Posted: October 27,2011
The IWCI Board is considering creation of a worker’s compensation professional certification program.
Since announcement of this proposal in November 2010, the Board has received numerous thoughts and suggestions. More recently, the Board has benefited from the ideas and counsel of an advisory committee composed of Terry Marsella, Mary Miller, Louise Sparks and Dawn Walton; all experienced professionals knowledgeable of the Indiana worker’s compensation system and the IWCI. Herein is description of how the proposal is developing.
The certification will be earned by participating in the Institute’s annual seminar; specifically, attendance at the various programs and presentations offered at the seminar will count as credits for the certification.
The certification program curriculum will be comprehensive of the Indiana worker’s compensation system and detailed enough to require a sustained commitment by the participants. The curriculum will include general and specialized topics such as worker’s compensation systems history, claims administration, medical management, insurance underwriting and risk analysis, adjudication process, subrogation and third party claims, interaction with other employment laws, and business/labor relations. Licensing requirements for worker’s compensation adjusters is other states will probably be the curriculum model.
Although the curriculum has not yet been defined, it is estimated that completion will require seminar attendance for a period of two to four years. Furthermore, the program may include the traditional academic exercises of lectures/presentations, reading, testing and an analytical research project. The written product of the research projects might be published in the IWCI newsletter. These requirements will not be overly rigorous, just involved enough to give value to the certification. Certification requirements may include testing or other learning activity requiring review of written materials.
The program will be managed by the IWCI with the advice, counsel and participation of the Worker’s Compensation Board and other entities that the IWCI Board may deem appropriate. Consideration is being given to engaging a third party administrator; however, the program may be administered by the IWCI depending upon costs and resources.
While the program will be primarily oriented towards claims adjusters and managers, it will be designed to allow for certification of other worker’s compensation professionals as well. It is hoped that the certification will become a valued credential within the Indiana worker’s compensation community.
Program administration costs are a significant concern. Not just for reasons of fiscal prudence, but because the Board does not want cost to impede participation. Every effort will be made to implement and administer the program with minimal additional cost.
A certification program may preclude, or serve as the initial basis of, adjuster licensing. Although there presently is no state-imposed licensing requirement, it is prudent to anticipate that the State of Indiana will enact such requirements most likely as a revenue source. A licensing requirement for independent worker’s compensation adjusters was enacted during the 2011 session of the General Assembly. This proposed program will allow the industry to be prepared for such requirements.
Part of the proposal is to include in the program costs a fee to be passed on to the Worker’s Compensation Board in order to help bolster its administrative agency budget. The rationale for this aspect of the program is based upon the possibility of a state-required adjuster license.
A state-required program would most likely include administrative fees that would probably be directed to the State’s general fund. There would be no certainty that any fees generated by the requirement of a worker’s compensation adjuster’s license would be directed to worker’s compensation agency. This program would provide revenue for the Board’s supplemental administrative fund; a dedicated fund that is not shared with the State’s general fund. This is the most effective means for the worker’s compensation community to ensure that fees are directed to best benefit the system. The additional intention is that, if ever enacted, a state-required licensing program would include such dedicated fee provisions.
In both the near and long-term future, the Board wants to bolster operations of existing chapters, revive dormant chapters and foster creation of new ones. Further planning is necessary, but the chapters may eventually conduct the certification program as well. The Institute’s mission might be even better fulfilled if the program is offered more than once per year and in more locations than Indianapolis.
The 2011 seminar was deliberately designed to be a prototype for this proposal. The 2012 seminar will be organized in much the same fashion. Participants will select the presentations they wish to attend from a variety of topical choices. If the program can be timely implemented, the 2012 seminar may be the first offering of the certification curriculum.
The goals of the program are to strengthen the Institute’s educational mission and revive insurance/claims administration industry involvement. A certification program will demonstrate a pro-active and self-sustaining industry. A broad-based curriculum will lead to more efficient claims administration, which should be attractive to business interests and state regulators; the Worker’s Compensation Board in particular.
Additional announcements about the program will be made as plans develop. In the interim, thoughts and suggestions from all interested persons are quite welcome.