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Specialty Lines
We are starting the New Year with some new tools to help your risk management. See below for more information, and for some highlights for the coming year.
Stop!T - a new program to replace the PCoRP and PComp fraud hotlines. This is a great anonymous reporting system for your employees to let you know about potential fraud (embezzlement, workers' comp fraud) and also about inappropriate behavior. And it is free to all PCoRP and PComp members! Check out Andrew's article below for more information. And please remove the old fraud hotline posters - we will be getting you new ones for Stop!T.
New online claims reporting - during January we hope to unveil our new upgrades to RiskMaster, our claims reporting software. You will notice a big change with a totally redesigned claims reporting portal - you will be able to provide us with a lot more information when reporting a claim, including attaching documents or photos. And it should be much easier for you to use. Watch for more information coming soon!
New auto safety kits - this year all PCoRP and PComp members will be receiving new auto safety kits - one for each auto you own! See more information in Hot Topics below.
PComp Member Meeting - the annual meeting of the PComp members will be Monday, March 25 at the Harrisburg Hilton, during the CCAP Spring Conference. Plan to be there to receive updates on the workers' compensation coverage and services for your county.
PELICAN Member Meeting - the annual meeting of PACAH's liability insurance program will be during the PACAH spring conference at the Penn Stater in State College, with a luncheon on Thursday, April 25. Elections to the PELICAN Subscribers Advisory Committee will be held.
PCoRP Member Meeting - PCoRP's members meet again at the CCAP Fall Conference at the Hotel Hershey, on Monday night, November 25. Make sure to attend to stay on top of liability and property issues related to your county.
Make sure you contact us when you need help with something,
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Nationwide Ranks Highest in Mixed Plan Segment in Inaugural J.D. Power Group Retirement Satisfaction Study
Nationwide ranks highest in the Mixed Plan segment, according to the inaugural J.D. Power 2018 Group Retirement Satisfaction Study. With a score of 770 (on a 1,000-point scale), Nationwide exceeds the segment average by 26 points. Nationwide also ranks highest in three of six study factors: Information Resources, Fees and Expenses, and Communications. Further demonstrating Nationwide's strong performance in the study, the financial services provider ranks above segment average in all six study factors.*
The inaugural Group Retirement Satisfaction Study evaluates participant satisfaction with providers of group retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, based on six factors: interaction across live and digital channels; investment and service offerings; fees and expenses; plan features; information resources; and communications. Plan providers are ranked in three categories based on their overall mix of business in terms of average plan size.*
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are diagnostic measures that have the most significant impact on customer satisfaction. Nationwide outperforms all ranked competitors in six of 13 study KPIs. Highlights include:
- Complete understanding of the mobile
features/services
- Brand always notified about the fee charges
before the transaction
- Aware of and use market summary and
benchmarks
- Aware of and use retirement goal setting
- Offered exchange traded funds (ETFs)
- Offered employer's stock
According to John Carter, President, Nationwide Retirement Plans, "At Nationwide, we're continuously focused on enhancing the service we deliver as we help America's workers prepare for and live in retirement. Receiving the highest ranking in this year's J.D. Power Group Retirement Plan Satisfaction Study demonstrates that our customers recognize and value the investments we're making to our service experience, which makes this distinction even more meaningful."
The 2018 Group Retirement Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 9,500 group retirement plan members. The study was fielded in February-March 2018.*
The National Association of Counties (NACo), in partnership with CCAP and Nationwide Retirement Solutions (NRS), helps ensure the financial security of county employees with a competitive Deferred Compensation Program. The NRS Deferred Compensation Program allows county employees many options for tax deferred supplemental retirement savings.
For more information, contact
Emanuel Mahand, NRS Program Director East Region, Phone:
(877) 677-3678
*Source: J.D. Power 2018 Group Retirement Satisfaction
StudySM
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US Communities is Now Omnia!
