In March, 2008, the City of Alexandria City Council received a report outlining its efforts to reduce its costs to comply with the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act. The report is significant as it details the costs the City of Alexandria incurs each year. It was reported that Police Officers and Firefighters account for 71% of all City of Alexandria Workers Compensation claims. In 1997, there were 230 Workers’ Comp Claims, with the City paying approximately $627,000 in workers compensation benefits. In 2007, there were 221 injured City Workers, who received approximately $2,100,000 in Workers’ Compensation benefits.
The amount paid in medical expenses rose dramatically between 1998 and 2008. Likewise, the amount paid in wage benefits to the injured workers rose tremendously. What was troubling was the focus of the report which spoke of denying workers benefits instead of finding ways to contain costs.
City of Alexandria Fire Fighters and Police Officers are at high risk of developing heart and lung problems which are presumptively covered by Workers’ Compensation. The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act provides that the employer’s liability for public safety workers’ compensation claims is “presumption” based. This means that public safety workers’ compensation claims involving cardiovascular disease, lung disease, and certain types of cancer and infectious diseases (i.e. Hepatitis, Meningococcal Meningitis, Tuberculosis, or HIV) are required by law to be accepted by the employer as job related under Virginia law. It is difficult, if not impossible, for the public employer to rebut this presumption in most cases. Instead of finding ways to treat these ailments, the report outlines a pre-screening process to weed out job applicants with a predisposition for heart disease.
The report states: Since claims under the State’s Heart/Lung Presumption have the greatest potential for large costs, this is a prime area for creative loss avoidance. One possibility to be considered is additional pre-employment screening of Firefighters and Police Officers who are eligible for the Presumption (detailed cardio-pulmonary screening may identify candidates at-risk for circulatory or respiratory conditions prior to their being employed by the City). You would hope that your desire and training to serve the public might be sufficient to be an Alexandria Public Safety employee, but make sure you don’t have a family history of heart disease or high cholesterol.
The report also recommends that Alexandria City Risk Management work to enhance departmental investigation of workers’ compensation claims. Prompt investigation of alleged work-related injuries increases the ability to locate witnesses and to examine the circumstances of the incident. This facilitates prompt acceptance of valid claims, and the effective defense of claims that are not compensable. Unfortunately, while a claim is under investigation the injured worker will not receive the medical attention he or she needs, or the wage benefits needed to keep their families intact.
The report the the Alexandria City Council also mentions that “Risk Management will continue to encourage departments to report injuries promptly. Studies indicate that when a claim goes beyond seven days from date of injury to date reported, costs increase significantly and there is more potential for attorney involvement.” I assume that attorney involvement is bad thing as the City would have to pay more money in benefits, and therefore the Alexandria city employee might receive full compensation. Here is a link to the March 2008 report to the Alexandria City Council regarding The CIty of Alexandria’s effort to contain Workers’ Compensation Costs. march-2008-alexandria-city-workers-compensation-cost-containment
