ARAWC Member Update

Association for Responsible Alternatives

to Workers' Compensation

MEMBER UPDATE

April 16, 2020

ARAWC BOARD MEETING & COVID-19 MEMBER UPDATES

The ARAWC Board and committees understand that COVID-19 raises many questions and challenges for employers and employees alike. We begin to address these – and a great new research study – in this latest edition of the ARAWC Member Update. The ARAWC Board will also meet today, April 16 to continue evaluating these issues and working hard to develop solutions and opportunities for nonsubscribers. Next week, ARAWC will begin a series of member-driven articles and webinars on COVID-19 and other topics specifically relevant to Texas injury benefit programs.

TEXAS SUPREME COURT TOLLS STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR CIVIL CASES

The Texas Supreme Court issued an emergency order on March 13, in response to a Texas-wide state of disaster related to COVID-19. This order extended all service and filing deadlines in civil cases until June 1.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATE

The ARAWC Government Relations team keeps a close eye on what is happening with Texas workers’ compensation and alternative injury benefit plans and also what other states are doing. In this issue of the Member Update, we highlight a movement toward expanding workers’ compensation coverage for workers who contract COVID19.

QCARE MEDIA CAMPAIGN

The media campaign for QCARE’s launch was a success and reached over 2.6 million Texans! The campaign included an op-ed in The Texas Tribune , an op-ed in The Houston Chronicle , Google ads, Facebook ads, social media posts on LinkedIn, promotion by WorkCompCentral.com , promotion by WorkersCompensation.com , a press release and extensive outreach to ARAWC members and prospects. Suffice to say, the QCARE launch reached a very large audience. We also announced a goal to bring QCARE protection to more than 400,000 employees in Texas by the end of 2020. We still have work to do, but are making excellent progress toward this goal!

LATEST RESEARCH ON TEXAS INJURY BENEFIT PROGRAM PERFORMANCE

A new research study from the University of Illinois in Chicago, supported by ARAWC member Sedgwick Institute, has recently been published with findings on employers that have switched from Texas workers’ compensation to an injury benefit program. Results indicate that total medical payments dropped by roughly 40 percent, which consisted of reductions in hospital spending, physician spending, and other medical spending. Similarly, indemnity payment and work loss also experienced significant reductions as a result of switching. Specifically, indemnity payments dropped by 70 percent and number of lost days dropped by 80 percent. Accumulating all sources of spending, the authors found that total expense associated with workplace injury fell by approximately 46% after switching to an injury benefit program. Click here for a good, new summary obtained by ARAWC. The full report was recently published in the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. Click here for free copy of the full report that was circulated in 2019 for academic discussion. This new research is great news supporting ARAWC and its member companies!

US DOL ANNOUNCES OSHA INTERIM ENFORCEMENT RESPONSE PLAN TO PROTECT WORKERS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) yesterday announced an interim enforcement response plan for the coronavirus pandemic. The response plan provides instructions and guidance to OSHA Area Offices and compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) for handling coronavirus-related complaints, referrals, and severe illness reports.

ARAWC COVID-19 WEBINAR

Plan to join us on Tuesday, April 28 at 2:00 PM Central for a webinar focused on Texas injury benefit program issues in light of COVID-19 presented by a panel of our ARAWC Members.

More details to come soon. Be on the look out!

EXPAND ARAWC MEMBERSHIP IN YOUR ORGANIZATION

Have colleagues who would like to receive these ARAWC member updates? Contact our membership department to have them added to our email list.

COVID-19 STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT REPORT

The ARAWC Government Relations Update above provides resources and information related to workers’ compensation and Texas injury benefit programs. For what’s happening on other fronts , Stateside has compiled a national report on state and local government actions in response to COVID-19. This report includes, but is not limited to, State Legislation and Executive Orders related to paid leave proposals, mandated business closures, appropriations for state responses to the outbreak and Executive actions such as the creation of task forces and declarations of emergency.

@ 2020 Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers' Compensation (ARAWC).