Earlier this year U.S. Communities was purchased by OMNIA Partners. OMNIA Partners and U.S. Communities staff have been working closely and expeditiously over the last few months to outline the combined organization and what this means for counties and other public entities.
OMNIA Partners continues to make significant resource investments to bring additional value to county employees and counties. Here is some additional information about the group purchasing program going forward:
The Lead Agency Solicitation Process: As a critical component of OMNIA's approach, the program will continue to use the lead agency contracting model. OMNIA will also continue to support all existing agreements and anticipate that all current solicitations will remain active. Future solicitations will be issued by a government entity or educational system utilizing the best practices in public procurement.
The OMNIA Partners Teams: The integration of the two organizations has resulted in additional resources that will better position the program to support public agency participants.
- Account Management. OMNIA now offers the largest Account Management team in cooperative purchasing. The Regional Managers (formerly Program Managers for U.S. Communities) assist counties with their cooperative strategy. This team will work with awarded suppliers to drive further value for the state and local government and K-12 education markets. * Partner Development. This team works with the leadership teams of supplier partners to establish strategic initiatives and serves as the liaison to all the OMNIA Partners resources.
- Marketing and Training. The combined organization also has the largest and most experienced marketing team in cooperative purchasing. In addition, OMNIA Partners has invested additional resources into the public sector training program. This unique program offers a strategic approach to educating awarded supplier teams on public procurement and cooperative purchasing.
- Relationship Specialists. A new investment for OMNIA Partners, this team will expand our capacity to serve more public agencies.
- Contracting. The contracting team of public procurement practitioners offers unprecedented expertise to counties. They will serve as the liaison to the lead agencies for contract administration.
Combined Registered Participants: Effective immediately, registration systems for U.S. Communities current participants have been combined into OMNIA Partners Public Sector. Therefore, counties have access to the contract portfolios of BOTH OMNIA and U.S. Communities (with certain exceptions). If you have any questions, please contact your dedicated Regional Manager.
Plans for 2019
- The Brand: In 2019, OMNIA will be rebranding U.S. Communities as OMNIA Partners, Public Sector. There will be a transition period in which the U.S. Communities logo is included with the OMNIA Partners logo. This will ensure the market has time to recognize the change as well as provide our suppliers time to update co-branded collateral.
- One Consolidated Website: The U.S. Communities website will be combined with OMNIA into one site in early 2019.
- Enhanced Online Reporting. The UConnect reporting system will be replaced with a new platform called OMNIA Partners Connect. This new system has been developed and testing has begun. OMNIA anticipates launching the site in phases and will communicate those details as we get closer to going live with this new tool.
While many top-level decisions and activities are underway, there is still a lot to do. First and foremost, OMNIA is committed to driving contract value for counties under the program. More information will be communicated to counties in the near future.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns please contact
Travis Brown at OMNIA.
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PCoRP Award Winners!
At the November 2018 PCoRP Annual Membership meeting, PCoRP honored the following people for their service to PCoRP and their county:
Risk Control Award
Jamie Wolgemuth, Lebanon County Administrator
Jamie was recognized for his exceptionally helpful assistance with a very difficult claim.
Loss Prevention Awards
Centre County - the county sent attendees to 17 different CCAP Insurance Programs risk management training sessions, more than any other county.
Wayne County - the county sent 73 attendees to 2018 CCAP Insurance Programs risk management training sessions, more than any other county.
Claims Reporting Award
Alexis Bevan, HR Wellness Director, Westmoreland County
Alexis was recognized for her outstanding claims reporting, and assistance to the PCoRP claims representatives.
Brady Koch PCoRP Award
Vicky Botjer, Wayne County Chief Clerk
This award is presented to a county official in recognition of their outstanding contributions to PCoRP and their county's risk management program. The award is named for former Carbon County Commissioner and founding PCoRP Board Member Albert "Brady" Koch.
