce other non-clothing items. For this reason, Classification 2501(1) is often the first classification that comes to mind for employers engaged in any cutting and sewing operations. However, classifications such as Classification 2576,Awning, Tarp or Canvas Goods Mfg., and Classification 2571, Pillow, Quilt, Comforter or Cushion Mfg., also include cutting and sewing operations and must be assigned to the operation rather than Classification 2501(1) if they more specifically describe the employer’s operations.

One would have to say that the above analogy is an opinion and not stamped in stone. Check out #5 in the list of the above definitions again. After I read the #5 definition a few times, it kind of sinks in that an analogy is an opinion of sorts.

The bottom line is that employers should not just accept their Classification Codes as the correct ones. They could be the subject of classification by analogy and not a direct classification. You know your business better than anyone.

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Work Comp Outpatient Hospital Charges – WCRI Exposes Myth

August 30, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

States Vary Greatly in Work Comp Outpatient Hospital Charges – WCRI

The Work Comp outpatient hospital charges for even a minor procedure have become very expensive over the last 10 years. The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) released a study today which indicates great variability between states and with the Medicare reimbursement schedules.

Picture Of Work Comp Outpatient Hospital Charges Building

Wikimedia – Tinton5

The new study, Hospital Outpatient Payment Index: Interstate Variations and Policy Analysis, 5th Edition, compares hospital outpatient payments across states and monitors the impact of fee schedule reforms. The study was very thorough as it covered 33 states.

Dr. Olesya Fomenko, economist for WCRI co-authored the study. I have talked with her each year on different subjects at the WCRI Annual Conference in Boston. “According to Dr. Fomenko, “This report found that hospital outpatient payments per surgical episode varied significantly across states, ranging from 69 percent below the study-state median in New York to 142 percent above the study-state median in Alabama in 2014,”

One of the surprising areas was Alabama coming in at such a high rate in what I had thought was a lower-cost state for Workers Compensation premiums.

The 33 state study agreed with NCCI and what I have been saying for many years. Strictly fee schedule states are the lowest cost states for medical services including work comp outpatient hospital charges. Even the old stalwart, Virginia will now have a fee schedule in 2018.

The following are some major findings from the study:

States with no workers’ compensation fee schedules for hospital outpatient reimbursement had higher hospital outpatient payments per episode compared with states with fixed-amount fee schedules—63 to 150 percent higher than the median of the study states with fixed-amount fee schedules. Also, in non-fee schedule states, workers’ compensation paid between $4,262 (or 166 percent) and $8,107 (or 378 percent) more than Medicare for similar hospital outpatient services.
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States with percent-of-charge-based fee regulations had substantially higher hospital outpatient payments per surgical episode than states with fixed-amount fee schedules—32 to 211 percent higher than the median of the study states with fixed-amount fee schedules. Similar to non-fee schedule states, workers’ compensation payments in states with percent-of-change based fee regulations for common surgical procedures were at least $3,792 (or 190 percent) and as much as $8,244 (or 430 percent) higher than Medicare hospital outpatient rates.
Most states with fixed-amount fee schedules and states with cost-to-charge ratio fee regulations had relatively lower payments per episode among the study states. In particular, for states with fixed-amount fee schedules, the difference between workers’ compensation payments and Medicare rates ranged between negative 27 percent (or -$631) and 144 percent (or $2,916).

The study covered the years 2005 to 2014.

The analysis excludes:

Medical Personnel Work Comp Outpatient Hospital Charges Showing Hand Gesture

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professional services billed by non-hospital medical providers
transactions for durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals billed by providers other than hospitals.
payments made to ambulatory surgery centers.

The 33 states included in this study represent 87 percent of the workers’ compensation benefits paid in the United States. The states are Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

To purchase this study, visit http://www.wcrinet.org/studies/public/books/hci_5_book.html.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Virginia Medical Fee Schedule – Hell May Freeze Over After All

August 25, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Virginia Medical Fee Schedule Passed By House and Senate

A new Virginia medical fee schedule is in the works. One of the last holdouts on not having a fee schedule is going to have one January 2018. I was actually shocked that a Virginia medical fee schedule was not in place earlier.

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The title of this article is based on an old adjuster friend of mine from Virginia. He had said hell would freeze over before Virginia enacts a medical fee schedule.

