W.Va Expects $15M Savings With Premium Cut

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Friday that a proposed cut in premiums for the state’s workers’ compensation program will result in a projected $15 million savings for employers.
Justice said the National Council on Compensation Insurance has filed a proposed loss cost decrease of 9.1%, effective Jan. 1.
He said this would be the 20th consecutive year of loss cost decreases.
The state’s employers have saved $481 million in premiums since the workers’ compensation program was privatized in 2006, he said.
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Austin, Texas first responders last week told local officials that the city’s workers compensation system is failing them.
Members of the Austin Police, Fire, EMS and Retired Police Officer Associations voiced their concerns to the capital’s Public Safety Commission meeting.
Austin Police Association (APA) President Michael Bullock said officers shot in the line of duty have had trouble getting their treatments approved.
The city contracts with a third party, Sedgwick, to process WC claims.
The contract is due for review next year, and city staff suggested at the meeting that the search for the next company to contract with be put on hold to evaluate first responders’ concerns.
A city official at the same presentation said the “majority” of workers’ compensation claims are approved.
A city spokesperson said workers’ compensation is closely regulated by the state, but staff are working to determine which processes the City has the authority to revise.
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Workers’ compensation law is particularly suited to the application of artificial intelligence tools and while applications may not be immediately available, they are likely to emerge over the next 5-10 years.
In a recent op-ed in The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia workers’ compensation lawyer Michael McMaster, wrote that AI tools are most relevant to workers comp case data processing, case management and fraud prevention.
Citing WC law in Pennsylvania, he said that the numerous reports, documents, and records that are not necessarily produced in other fields of law yields an “untapped fountain of data and metadata that can be analyzed to better understand the outcome of a claim.”
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