Katrina Zitnik

Costco Wholesale Corp.
President, WSIA

April 2011

My apologies for the long delay in posting a new column.  Since the middle of 2010 we have been on the run trying to keep up with opportunities and changes: 

Here are a few of the myriad of things we've been working on your behalf:

Paperless Claim Forms

The Self-Insurance Section is in the process of finalizing a process and a PDF formatted SIF-2 document for self-insured employers to use as an alternative to the current forms with the pre-printed number.  The Department will assign each employer a block of claim numbers, accessed from the L&I website.  The employer (or TPA) will use one of the assigned numbers to complete the SIF-2 when a new claim occurs.  This is due to the persistence of the WSIA DLI representatives and should be available to self-insurers by the end of June 2011.  We also want to thank AnnaLisa Gellerman, S-I Program Manager,  for her willingness to work with us on this item.

Wage Consistency

As you know, this is a thorny issue that has been very difficult to resolve.  We continue to work with DLI on this issue, and have the commitment of Director Judy Schurke to make reasonable administrative changes that are intended to alleviate as much of the burdensome documentation required to determine wages for purposes of computing benefits. She believes it is important to make this process consistent among self-insured and State Fund adjudicators, consultants, and auditors so that every worker can expect his/her wages to be computed the same way.  WSIA had a group participate in providing the Department feedback as they worked through the various issues to be considered in making changes. The document which memorializes these changes is being reviewed. Training, which will be made available to all Department and self insured claims managers at the same time, will be held in mid to late summer 2011. While not a panacea or replacement for badly needed statutory changes to help better define "wages" and to simplify the computation of time loss benefits, this is a step forward that would not have occurred without our initiating and participating in the conversation.

Online Tracking of Department Continuing Education Credits

As promised, AnnaLisa Gellerman has continued to move the web-based Continuing Education Credit tracking system forward.  This system is used to help track CEC’s for recertification of approved Claims Administrators and will make it easier for our Certified Claims Administrators to submit their credits to the Department for pre-approved programs.  Programs where CEC’s have not been pre-approved will still have to be submitted for review.  However, the system will still alleviate a number of administrative burdens for both self-insurers and the Department, and is a good step forward in moving to a more electronic-based communications environment.  This project is but one of many projects that WSIA requested over the past few years, to better meet our members’ needs.

Awarding of Continuing Education Credits

With the naming of AnnaLisa Gellerman as Self-Insurance Program Manager, we were granted a second opportunity to express your frustration and concerns with a new set of ears listening.  The proposed rule change to eliminate or reduce the number of categories (in which you have to attain credits) ran into the Governor’s executive order suspending all rule-making for a year.  An exception was provided for requested or legislatively required rule-making.  The Department is trying to determine if our requested rule change, as amended by the Department, will proceed.  Additionally, our Certification Issues Task Force had a conference call with the Department in January 2011 to further discuss our concerns.  The main concern is that the number of credits that are awarded are often at odds with the number WSIA has requested.  Ms. Gellerman plans to attend the next Curriculum Review Committee meeting as a way for her to better understand the process.  We expect this to inform any potential changes that she may offer up to address our concerns.  You can be certain that we will continue to follow this issue closely. 

Audit Issues

As a long-term goal, WSIA has been talking with DLI about the way it performs audits and uses the results for penalties and for policy making.  Ms. Gellerman believes that audits should be consistent, transparent, and effective as a regulatory device.  In order for DLI to move forward, a new auditing system was required.  We are happy to announce that DLI is testing the Self-Insurance Laptop Audit System (SILAS).  Testing should end soon so that full utilization of SILAS will begin in July 2011.  Also, a survey of SIE and TPAs will be done by the Department to evaluate each step in the audit process.  There was also an internal review of how penalties are assessed as a result of the audit process.  Ms. Gellerman is reviewing the report and will then solicit stakeholder feedback (SIE and labor).  We are very encouraged by the progress we’ve seen, and hope that DLI will continue to improve the regulation of Self-Insured Employers by using technology and techniques appropriate for the 21rst Century. 

Legislative Issues

I’m not going to try and summarize everything going on legislatively in the 2011 Legislative Session.  For that you should read the near-weekly LegLink legislative reports that VP Legislation Donna Egeland, WSIA Lobbying Coordinator Kathleen Collins, and WSIA Executive Director Dave Kaplan compile for your reference.  However, I am going to tell you that this is a very exciting time.  For the first time in years, employer community issues have received a hearing, and have major support from legislators on both sides of the political aisle.  The Governor’s Interim Work Group came to agreement on a statewide provider network, and expansion of the Centers of Occupational Health and Education (COHEs) statewide.  While not perfect, the proposal should help provide some level of accountability from attending providers, and should help ensure that the best practice standards are applied by all medical providers.  In addition, there is a real possibility that some version of Voluntary Settlement Agreements will become law.  We’re also hoping that the legislature will agree that it is important to at least study the results of the current occupational disease standard, to understand why we have been advocating to limit these conditions to those that are truly are caused by work exposures.  WSIA is advocating strongly for these changes, and we hope you will join all of our members in making phone calls, writing letters and emails to key legislators in helping to promote these proposals.

All of these changes and potential changes were requested by you, our members, and all are a direct result of the Washington Self-Insurers Association pressing for them on your behalf.  We feel we have a good, collaborative working relationship with the Self-Insurance Section, and hope that will lead to even more significant changes in the future.

If you ever have any questions or concerns about any issue, please don’t hesitate to contact myself, any of our Board members, or WSIA Executive Director Dave Kaplan.  With your support, there is much we have and will continue to achieve on behalf of our community.

Updated 4 April 2011

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