Sherm Doebler PCoRP Award
Kathy Burkholder, Perry County Chief Clerk
This award is presented to a county employee in recognition of their outstanding contributions to PCoRP and their county's risk management program. The award is named for former Union County Commissioner and founding PCoRP Board Member and Vice Chairman
Sherman Doebler.
Ron Shearer PCoRP Award
Mark Partner, Juniata County Commissioner
This award is given to recognize service on the PCoRP Board of Directors. It is named for the first chairman of the PCoRP Board, Juniata County Commissioner Ron Shearer.
Willis Pooling PCoRP Loss Experience Award
Central Counties Youth Center
This award is sponsored by Willis Pooling, PCoRP's reinsurance broker. The award goes to the PCoRP member with the lowest loss modification, as calculated by the PCoRP Actuary.
Congratulations to the 2018 award winners!
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PComp 2019 Rates Approved - No Change in Costs from 2018!
By now, PComp members know that their 2019 renewal information has been sent out, since it is effective January 1, 2019. Because of the late timing of L&I's review of our rates, the information was not able to be included in our December Insurance Matters. The rates will generate the same amount of funding compared to 2018's rates. Premiums for 2019 will total $7,776,760.
Please note that rates for each payroll code are adjusted each year based on claims experience, so individual rates and costs by member will vary. And of course, each member's experience modification may change each year, for better or worse, based on the member's claims experience, and this also impacts the member's 2019 costs.
Protz decision rate impact
: One last note, as we have received some questions from the members about this. There was a court ruling in 2017 called the Protz decision, which had a potential impact on workers' compensation claims costs. After the ruling L&I was suggesting insurers and self-insureds increase their rates about six percent. The PCRB factored this into rates for traditional insurance companies. PComp did not implement those rate changes into our 2018 rates (mainly due to timing) and we were planning to do so in 2019. However, the ruling was negated by the adoption of legislation in 2018 (called the "Protz fix'). So we did not increase the 2019 rates as previously suggested by L&I and PCRB.
If you have any questions about the rates, please contact John Sallade.
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Hot Topics
New Auto Safety Kits for PCoRP and PComp Members! We have purchased new auto safety kits for PCoRP and PComp members, and they are being delivered to the members by CCAP's Risk Control staff. The kits contain a tire pressure gauge, a combination seat belt cutter/window hammer, an accident investigation and emergency guide, a rain poncho, a flashlight, a "call police" sign, first aid facts guide, two emergency blankets, insect bite wipes, antibacterial wipes, alcohol wipes in a nice zippered pouch which should fit in the glove compartment. Each PCoRP and PComp member will receive a kit for each county owned vehicle. Photos of the kits are included with this article. For more information, contact John Sallade.   |
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Monitoring and Improving Your Risk Management Program
As discussed in previous insurance matters articles, the establishment of a risk management program involves selecting the most promising risk management alternatives for dealing with exposures, implementing those alternatives and monitoring the results. This made me think of a conversation I had many years ago with a risk control consultant about comparing my county's risk management program results against other counties of similar size and scope of operations. He responded the best way to compare our performance "was against ourselves" from previous years. That made sense and I believe his recommendation was a good one. However, it never hurts to compare against others as well.
In the past, I have discussed the concept of continuous improvement of your risk management program. Part of this activity is to measure and constantly evaluate your program's performance through the use of metrics (selecting performance measures), benchmarking (against yourself and others), and the creation and use of various types of incentives.
The use of metrics will help you determine how well you are doing - they are a system of measurement or the assessing of individuals, processes, and how well your program is doing. By comparing and evaluating your county's performance, you will better be able to determine allocation of costs and/or resources if your efforts are leading towards meeting your risk management strategies, goals, and improved employee behavior, ultimately, the improvement of your risk management program has a positive impact on your county's budget.