Virginia is quite the business-friendly state. The new fee schedule should lower costs if the proper one is put into place. The Virginia Senate Bill text summary is included below. Please note this has been edited to show some of the highlights. The full text can be found here.

Workers’ compensation; fee schedules for medical services.

In absence of a contract under which the provider has agreed to accept a specified amount for the medical service.– Is this a PPO network or a fee for service denotation?

The regulations implementing the fee schedules shall become effective on January 1, 2018.

Picture of stethoscope and cash virginia medical fee schedule concept

The Commission is required to retain a firm to assist it in establishing the initial fee schedules.

Could they not have just extrapolated fee schedules from neighboring states such as North Carolina and West Virginia?

Reimbursements for medical services provided to treat traumatic injuries and serious burns are excluded from the fee schedules and liability for their treatment costs will be based, absent a contract, on 80 percent of the provider’s charges. However, the required reimbursement will be 100 percent of the provider’s charges if the employer unsuccessfully contests the compensability of the claim.

This is an interesting point. I would think carriers and TPA’s would consider the penalty before denying a traumatic injury file in Virginia.

Providers are prohibited from using a different charge master or schedule of fees for any medical service provided for workers’ compensation patients than the provider uses for health care services provided to patients who are not claimants.

Can the medical providers not charge less than health if that is the billing practice?

Medical Payment Virginia Medical Fee Schedule Big hand Carrying Man Feet

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The measure prohibits certain practices involving the use by third parties of contracts whereby a provider agrees to accept payment of less than the fee-scheduled amount, including restricting the sale, lease, or other dissemination of information regarding the payment amounts or terms of a provider contract without the express written consent and prior notification of all parties to the provider contract and prohibiting an employer from shopping for the lowest discount for a specific provider among the provider contracts held in multiple PPO networks.

This would be the old no PPO stacking legislation already in place in many states.

The regulatory advisory panel is directed to make recommendations to the Commission prior to July 1, 2017, on workers’ compensation issues relating to (i) pharmaceutical costs not previously included in the fee schedules, (ii) durable medical equipment costs not previously included in the fee schedules, (iii) certain awards of attorney fees, (iv) peer review of medical costs, (v) prior authorization for medical services, and (vi) other issues that the Commission assigns to it. The existing peer review provisions are repealed.

The Virginia medical fee schedule is going to cover pharmaceuticals and durable medical. One has to wonder what level of control they will have over these two areas.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Work Comp Premium Audits Do Not Have 75% Inaccuracy Rate

August 24, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Are Work Comp Premium Audits Only Correct 25% Of The Time?

We review Work Comp premium audits for employers as one of our core services. J&L Risk Management Consultants has been reviewing work comp premium audits for over 20 years.

Graphic of 25 % work comp premium audits emblem from website

We have analyzed enough data in our premium reviews to have a baseline number for the % of premium audits that we have found to be inaccurate.

I received an email the other day from a vendor that does or claims to do what we have been doing for many years. The company says that 75% of work comp premium audits are wrong. This seems to be an inflated number.

The 75% number is even high if one takes into account the very small inaccuracies that do occur in premium audits. Inflating percentages as a part of marketing or advertising possibly harms the industry as a whole.

I assume one could take a weaker position that a premium audit is inaccurate and count that in as an inaccuracy. We, as a company, have never done or will never espouse a weak position as a basis for a dispute.

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Disputing an audit is a serious business. We often receive phone calls from employers that have disputed an audit with no basis. That is a great way to harm the relationship between your agent, carrier, and the insured employer.

We encourage employers to have some type of number on which to base a dispute. There are many areas where a premium audit can have mistakes. The first piece of advice we always give is – “Did something change in your business that would make you a higher risk?”

Changes in a business or rapid growth can cause an employer to experience a larger audit bill than expected overall. However, the best way to reduce Workers Comp premiums is to always question any bill or audit on receipt.

Part II – Next Week – What Are Some of the Mistakes We See In Work Comp Premium Audits?

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Work Comp Schedule Ratings Backed By Science

August 23, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Work Comp Schedule Ratings Backed by FSU Research

Some of the Work Comp Schedule Ratings produced by NCCI, WCIRB, and other rating bureaus now have science to back the Schedule Debits or Credits. The definition of Schedule Ratings can be found here.

