On Wednesday September 12, Risk Manager Larry Krause attended the Safeworks Illinois Work Injury Conference in Oak Brook.
The goal of the conference was to bring together all stakeholders in the workers’ compensation system in Illinois to review current trends and policy. Further discussion involved best practices and opportunities for improvement in the treatment and return to work for injured workers.
Main themes discussed at the conference were the new fee schedule for workers’ compensation medical treatment, the usage of the 6th Edition of the AMA Guidelines to Impairment in determining permanency and utilization review.
The City has benefited from the reduction in the medical fee schedule (the geozip 618 formerly had the highest medical fee schedule in the state), showing reductions in medical bills for treatment of injured workers.
The City has also implemented a program to get impairment ratings from qualified practitioners for all employees injured after September 1, 2011 seeking permanency awards.
The City and its claims administrator have also used utilization review in selected cases to help reduce excessive treatment if it is being pursued.