The use of frequency (number of claims per 100 full time employees) and severity (annual costs) are just two measuring metrics that can be very instructive in assessing your program's effectiveness. Look at trends. What is your average cost per claim? How many and types of claims do you litigate? What is the impact on your workers' compensation experience modifier?
As stated, benchmarking through the use of internal and external comparisons are recommended. However, when doing so, the need for accurate data is critical, transparency and confidentially is essential and determining the internal stakeholders to receive such information a must.
When looking at performance incentives programs, please evaluate very carefully whether they are appropriate given your operational dynamics. If you decide to implement, encourage and then reward those desired safe behaviors. But make sure those behaviors are the right ones for each department and the county as a whole. And, the program must be meaningful and valued by the recipient or it probably won't work. Keep in minds the costs associated with implementing the program including the types of "rewards" to be offered.
Do not forget to utilize the PCoRP/PELICAN loss prevention and PComp safety improvement grants. These grants are a great way to address potential safety concerns for staff and the public.
For questions regarding this article or risk management, please contact
Keith Wentz, Risk Management and Underwriting Manager at CCAP.
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Wellness Matters
January - As of week 50 that ended on 12/15/2018, Pennsylvania influenza activity is "regional". Confirmed reports were received from 64 out of the 67 counties with highest activity reported from the Northeast and Southeast regions. While influenza is getting a slow start, this is not a good indicator of the season to come. Influenza confirmations are on the rise which means don't let your guard down. January is the perfect time to refresh your flu shot, influenza, hand washing, and cough etiquette posters. These are available free through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (
cdc.gov) Have hand sanitizer and tissues available at multiple sites within the workplace including reception areas and break areas. Consider purchasing sanitizing wipes that kill influenza for employees to use at their work areas. If you haven't already done it, set up a workplace flu vaccination clinic by contacting your health care provider or local pharmacy. Keep monitoring the flu activity in your county (
health.pa.gov). Simply click on "flu", and "2018-19 Season Data".
February - February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. The good news is that heart disease can often be prevented by making modifications to our lifestyle. Because employees may not be aware of their risk, employers can help by setting up biometrics screenings at work. These screenings help identify risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. A typical screening includes these measurements: height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and a blood test to measure cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides. Employees are encouraged to use this information, along with their doctor's recommendations, to modify their behavior by increasing physical activity, lose or manage their weight, and eat nutritiously by cutting salt and fat and increasing fiber. Biometrics testing can be set up by your health care provider, biometric screening companies, or workplace occupational health centers, many times free of charge, because the provider will submit the testing fees to your employees' health care insurance provider. Promote your screening clinic with posters, information about heart disease and its complications (heart attack and stroke), prevention tips, and inter-department contests and challenges. Other heart wellness ideas include CPR/AED training, lunch time walking programs, lunch and learns provided by grocery store dieticians or hospitals, and updating your vending machines with healthier options.
Have some great wellness ideas or stories? Please let us know so that we can share with our members in Insurance Matters. Please contact Jean Henry, RN, Risk Control Wellness Nurse at CCAP.
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Upcoming Events
January 15, 2019
PELICAN Exec., Audit & Fin. Subcommittee Meeting
CCAP Office - Harrisburg
January 16, 2019
PELICAN Subcommittee Meetings
CCAP Office - Harrisburg
January 16, 2019
PELICAN SAC Meeting
CCAP Office - Harrisburg
January 17, 2019
CCAP Board of Directors' Meeting
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Reading - Reading
January 23, 2019
PCoRP Retreat and Board Meeting
The Hotel Hershey - Hershey
January 24, 2019
AAP Board of Governors' Meeting
CCAP Office - Harrisburg
February 7, 2019
COMCARE PRO SAC Meeting
CCAP Office - Harrisburg
February 22, 2019
PComp Board Meeting
CCAP Office - Harrisburg
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Quote of the Month
"What's so fascinating and frustrating and great about life is that you're constantly starting over, all the time, and I love that."
-Billy Crystal
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