Graphic Of Weighing Scale Work Comp Schedule Ratings With Debit and Credit Card

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A recent study by Florida State University has shown that a dull and dirty work areas affect cognitive function. One of the researches had commented- “Designing jobs to ensure that all workers have some decision-making ability may protect cognitive function later in life, but it’s also about cleaning up the workplace.”

The Schedule Ratings take into account that dirty and unkempt workplaces can cause workers to not pay attention to their jobs. When the workers stop paying attention, accidents will occur at a much higher rate than a normal workplace.

Below in an excerpt from a Schedule Rating Table – (please note that this is an example. This table may not apply directly to your state).

Premises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……… 5% Debit to 5% Credit
Physical condition, preventive maintenance, hazards controlled, housekeeping

The swing on this one area is 10%. Therefore, just having a clean workplace may possibly save a company a bundle. Workers Comp is becoming more expensive each year. I would not want to be the safety and/or Risk Manager person if the Work Comp Schedule Rating just added on 10% to the Workers Comp insurance budget.

The lack of basic housekeeping may cause an employer to pay more premiums. The requirements are just not that hard to comply with for saving premiums.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

North Carolina Work Comp Subrogation Takes Weird Turn

August 18, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

North Carolina Work Comp Subrogation Re-re-reverses Course

The subject of North Carolina Work Comp subrogation has frustrated carrier and Third Party Administrator claims staffs over the years. This case could be a model for changing subrogation laws in other states – possibly.

Stamp Of North Carolina Work Comp Subrogation Badge

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One of my concerns is that Workers Comp adjusters have not been trained that well in liability claims. This is understandable but sometimes funds can be left on the table, so to speak. Subrogation is one of the areas of concerns that pops up in our claims reviews.

This case has virtually nothing to do with an adjuster mistake of any kind. I try to inform the WC community on a case that may make a difference or be used in future ligation.

97-10.2 is the North Carolina Statute for subrogation.

The case is Dion v. Batten, No. COA16-63. The North Carolina Court of Appeals published the case on 08/02/2016. The case can be found at this link. It is a PDF file 2016-16-63

Law Scale On Hand North Carolina Work Comp Subrogation Clock And Dollar Sign on weighing on scale

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As I am not an attorney, I do not ever try to comment on legal matters. Below are a few excerpts from the NC Appeals Court decision. It may be a great idea to download the case from the link above and read the complete decision.

The file was an accepted file involving a traffic accident with heavy subrogation potential.

“Plaintiff was employed by Neuwirth as a servicing agent. In the course and scope of his employment with Neuwirth, Plaintiff was driving on Oriole Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina on 20 March 2008, when the vehicle he was driving was struck by a vehicle driven by Defendant, who had failed to stop at a red light. As a result of the crash, Plaintiff sustained multiple injuries. Because the crash occurred during the course and scope of Plaintiff’s employment with Neuwirth, Plaintiff was entitled to, and filed a claim for, workers’ compensation benefits pursuant to Chapter 97 of the North Carolina General Statutes.”

The trial court performed a series of very interesting calculations.

The trial court further concluded that although Neuwirth and Brentwood paid workers’ compensation benefits to Plaintiff totaling $528,665.61, “their workers[’] compensation subrogation lien [could not] exceed $285,000.00, that being the total amount of the [j]udgment obtained by [Plaintiff] in this lawsuit in compensation for his injuries.” Accordingly, the trial court found the amount of the workers’ compensation subrogation lien to be “$190,000.000, which is calculated by subtracting attorney’s fees ($95,000.00), interest ($74,291.50) and court costs ($160.00) from the judgment amount obtained by Plaintiff [] by [j]udgment in this lawsuit ($359,451.50).” Plaintiff, Brentwood, and Neuwirth appeal.

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There was a standing case on subrogation that reversed the prior case law.

An examination of Easter-Rozelle reveals that the quote Appellant’s urge us to follow is obiter dictum.

The NC Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court.

Appellants contend that N.C.G.S. § 97-10.2(j) mandates a finding by the trial court regarding the “amount of costs of the third party litigation to be shared between the employee and employer” (the “cost sharing consideration”), and that, in the present case, the trial court’s order is incomplete for failing to make any findings of fact regarding the cost sharing consideration. While we agree with Appellants that, under our precedents, an order must contain a finding of fact regarding the cost of the third party litigation to be shared between the employee and employer, we conclude that the trial court’s order in the present case adequately addressed this required consideration.

