California Restaurant Captive Names New TPA

The California Restaurant Mutual Benefit Corporation (CRMBC) has appointed Pacific Claims Management as its new third-party administrator (TPA).
“The choice of a Self-Insured Group’s TPA significantly impacts the group’s health, the speed of claims closures, and our overall financial performance,” Kaya Stanley, CEO of CRMBC, told Worker’s Comp Advisor in an email late Wednesday.
“After a thorough analysis, the board and I are confident that PCM is the ideal partner to help us achieve our goals,” she wrote.
The group has 126 affiliate members who operate about 500 locations throughout the state.
The self-insured workers’ compensation provider for the state’s restaurant industry was formed in December 2004 and reported member equity of nearly $20 million in 2022, according to its website.
In October, the group said “in the early years of CRMBC, mismanagement by third-party service providers resulted in the group undercharging itself and incurring an $80 million deficit.”
CRMBC is a California self-insured group that provides workers’ compensation coverage for the restaurant, hospitality, and food service industries.
The incumbent TPA was LWP Claims Administration, according to the group’s website. An email Wednesday to LWP from Workers Comp Advisor seeking comment was not immediately answered.
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Workers’ compensation issues forced the temporary closures of two West Virginia volunteer fire departments, the state’s Fire Marshal’s office said in a news release Friday.
Mason Volunteer Fire Department in Mason was closed from May 28-30 and Dunlow Volunteer Fire Department was closed on May 30 due to the departments due to lapses in their WC coverage.
This was the second closure since April for the Dunlow VFD due to similar issues, according to local media reports.
According to the state Fire Marshal, the departments have corrected the issue and are open and responding to calls again.
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Healthcare-focused private equity firm Council Capital said Wednesday it has entered a “strategic partnership” with Allegiant Managed Care, a nurse case management firm providing workers’ compensation services.
Specifics of the transaction, which closed on April 24, were not disclosed in the post on Council Capital’s website.
The PE firm said its investment will be used to expand Allegiant’s services and introduce the company into more states and lines of insurance business.
“One of the reasons we decided to partner with Council Capital was to access the wealth of healthcare and workers’ comp industry knowledge,” Allegiant Managed Care President and Founder Dave Miller said in the post.
In March, the firm closed on a similar transaction with Dallas-based OccMD, LLC, a physician-led medical and nurse case management company.
It previously owned Adva-Net, a specialty workers’ compensation network, according to the private equity firm’s website.
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