Glenn Hansen

MultiCare Health System
President, WSIA

Last month, I wrote in part about the Department’s efforts to improve the methodology for wage calculations.  The Department has finished the draft and is getting together a group of self insurers including those with some of the more complex wage figures such as retail, healthcare, trucking, and construction.  There is a hope that this group can produce a product acceptable to the community that will resolve some long standing issues with wage calculations.

The SIEDRS reports are out.  We have asked the Department to provide some comparative data for the State Fund so we can measure our success.  The Department is putting together a list of data they capture that is comparable to the data we are reporting.  When that list is available, we should be able to have discussions about comparative performance. 

On November 2nd, the first Self Insurance-Department of Labor & Industries colloquium was held.  The program, a joint effort between State Fund and Self-Insurers, included speakers from the Department and Self-Insured employers on best medical practices and outcomes.   We will continue to look for ways to collaborate with the Department to produce the best medical outcomes for our workers by eliminating waste in the process and using evidence based medicine.

The Ombudsman’s report has been released so be sure to take a look at it.  Several of our members have raised concerns about different issues either with the report or with their experience compared with the report.  We are encouraged to let Denise McKay know our concerns and will continue meeting with her to go over those.  If you have examples, please report them to WSIA. 

Continuing education rules are moving forward and we hope to see changes in the near future.  Specifically, the Department has agreed to remove the silos from credits and call them all “Claims” credits.  This will keep the same number of credits, but eliminate the separate categories for Medical, Legal, and Claims.  The Department also estimates that they will begin testing the CEU computerized tracking system in about 10 months. 

Lastly, there is going to be a work group focused on investigating and solving the pension problem in our state.  The group will include members of the self-insurance community, labor and the trial lawyers.  Judy Schurke will facilitate the meetings.  If you have suggestions or ideas to pass on to the group, these can be submitted to WSIA and we will make sure they get to the group.

How can you help?  Be a voice for our community.  Do you know what our legislative priorities are?  If not, find out.  If you want meaningful reform, get out there and talk to your legislators.  Attend Legislative Committee meetings to hear and support our agenda.  The next meeting is 12/11/09.

As President this year, I want to hear your thoughts and concerns.  What are we doing right?  What could improve?  Please don’t hesitate to contact me at glenn.hansen@multicare.org to let me know your thoughts.

Updated 5 November 2009

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