Agent News

To ensure we’re meeting the needs of our customers and agents, 3CU actively seeks feedback in our day-to-day interactions and through customer surveys. We recently conducted our annual agent survey, and are pleased with the results and positive comments we received from our agent partners.

Based on survey results, our partners seem to appreciate our approach to workers’ compensation and the products we support:

• 92% of agents are satisfied or very satisfied with 3CU.
• 92% were satisfied or very satisfied with our claims handling services and agree that 3CU’s claims staff effectively delivers high-quality outcomes for customers.
• 96% agree or strongly agree that 3CU delivers on its promise to be an effective risk management partner.
• 88% of agents are likely or very likely to recommend 3CU to others for their workers’ compensation needs and 90% are likely to renew their customer’s coverage with 3CU.

Thank you to our agents for providing us such valuable feedback. We will use the results to help further refine our claims, loss control and underwriting strategies and ensure that high-quality outcomes remain the top priority for our customers. We appreciate your partnership, and encourage you to continue providing feedback on how we can improve the way we do business with you!

At Third Coast Underwriters (3CU), our customers are our top priority. Because we specialize in addressing complex operations and challenging exposures, we know the importance of developing unique workers’ compensation solutions. The list below illustrates the varied mix of accounts we have written recently within our core segments. Let us help you deliver successful outcomes for your customers today. For more information, visit 3CU.com, email info@3CU.com or call 866-641-2328.

To make it easier for you to introduce 3CU to customers who are searching for a carrier that will deliver the outcomes they expect, we’ve updated our “Finding a Good Match” flier to showcase the new features available from 3CU. This piece provides a comprehensive overview of the segments we serve and our superior claims handling, customer service and loss control services.

We encourage you to use this flier as an introductory sales tool with customers to help illustrate how our expertise and experience set us apart from the competition, and how we strive to be a true partner in risk management.

Share the benefits of partnering with 3CU with your customers today with this downloadable flier.

In May, we rolled out our first-ever mobile app – AF CompAdvisor! This exciting accomplishment for AF Group also means easier and quicker access to qualified physicians for our policyholders, should a workplace incident occur.

Utilizing our patented, award-winning Care Analytics® technology, we’ve developed a database of physicians most knowledgeable in occupational medicine and loaded them into our mobile app. This means that with a few simple clicks on a mobile device, our policyholders can provide their employee(s) with a list of qualified occupational medicine providers in the area who can best treat their injury.

AF CompAdvisor is available to all 3CU agents and policyholders at no cost. It’s available via iPhone App Store and Android Google Play by searching AF CompAdvisor. We’d encourage you to download the app so you can demonstrate its ease-of-use to policyholders.

We have also created an informative flier to help you promote our new mobile app to 3CU customers.

We have collected feedback on AF CompAdvisor from our initial rollout, and plan to issue a new release this summer that will address feedback and improve user experience.

Thanks for your support, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Did you know that 3CU holds a monthly meeting where we review a quarter of our accounts on a rotating basis? This means that each account is reviewed by the whole team: Loss Control, Claims and Underwriting four times each year! We like to think this is a differentiator for Third Coast Underwriters (3CU).

During one of our reviews, 3CU’s loss control team noticed that one of our clients was experiencing “normal” claim activity at one of their locations, and above average claims activity at another location. Our loss control team met with the client and conducted site reviews to help to shed the light on some specific safety-related issues that were contributing to the large claim volumes at this location.

After the visit, and with safety recommendations in place from 3CU, the client set out to make several changes, including:

• Various ergonomic improvements to the production line processes
• A stretch and flex program for pre-and post-shift
• Increased training for specific safety and environmental programs
• A schedule for safety and quality teams to inspect areas for hazardous conditions and a specific agenda item to have their input addressed in the safety committee meetings
• Greater emphasis on employee inclusion in the safety process:
  • Safety committee
  • Employee involvement in the accident investigation process
  • Safety poster contest
  • Wellness programs
  • Reporting “at work” and “at home” near misses

All of these elements contributed to the creation of a true “safety culture.”

When we made our next site visit, we saw that this commitment to safety coupled with follow-through on 3CU’s recommendations for site safety changes led to an 87% reduction in OSHA recordables over the previous year. Annual injuries that were numbering in the mid-twenties the previous two years, were now down to only three for the entire policy year. Lost time days were in the 50’s the past year, and dropped to zero in the policy year.

“They are a true success story. They followed a number of our suggestions and developed additional solutions and implemented processes to get employees more involved in the safety program. We are happy to have them on our books!” said Dave.

We continue to work with this client to find even more ways to improve their safety, and we thank you for continuing to share our commitment as a true partner in risk management to this client and all their others!

Federal

Legislation was recently introduced in the United States Senate that would tax prescription opioid drugs to provide funding for substance abuse treatment, a move that would create additional costs in workers’ compensation, where opioids are a highly used class of medication. The bill, Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment Act, or LifeBOAT, would tax prescription opioids at a rate of $.01 per milligram of active ingredient.

The bill is expected to generate $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year. The California Workers’ Compensation Institute recently reported that 27.2% of prescriptions dispensed to injured workers in the state were opioids in 2014, down from 31.8% in 2008.

The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would give Congress a greater ability to rein in the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve as the agencies negotiate new capital standards for the insurance industry. The bill’s supporters, including a number of insurance industry trade groups concerned about higher capital standards, argue that the proposal will help shield state-based regulations that are the primary means of oversight for insurers. In addition, the bill would give the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s independent insurance expert the ability to play a bigger role in international insurance discussions. The bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Still, it could apply political pressure on the Federal Reserve and Treasury as they negotiate with foreign officials.

Illinois

The Illinois General Assembly ended the regular 2016 session without a budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 or FY 2017 (FY 2016 ends June 30). The House is scheduling at least one day a week in June to return to Springfield. Ongoing — and of significance to AF Group — are the bipartisan negotiating work groups that continue to meet in an effort to address the Governor’s economic development effort to enact workers’ compensation reform. The “working groups” will be meeting whether the General Assembly is meeting in Springfield or not. While no significant progress has yet been made on workers’ compensation, discussions on key issues such as causation, traveling employee, credits for prior body as a whole injuries, AMA guidelines and the medical fee schedule are continuing. The goal is for the group to develop an “agreed bill” that will reduce work comp system friction and costs, and improve care for injured workers. Progress remains slow and the groups are having difficulty finding common ground. AF Group remains engaged through partnerships with the Illinois Insurance Association and the Illinois Chamber.

Sources: American Insurance Association, MIRS, Politico, Wisconsin Insurance Alliance