Self-Insurance Program Keeps Workers Comp Costs in Line for Indiana Public Schools

Self-Insurance Program Keeps Workers Comp Costs in Line for Indiana Public Schools

Workers’ Compensation insurance for Indiana public schools provides employees – from teachers and teacher aides to food service staff to janitors and many more – with protection in case of injury or disease during the course of employment. It provides for medical expenses, lost income/wages, rehabilitation costs, death benefits and more. To keep Workers’ Comp costs in line, there are key strategies that public schools can undertake including self-insuring and implementing strong risk management and loss control measures, among others.

In 2006, at Caitlin Morgan, we established a successful self-insurance program for Indiana public schools that continues to provide members with real favorable cost-savings results. The Indiana School’s Educational Service Center (ISESC) risk management program is a self-insured trust to help public schools address the ups and downs of the commercial Workers’ Compensation market and to help organizations control their costs. In fact, ISESC is the oldest school self-insured Workers’ Compensation program in Indiana with current membership at 22 schools and two service centers.

Individual school corporations can enter into ISESC without the required collateral for self-insurance. They get the protection needed at the top end based on their size with structured reinsurance through Midwest Employers Casualty Company (MECC) that caps the annual exposure to loss for each school. As part of the program, the public school members have access to loss prevention strategies through Reed Environmental to proactively manage their operational risks, mitigate losses and keep costs down. The services Reed Environmental offers includes quantifiable management best practices auditing, benchmarking current environment health and safety management efforts, establishing measurable accountabilities and responsibilities for safety improvement, customized safety and health policy and procedure document preparation, site-specific process assessments, machine hazards/guarding assessments, regulatory compliance auditing & benchmarking, mock OSHA inspections and much more.

Equally important in helping to control Workers’ Comp costs in the ISESC program is the management of claims when workplace accidents, injuries or illnesses occur. Third-party administrator Brentwood Services Administrators, Inc. (BSAI) proactively manages claims from the initial investigation, compensability determination and until the claim is settled and/or closed. The services BSAI provides ISESC members are designed to manage claims costs and save them money. These services include medical bill and utilization review, medical case management and pharmacy benefits management.

How well has the ISESC program performed for its Indiana public school members? The proof is in the numbers: There is a long-term savings of between 15-20% annually over traditional Workers’ Comp premiums with member retention at over 90%. What’s more, members have lower expenses than commercial insurance and historically lower than any national program administrator. They also have the ability to earn and retain investment income with ISESC.

To learn more about ISESC and how you can assist Indiana public schools with their Workers’ Compensation programs, give Caitlin Morgan a call at 877.226.1027.