As mentioned previously, this is a case to print out and read if you as an adjuster have any North Carolina Work Comp subrogation files that you are handling, or as an employer involved with a subrogation case. You may hear of this case again in the near future.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

10 Most Dangerous Jobs For 2016 With Work Comp Rates

August 17, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

The 10 Most Dangerous Jobs vs. Their Loss Costs

A 10 Most Dangerous Jobs list was produced by Careercast this week. I thought I would try to compare the list of jobs with the corresponding Classification Code and Loss Costs to see how well they match.

Vector Of Scissor Dangerous Jobs On Cost Text

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This effort may turn nightmarish if I have to combine and extrapolate 10 different class codes and rates for comparison purposes. I later found out this would not be an easy task. Oh well, I am committed to it now.

The loss cost codes will be from one unnamed state for comparison to the list. The loss cost rates may have to be combined and extrapolated as some jobs in the list cover more than one class code.

The method for tabulating the Most Dangerous Jobs was:

“Cross-referencing the 200 jobs tracked in the 2016 Jobs Rated report with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Center for Disease Control (CDC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and various trade organization data, we found that the 10 most dangerous jobs in 2016 cover different industries: healthcare, transportation, civil service agriculture and construction.”

The most dangerous jobs for 2016 were (corresponding rate in parentheses):

woman walking on rope with shark under the rope dangerous jobs graphic

Construction Worker (5.81)
Correctional Officer 7720 (1.95)
Emergency Medical Technician (7.43)
Farmer (2.79)
Firefighter (4.82)
Nursing Assistant (2.33)
Police Officer (1.95)
Taxi Driver (6.14)
Truck Driver (8.67)
Veterinarian (1.21)

The list ranks the riskiest jobs very well. The one I would have listed is Carpenter- but that could be considered #1 (Construction Worker)- possibly.

The corresponding rates (in the same state) indicated the job titles in bold were the riskier jobs when examining just the loss cost rates. Truck drivers are the more risky job title when using the list provided by Careercast.

Truck drivers seem to be the riskiest one in the above rankings.

The highest rate that I found in the loss costs list was Quarry—Cement Rock—Surface & Drivers. The corresponding rate was 24.99.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

Business Insurance Closes – Bummer – Update – Now Back Open

August 16, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Business Insurance Closed – Update – They Are Back Open

Business Insurance was always a great publication that I read for many years. They had recruited some of the best reporters in the business. I referenced their information occasionally when I wrote my articles.

sorry we're closed sign business insurance closed emblem from website

Stephanie Goldberg was one of my favorite reporters. Her articles were some of the better-written ones in the insurance business.

Crain Communications surprised many readers of Business Insurance with the last publication on August 1, 2016. There was little fanfare. The final door closing occurred on August 9, 2016. BI was a 49-year-old magazine.

Crain Communications released this statement on Business Insurance.

According to Crain Communications:

” However, as a result of shifts in the insurance industry, including continual structural changes and consolidation since 2008, Business Insurance has struggled to diversify its revenue from a dependence on a declining base of print advertising. The company invested heavily in a very talented new team, and despite their best efforts, it became clear that the changes in the market simply weren’t going to be reversed.”

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One has to only look to WorkCompCentral to see a non-print Workers Comp insurance publication that has thrived in today’s insurance market. However, BI began as a print publication and stayed that way until its demise. That could have been a complicating factor.

Even if I did not use and reference their articles, their great reporting kept being abreast of insurance and Workers Compensation. The publication did have an effect on my and other authors’ writings.

I may have a large project of removing the links to their articles.

I have checked with many of the industry leaders and no one saw this coming whatsoever.

Crain Communications has been sending me a Crain’s Raleigh Edition that has nothing to do with insurance.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

West Virginia Rates Reduced For 12th Time – NCCI

August 11, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

West Virginia Rates Are Falling Again

The West Virginia rates for Workers Compensation have received another reduction recommendation by NCCI. West Virginia is one of states that decided to covert from a State Fund to an open market for Workers Comp insurance.

