Rising Medical Solutions Announces Direction for 2020 Work Comp Benchmark Study

CHICAGO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Now in its eighth year, the 2020 Workers' Compensation Benchmarking Study will investigate how claims leaders are capitalizing on the 1200-plus frontline staff survey responses from the 2019 study. The 2020 study marks another industry first, as claims leaders have never before had access to such aggregated frontline data upon which to take action. With frontline claims professionals managing a total economic outlay of nearly 100 billion in workers' compensation benefits paid each year, much is on the line.

"Our 2019 survey opened a rare window into the viewpoints of frontline claims professionals that went beyond organizational-level employee polling to a national-level, talent market survey across peer organizations," says Rachel Fikes, chief experience officer and study program director at Rising Medical Solutions. "Frontline staff are the industry's greatest influence on financial and injured worker outcomes. Compound that with the industry's mass exodus of senior claims professionals, and it now becomes imperative for organizations to decide how to respond to the perspectives of this critical talent pool –– their marketplace competitiveness depends on it."

The 2020 study will also examine COVID-19's impact on claims operations, introducing a new line of inquiry to 1) assess how the pandemic is affecting claims management practices, and 2) identify strategies claims organizations are utilizing to service and support employers, injured workers, and claims staff during these extraordinary times.

Says Fikes, "Once pandemic status was reached, expanding the original scope of the 2020 study to include COVID questioning was a foregone conclusion. Quantifying the industry's ability to adjust service delivery and adapt to national workforce disruption not only has unprecedented value in this unprecedented environment, it also has future application for any new disruptors that may require large-scale business continuity measures."

Once again, the study's annual focus is guided by its Advisory Council of diverse industry executives. The 2020 confidential survey will launch later this summer and continue throughout August. It will be open to management, director, and executive-level leaders who oversee workers' compensation claim operations for payer organizations. The 2020 Report is expected to be published in the fourth quarter. As in prior years, the 2020 Report will be available to all without cost or obligation as a contribution to the workers' compensation industry. It may be pre-ordered here.

About the Workers' Compensation Benchmarking Study
The Workers' Compensation Benchmarking Study is a national research program examining the complex forces impacting claims management in workers' compensation today. The study's mission is to advance claims management in the industry by providing both quantitative and qualitative data. Through survey research with claims leaders and practitioners nationwide, the program generates actionable intelligence for claims organizations to evaluate priorities, challenges, and strategies amongst their peers. Conceived and directed by Rising Medical Solutions, the ongoing program is a collaboration of industry executives representing diverse organizational perspectives, including the Study's Principal Researcher and Advisory Council:

• Denise Algire, Director of Risk Initiatives & National Medical Director, Albertsons Companies
• Raymond Jacobsen, Senior Managing Director, Aon
• Rich Cangiolosi, VP, Western Region, CCMSI
• Tyrone Spears, Workers' Compensation Administrator, City of Los Angeles
• Scott Emery, Senior Director, Claims, Markel
• Ted Jeffries, Director of Claims, Missouri Employers Mutual
• Michele Fairclough, Medical Services Director, Montana State Fund
• Molly Flanagan, AVP, Workers' Compensation Claims, Nationwide Insurance
• Alan Bender, Director, Workers' Compensation & Casualty Insurance, Publix Super Markets
• Jonathan Gerdes, EVP, Smart Casualty Claims
• Helen Weber, AVP, Head of Medical Strategy, The Hanover Insurance Group
• Adam Seidner, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, The Hartford
• Thomas Wiese, VP, Claims, The MEMIC Group
• Marcos Iglesias, MD, VP, Chief Medical Director, Travelers
• Linda Butler, Director, Claims Management, Walt Disney World Resort
• Victoria Kennedy, Assistant Director, Insurance Services, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries
• Brian Trick, Senior Manager of Claims, Wegmans Food Markets
• Kyle Cato, Associate Risk Manager, Workers' Compensation & General Liability Claims, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
• Tom Stark, VP of Underwriting, Zenith Insurance Company

About Rising Medical Solutions
Rising Medical Solutions (www.risingms.com) is a national medical-financial solutions firm that provides medical cost containment and medical care management services to the workers' compensation, auto, liability, and group health markets.

Press should contact Rachel Fikes at [email protected] for more information.

SOURCE Rising Medical Solutions LLC

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