Dave Kaplan

WSIA Executive Director

April 2011

My apologies for the past year for lack of posting a column.  As with everyone, I got so busy doing the day to day things, and writing and posting other updates and emails on legislative, administrative, policy, educational, and political issues that I never had a chance to weigh in with my own thoughts.  But it is important to occasionally stop and take stock in what you've accomplished, and where you are headed.  Just like hiking up a hill: if you only focus on the path that is immediately in front of you you'll miss the view at the top, or from breath-taking lookouts along the way. The same is true in what we do.

Last month marked my 10th anniversary as your Executive Director.  To say that 10 years has flown past would be an understatement.  So, here's my take from the various viewpoints along the path.

In the past ten years, we've greatly improved our educational programs - both in terms of quantity and quality.

• We have developed a clear path for claims management education in Washington state, from what was a collection of random course offerings
• We have expanded the total number of training programs from approximately 10 training programs per year to approximately 20 training programs per year
• From scratch, we developed and initiated the Washington Workers' Compensation Professional (WWCP) designation, to better acknowledge the skills and professionalism of self-insured claims people - three comprehensive, thirteen-week courses with passage of exams required to demonstrate knowledge
• We vastly re-tooled and improved our entry level and advanced claims training programs, including pre-testing and post-testing to measure improvement in learning and effectiveness of curriculum
• We have successfully transitioned our Legal Issues Seminar & Workshop from Tom Chapman's able hands, to a more interactive model with Gibby Stratton and Bernie Pratt, and with additional changes to appear through the expert instruction of Nancy Day and Kathryn Kunkler this fall
• We re-initiated our Claims Certification Review Course, in response to changes in WACs regarding qualification of claims administrators.  We took it from a half-day “group study session” to a two day class with instruction, exercises & practice tests; and
• To meet the needs of all of our far-flung members, we have developed web-based training programs, covering everything from specific computations of benefits through advanced topics in legal, medical, claims and policy

In the past ten years, we've fought to educate legislators, the Governor, the State Fund employer community, and the Department about policy issues that require legislative or Department action to address.

• Whether at the Workers' Compensation Advisory Committee, quarterly meetings with the DLI Director, employer community meetings with the Department, and communications with politicians, WSIA has communicated to all parties the importance of getting long term disability and pension costs under control - so much so that even the Governor and DLI Director now publicly acknowledge that something needs to be done legislatively to stem these costs; and, for the first time, they have proposed legislation to do that
• Because of WSIA's lobbying efforts, in 2011 we have a real possibility of attaining the legal authority to formally settle out claims, with the decisions being final and binding
• Our fight for accountability and fairness in our Administrative Assessment has provided self-insured employers with a more comprehensive look at the components of what we pay for, and has resulted in our rates flattening or declining over the past several years
• Years of discussion at the Insolvency Trust Fund Board meetings has led to the adoption of legislation that goes after unused surety funds to cover socialized Insolvency Trust Fund costs, as well as consideration of alternative surety proposals that would save most self-insurers money
• Our participation on the Insolvency Trust Fund Board has also resulted in more accountability, with claims that would otherwise wind up as pensions being considered for vocational retraining - something that should have been happening all along
• Our work on evaluating the Second Injury Fund usage (two internal committee efforts in 1999 and 2004) led to a group of self-insurers successfully pursuing legislation that reduced the amount of the Second Injury Fund costs that are socialized, resulting in reduced assessments for most self-insured employers
• WSIA's analysis of Supplemental Pension Fund liabilities, and discussions with the Department on how the assessment methodology can be changed so that self-insured employers will only pay their proportion of total liability on Supplemental Pension Fund assessments, have been inching forward
• Since the 1999 Abundes decision and the 2001 Cockle decision, WSIA has lobbied all stakeholders to educate them to the problems with the complexity and inequity of implementing these (and other) court decisions in the determination of wages for purposes of computing time loss and other benefits.  The Department is initiating wage consistency training this year.  And while nearly all of these parties agree that something needs to be done statutorily, we continue to work to find an approach that the Department and legislators agree with to address the problem.

In the past ten years, we've worked hard to keep our conference and training prices affordable, and our program costs under control.

• Despite rising costs of food and other costs, WSIA has managed to keep our Fall, Winter and Spring Conference fees escalating at an average of 3.4% per year, and there has not been a conference fee increase since 2007-08
• Despite rising costs of food, room rental, and other charges, WSIA has managed to keep our Annual Conference fees escalating at an average of 2.1% per year, and there has not been a fee increase since 2007-08
• With a few exceptions, nearly all of our training program fees have escalated an average of 3.3% per year, and there has not been a training fee increase since 2007-08
• Our web-based training program fees have actually gone down, reducing the direct cost to our members, and has eliminated travel costs for our member companies by a substantial amount

Despite all of the statistics and litany of accomplishments and changes over the years, the most important thing that I've noticed about the Washington Self-Insurers Association is our consistency and resolve in pursuing issues.  We don't argue based strictly on emotion or philosophical approach to most issues; we doggedly pursue the changes we seek because we've done our homework, we have real life examples based on our members' experiences here in Washington and other states, and we know that the things we wish to see changed are workable, thoughtful, and successful solutions to the problems plaguing the workers' compensation system here in Washington.

We have a lot to be proud of during the past ten years, and the view is looking pretty good from the trail.  Now is the time to scale the last bit of the hill, and get the breath-taking view from the top.  With all of us committed to that effort, I know we'll succeed.

Thank you for all that you do.

Until next time …

Dave Kaplan

WSIA Executive Director

dave.kaplan@wsiassn.org

Posted 4 April 2011

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