Newsletter Winter 2012

The Illinois Compensation Trust (ICT) welcomes Harrisburg Medical Center as its newest member, joining nearly 100 Illinois health care organizations that secure their workers' compensation coverage through ICT.

"The cornerstone of ICT's success is its ability to meld best practices for safety and risk management with early and aggressive claims intervention to reduce overall workers' compensation costs," explains Michael Baiardo, Assistant Vice President, IRMS Workers' Compensation. "ICT members continually strive to improve their safety and loss control programs, and they work together to achieve that goal."

Members with favorable performance under the program have the ability to earn dividends. ICT has consistently declared dividends every year since 1982. Since its inception, more than $59 million in dividends have been awarded to ICT members.

Founded in 1979, ICT is a hospital-owned first-dollar workers' compensation trust that combines the benefits of self-insurance with the advantages of a pooled program.

Learn more about the full array of workers' compensation services available to your organization by clicking here or calling 630.276.5872.

WHAT'S NEW

I N F O R M A T I C S

COMPdata Expands Its Outpatient Data

Recognizing the increasing trend toward outpatient care, COMPdata will expand its reporting capabilities to include more outpatient data. This will enable hospitals to analyze outpatient visits, such as imaging and diagnostic services, with data that is already available, resulting in a more comprehensive view of the market. COMPdata currently provides data related to inpatient, emergency department, observation care, and outpatient surgical care. Continue reading

G R O U P P U R C H A S I N G

Newest IPC Member Exceeds Savings Goal

Within the first six months of joining IHA's group purchasing program, Norwegian American Hospital reported implemented savings of more than $300,000, mainly in the areas of laboratory, imaging, and cardiology, exceeding their target by 50%. Norwegian, a 200-bed, acute care hospital in Chicago, joined the Illinois Purchasing Collaborative (IPC) in May 2011.

"Financial stability was one of five specific areas I wanted to concentrate on when I took the reins at Norwegian American," said Norwegian's President and CEO José R. Sánchez. Continue reading

I N S U R A N C E S O L U T I O N S

IPT Adds Cyber Coverage Enhancement

In this digital age, all business sectors face cyber liability risks on a daily basis, and health care is no exception. Evolving to meet its members' needs, Illinois Provider Trust (IPT), which has successfully provided medical professional and general liability coverage to hospitals for more than 30 years, recently added cyber liability as a coverage enhancement for 2012.

Cyber threats can originate from many sources. Some of the most common sources are not surprising: computer hackers,...Continue reading

Why You Need an Actuary on Your Speed Dial

Ok, admit it. You don't have an actuary on your speed dial. You may not even have an actuary on your contact list. You're also probably wondering why you would ever need one.

An actuary's job is to measure the amount of risk you have not insured. While at first glance you may assume that all of your risks are insured, if your coverage is claims-made, or if you have a deductible or a self-insured retention, you have an uninsured liability. Continue reading

I N D U S T R Y N E W S

Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care sector continued to add jobs last December (23,000+) with employment in hospitals increasing by 10,000. Throughout 2011, health care employment rose by 315,000. Despite a difficult economy, hospitals continue to be one of the nation's few growing economic engines.

Patients as Care Consumers.

American Medical News reports that patients are losing interest in finding information about their health care. While visits to physicians from 2007 to 2010 fell by 4%, the percentage of adults seeking personal health information decreased from 55.5% to 50% over this period. Another disturbing finding shows that one in five patients has delayed or canceled a doctor visit, medical test or procedure in the past year because of the economy. As patients stay away from physicians due to cost concerns, they may be losing interest in their overall health.

Regulatory Challenges.

According to HealthLeaders Media, the top 10 daunting challenges facing health care organizations today, based on whether compliance would be either "difficult" or "very difficult," are:

1. ICD-10 compliance (67%)

2. The overall effects of the
Patient Protection & Affordable
Care Act (66%)

3. Medicaid (56%)

4. HITECH meaningful use (52%)

5. Medicare (48%)

6. Value-based purchasing
(44%)

7. Patient satisfaction--HCAHPS
(33%)

8. HIPAA (30%)

9. Legal issues--antitrust, Stark
(25%)

10. IRS Form 990 (23%)