Dive Brief:
- A few employers are turning toward advocacy-based models for their workers' compensation programs – leading to less attorney involvement, better health outcomes and a speedy return to work, Business Insurance reports.
- Advocacy-based worker's comp involves medical professionals who assist and advise injured workers through the comp process. Additionally, injured workers are not called claimants, but patients, and claim examiners and adjusters are simply called "claims representatives," Business Insurance says.
- Above all, advocacy is about "setting expectations" and providing a contact point so that employees are assisted and heard throughout the process – meaning less employees slip through the cracks or end up suing the company over workers' comp troubles.
Dive Insight:
Empathy and advocacy are the key words here, Business Insurance reports. The advocate medical professional, often a triage nurse, advises injured employees on what they can do about their injury, helps locate physicians and schedules appointments if necessary. Often, involvement from such a professional may lead to less claims overall thanks to improved communication about the workers' comp process.
An advocacy-based solution would be easier for a larger employer to implement. But those who have undertaken it note ROI can be found through "litigation rates, claim duration, the number of medical-only claims versus lost-time claims, return-to-work rates, and worker satisfaction," Business Insurance says.