Wikipedia – Jm0371

NCCI has recommended a rate reduction for the ten years since Brickstreet became the proprietary carrier in 2006. The recent rate reduction is 14%. This is a very large reduction considering the state has experienced so many rate reductions over the last ten years.

The West Virginia rates were actually synthesized at the beginning of the privatization in 2006. NCCI used an actuarial extrapolation of rates from the surrounding similar states to procure a rate structure of sorts. Brickstreet was the original monopolistic carrier after conversion of the Old Fund.

The only drawback to many consecutive rate reductions is the pendulum can swing too far to the reduction side and possibly incur a sharp offsetting rate increase.

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The reduction was the 12th year in a row. That is an amazing feat.

One has to think the rates must have been very high in West Virgnia’s Old Fund. However, that is an “apples to oranges” comparison as the Fund had a very different Class Code scheme than the applicable NCCI Class Codes.

The total saved by West Virginia employers is over $352 million according to the state’s Governor.

West Virginia can be used as a model for success if any of the remaining monopolistic states try to convert to a private system. I had thought neighboring Ohio would have converted from the BWC by now.

The remaining monopolistic states are Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. One has to wonder which will be the next to privatize and save their employer premiums as with the West Virginia rates.

Workers Comp Math – Where 2 + 2 = 5.36789

August 10, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

A Great Example of Workers Comp Math

The crazy world of Workers Comp math has driven many people batty. Why?

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Last week, I wrote an article that pointed out no one claim can wreck your Workers Comp Experience Mod. A few readers contacted me in reference to my quote that the Mod will be increased not by the one big claim, but it will cause any of the other claims to be more costly.

The key is the number of claims. Even though your company may have quite a few small claims, the chance of those becoming larger claims exists for each and every claim. The risk is additive.

The following is an example of Workers Comp math at work from a basic risk standpoint.

Claim #	Total Incurred	Risk Factor	Total Risk
1111	$10,145	.3	.3
1098	$2, 356	.2	.5
2034	$9,874	.7	1.2
3123	$1,123	.4	1.6
4998	$,1454	.8	2.4

You are going to have to do a little outside the box thinking on this one, but it is the main concept that E-Mods, X-Mods, etc. are based on overall.

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The Risk of Increase is how most people look at Mods. However, you have to think of the Total Risk as an additive figure. Each claim is not a standalone risk. The chance of any claim increasing is greater when the risk is spread over more claims.

The above table shows that the Risk Factor of the group is 2.4. The Risk Factor numbers are picked arbitrarily. They are just examples. The concept is the point of this article.

If your company only had two claims – 1111 and 1098- the Total Risk Factor = .5 As you add in more claims, the Total Risk Factor increases to a higher level.

Any one of the above claims, could have a big increase in Total Incurred over the Experience Period. Five claims will cause the risk of any one or more claims to be higher than two claims.

This articles rehashes the old saying – Five $20,000 claims are much more costly/riskier than one $100,000 claim. The chance of an increase goes up with each claim, not the dollar amount of each claim.

Cutcompcosts.com Upgrades Articles – Better Readability

August 9, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Cutcompcosts.com Upgrades Website Access and Readability

We at Cutcompcosts.com are now happier campers, so to speak. Two years ago when we switched from Blogger to WordPress, we hired a company to convert the posts. Unfortunately, most of the posts ran together and caused accessibility problems for certain companies and individuals.

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Accessing our posts is why I have written almost 1600 over the last 10 years. We sought out a contractor to straighten out the posts. She has performed well as each post had to be individually edited. Our thanks goes out to our consultant for doing a great job and putting up with the thousands of edits required to make it all work. Whew!

She is still working on the posts to make them more readable and accessible to Google searches. This is a very meticulous task as the posts that were written for Blogger do not have the same SEO requirements for today’s search engines. She also has been reprogramming some of our HTML by hand. I do not envy those tasks.

Over the last few months companies and individuals informed us their servers were blocking our website. That development disturbed and was unacceptable to me. The blog was made to be a repository of articles on Workers Comp costs claims reduction.

Computer Screen Cutcompcosts.com Google Search

Wikimedia – TucsonE

If you see any quirks, errors or problems, please let me know at [email protected] or on the contact sheet below. Thanks for reading the blog and newsletter. It has been a wild ride.

If you have any suggestions for articles subjects, let me know. I took off a few weeks after my old friend Dave DePaolo’s passing as I had writer’s block.

