Data Can Drive Better Outcomes for Injured Workers: Panel

ORLANDO, Fla. — To move from a reactive to a proactive workers’ compensation industry, embrace data collection and analysis to assess where injuries are occurring, how long injured workers are off the job, and why and how to manage better the demand trajectory, according to the data. panelists who spoke Monday at the Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference.

“When problems start to appear, we just say, okay, is this a trend? Is it an anomaly? Is that something they need to focus on? And this is the point I would make; you have to look hard enough at your data and spend enough time with it to be able to weed those types of things out,” said Max Koonce, Memphis, Tenn.-based chief claims officer for Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc.

Michael Pettit, Frisco, Texas-based director of data analytics at Sedgwick, said the industry has historically acted as “damage control” for companies with injured workers. The data, he said, gives employers a better look at what’s happening with their applications.

It’s one area of ​​particular interest to the C-suite, which has invested in data analytics and technology to improve programs and outcomes, according to Mr. Koonce.

Nancy Strubler, director of workers’ compensation for Lisle, Ill.-based National Express LLC, a transportation company that operates school buses and other types of commercial vehicles, said collecting data on injury rates and causation, including collecting of data from in-vehicle devices is helping the company see where more training might be needed.

“This is how we can help prevent (accidents and complaints); the data shows us that in the last 30 days we have had 26 accidents for employees with six months or less. What can we do to continue this training?” she said.

At Albertsons Co., a large grocery chain based in Boise, Idaho, the company is eyeing treatment data for injured workers, Kelly Webb, the company’s senior director of national claims, told attendees that reports show more claimants receive medical services. therapy, but pharmaceutical costs are falling as a result.

The data “shows me that doctors are changing their behavior,” she said. “Our opioids are very, very low. So we use physical therapy and things like that conservatively instead of dispensing the drugs. I think that’s a good thing and I’m willing to pay for it.”

“On the other hand, we have to measure our physical therapy programs now and make sure the response times are good, and then we get people in quickly and they can get their pain down before it gets worse,” she added.