About BusinessWorks

Lifetime Health Delivers Cost Saving Solutions for Workers' Comp

BusinessWorks^sm Can Improve Efficiency and Reduce Expense of Workers' Compensation

NEWS RELEASE - October 2, 2006

ROCHESTER, NY - Lifetime Health Medical Group has introduced BusinessWorkssm, a program that brings an integrated managed care approach to workers' compensation. The model has proven to reduce lost time and wages and increase productivity for employers. It also relieves employees injured on the job of the stress of managing their own care - while getting them back to work sooner. BusinessWorks is a preferred provider organization (PPO) which oversees an employee for 30 days, allowing immediate medical management of the case. Injured employees are assigned a certified nurse case manager who oversees all aspects of the patient's care, from scheduling doctor's appointments and speeding approvals to communicating with the employer and finding alternate work assignments.

The program is geared to large employers who self-fund workers' comp claims. Under the BusinessWorks model, employers directly share savings achieved at the end of each year.

According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, New York now has the highest workers' compensation costs in the nation with an average of $19,727 in claims per person. In addition, the Business Council of New York State, Inc. reported that 34 percent of employers surveyed statewide in 2004 said that they would consider relocating out of the state because of workers' compensation costs.

"It is imperative that New York businesses have available methods to reduce workers' comp costs, and BusinessWorks is a viable way to do so," says Arthur Orlick, MD, chief medical officer and operating officer, Lifetime Health Medical Group. "Our model has proven to reduce medical and indemnity costs for employers."

Workers' CompChoice, the predecessor to BusinessWorks, successfully operated in the Rochester area for 10 years and helped thousands of employees get back to health and to work after work-related injury.

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a BusinessWorks client dating back to Workers' CompChoice. As a result of the combined partnership between RIT's risk management efforts and the case management efforts of BusinessWorks, RIT has experienced an aggregate reduction in lost work days of more than 70 percent and a 50 percent savings in medical and indemnity costs compared to the benchmark costs of comparable injuries within New York State. An analysis conducted by RIT's excess workers' comp insurance carrier anticipated the college would ultimately incur significantly less total direct losses than their composite benchmark for the period evaluated - the carrier noted RIT was performing 51 percent better than benchmark and 18 percent better than best practice.

"I'm amazed at the number of employers out there who haven't tried this yet because it has totally turned our program around," says Sue Quinn, a benefits specialist at RIT. "The best part is the case manager. The focus is on getting injured employees the care they need as soon as they are injured, and getting them back to work." The certified nurse case managers working for the program have a combined experience of more than 40 years.

In BusinessWorks' model, the case manager serves as a single point of contact among employees, employers and insurers. "We are the people connecting all the dots," says Marsha Fitzgerald, RN, COHN-S/CM, program administrator/director, adding the relationship between case managers and injured workers reduces a great deal of confusion that is commonly associated with workers' compensation.

According to Fitzgerald, case managers help people beyond their physical injuries. She cites one client who was especially distraught because he was the primary caregiver for his terminally ill wife and could not properly care for her because of his injury. The employee's case manager connected him with another person who could arrange home care and home visits for his wife, so he was able to focus on recovering.

BusinessWorks helps businesses by forming an immediate contact between injured workers and quality physicians in the community for prompt medical care. "Employees who use the program get access to medical care with practically no wait time," says Fitzgerald.

Employer clients access real-time information about their injured employees and the treatments they have received through a unique Web-based tool, giving the employer the ability to anticipate when the injured employee may be able to return to work. Reports are generated to show a company what types of injuries are prevalent and how often they occur in the organization. Wellness programs are available to address medical trends and reduce the possibility of future incidents.

In addition to clinical case managers, several other Lifetime Health Medical Group staff support the program. Medical oversight is provided by a Medical Director. The team of case managers is located at the Wilson Health Center on Carter Street in Rochester. Additional staff, including a Director of Sales, is located in Buffalo. The effort to expand the program in Rochester and launch it in Buffalo is now underway.

Lifetime Health Medical Group provides primary healthcare for more than 100,000 patients in Buffalo and Rochester. In Rochester, Lifetime Health Medical Group operates four health centers including the: Joseph C. Wilson Health Center (800 Carter Street), Marion B. Folsom Health Center (1850 Brighton-Henrietta Town Line Road), Greece Health Center (470 Long Pond Road), and Perinton Health Center (77 Sully's Trail). A variety of services are offered at each health center and most sites include pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, internal medicine, pediatrics, family practice, and specialty care. Lifetime Health Medical Group also offers a family practice for the deaf, dermatology, several private physician offices, and urgent care.