I am going back to the basics for the next few weeks. Cutcompcosts.com was meant to be a website that took Workers Comp jargon and turned into plain-spoken information – no more/no less.

Thanks for reading my mental meanderings. James J Moore

Experience Mod For Next Year – Ruined By Big Claim?

August 5, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Experience Mod Question From Article Reader

The Experience Mod system- while seemingly complicated and full of penalties – has a built in algorithm that keeps one very serious claim from ruining your insurance budget.

Money And Calculator Experience Mod Budget

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In fact, your Mod for next year will not be affected whatsoever by the one big claim you just experienced this year. The E-Mod system is a delayed system. You should be budgeting for the big hit to take place the second policy year after the claim occurred – in most cases.

One very important concept is that claims will be around for Years 2, 3 and 4 after the date of the claim. Please note that I am talking in generalities. There are many specific and state-specific rules that could change the Years 2,3, and 4 statement.

Maximum total claim amounts will also help keep your E-Mod or X-Mod lower. Maximum total claim amounts are the maximum Total Incurred amount that a claim can add into the Experience Mod. The maximums are state-specific.

One part of the equation that sometimes catches employers off-guard is that the claims are additive into the Experience Mod. If there happens to be a few smaller claims or if payroll falls, then the one serious claim can have more of an effect. In other words, look at your loss runs to see the whole picture. Focusing on the effect of the one big claim could possibly move the attention away from the claims that have a solid effect on the Mod when added together.

Dave DePaolo – Workers Comp Community Loses Guru

August 5, 2016 By JL Risk Management Consultants

Dave DePaolo Was Such A Great Person

I met Dave DePaolo in 2003 through an associated Workers Comp company. We met in the WorkCompCentral offices in Camarillo.

For more on what happened to Dave and the memorial services , please see this WorkComp Central article. I was going to stay for the memorial service as I was already in California when I received the unfortunate news that Dave DePaolo was involved in a motorcycle accident. However, I had to come back to the east coast yesterday. Bummer.

I had been told by his marketing manager at the time to expect a surfer dude look as that was his usual dress. By the way, his marketing manager took me for a tour of Hollywood and some of the other areas of Los Angeles including eating lunch at Duke’s on the Beach.

Circle Of Paper Dolls Dave DePaolo Community Concept

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Lo and behold, the first time I met Dave he was wearing a flowery shirt, shorts, and sandals. We went to a great Italian restaurant near Camarillo. We immediately saw that we could help each other and always kept in touch for the next 13 years.

Dave grew his company at a great pace. It was one of the more successful Workers Comp press companies in existence.

A few years ago at the NWCDC conference in Las Vegas, Dave made a trip over by way of the monorail, to see me at one of the many after-hours functions. That was so nice of him and made me feel kind of special.

I had always made sure that I found him at any conference as he always had good advice for me especially in California Workers Compensation. He was always glad to see me. His last piece of advice to me was in the my expert witness practice. He said, “Charge what your are worth and you are worth a lot if you have knowledge of Workers Comp in so many states.”

Some of his last blogs can be found at the bottom of the main page of the WorkCompCentral website. I would provide a direct link, but they are behind a paywall.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and families. Goodbye old friend, Workers Comp – especially the conferences will not be the same without you.

Archives for August 2016

Classification By Analogy

States Vary Greatly in Work Comp Outpatient Hospital Charges – WCRI

Virginia Medical Fee Schedule Passed By House and Senate

Are Work Comp Premium Audits Only Correct 25% Of The Time?

Part II – Next Week – What Are Some of the Mistakes We See In Work Comp Premium Audits?

Work Comp Schedule Ratings Backed by FSU Research

North Carolina Work Comp Subrogation Re-re-reverses Course

The 10 Most Dangerous Jobs vs. Their Loss Costs

Business Insurance Closed – Update – They Are Back Open

West Virginia Rates Are Falling Again

A Great Example of Workers Comp Math

Cutcompcosts.com Upgrades Website Access and Readability

Experience Mod Question From Article Reader

<img class="wp-image-8956 alignright lazyload" src="https://cutcompcosts.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/depaolo.jpg" alt="picture of dave depaolo emblem from website" width="161" height="144">Dave DePaolo Was Such A Great Person

Dave DePaolo Was Such A Great Person