8/07/14 Tom Zobrist and Bill Abrams
8/14/14 John Beals and Dale Berry
8/21/14 Sally Beals and Pat Beckel
8/28/14 John Callander and James Briggs
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
7/31/14
Vice President Ron Hollenbeck, in the absence of President Vas Appalaneni and President-Elect Brad Thorp, opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance at noon at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace. Harvey Smith gave the prayer and Dick Hoback struck just the right note to start a resounding rendition of My Country Tis of Thee. Ron thanked Judy Budi and Ann Blackburn for serving as greeters at the meeting.
The guest at the meeting was our speaker, Erin Rosiello, Regional Business Development Manager for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Ron reminded members about the Aug. 1 meeting of the Pancake Breakfast's publicity committee. Any interested parties should contact Gerry Eastabrooks or Carol Kennard, co-chairs, to join in on the planning fun.
Ron said the board is looking into a place to hold the club’s holiday party in the evening so the high school group, Forte, can perform for the event (students are no longer able to leave school during the day).
Ron announced that Sept. 19 will be another day at Bob Evans for getting 15 percent back to the club from Bob Evans from the bills of everyone who eats there and presents a form indicating they're part of our fund-raising day at Bob Evans. It's a Friday, he said, and you can eat there any time from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. See you at Bob's....
HAPPY BUCKS:
Sergeant-at-Arms Erich Eggers collected money for Operation Warm and gave money for the group's singing Happy Birthday to honor the club's honorary member Irene Ullmer who was celebrating her 91st birthday this day. She was very appreciative of all the attention, as many members also gave a Happy Buck in honor of her birthday...Growing up as one of 15 children on a farm in Michigan, she sometimes got lost in the crowd, but felt really at home with the club members who proved once and again, how thoughtful and caring they are.
Carol Kennard gave one of her Happy Bucks for her daughter's safe move from Harlem to the Bronx, taking a subway at 2 a.m. after returning a rental U-Haul across town...she left out the part that her daughter's computer got stolen during the move, possibly by some maintenance men who "helped" out with the unloading at the new apartment. Live and learn, they say...as if we could ever learn enough....
Also, it should be noted that Cynthi Fraley took over the note taking for the Bulletin at the previous meeting in this editor's absence. She did a marvelous job of capturing and relaying the many details provided by the speaker. Her previous role as Bulletin editor and journalism training make her an excellent role model in how the job should be done. Thanks Cynthi...
SPEAKER: Erin Rosiello, Regional Business Development Manager for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation
As an ambassador for CEO/Administrator Steve Bushrer of the Ohio BWC, Erin Rosiello works with communities and businesses on workers’ compensation issues.
She helps organizations and individual employers understand BWC programs and services and demonstrates how those services can help employers improve workplace safety and reduce premium costs.
Erin has assisted employers in the private sector for more than 25 years. She has worked in business-to-business sales, generating revenue growth and driving marketing initiatives, and sales management and training. She has been recognized for being able to build, guide and sustain successful sales teams within highly competitive industries. She also has 20 years in radio, television and advertising, and eight years consulting Ohio employers on human resources issues such as workers’ comp, payroll processing, unemployment cost containment and HRIS systems.
She is a member of the Cincinnati East Side Rotary Club and the Greater Cincinnati Human Resource Association. She has a BA in business from Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio.
Erin’s presentation centered on a major change in when BWC insurance premiums will be paid by public and privage employers. The bureau has been six months behind other insurance companies each year because it has allowed businesses to pay in arrears, she said.
Starting in 2015, businesses will pay their premiums before they receive them. She called the move Prospective Billing. Payments for the new program, which will begin in July of 2015 for private employers (Jan. 1, 2016, for public employers), will have options, from paying monthly to annual payments.
The change will affect program enrollment from February to November, with an eight month transition credit, she said. Businesses will be credited for the first eight months of next year, from January to June, July and August, though businesses will still have to file payroll, she said.
Estimates for the premiums will be followed up a year later with actual numbers giving a “true up,” she said.
She noted that “Grow Ohio” is a BWC program that hopes to grow new businesses by giving them a 25 to 53 percent of premium discount for their first five years.
The BWC has been improving claims management and pharmaceutical management and stopping fraud, with $199 million in savings, Erin said.
She said the BWC will hold a Safety Congress in 2015 and 2016, dealing with issues regarding premiums and policies. The BWC makes available information on safety and hygiene and a general consultant to businesses for these matters. The consultant will give recommendations on how to improve safety and hygiene but “is not OSHA,” she said. The consultant is not there to demand changes, she said. There is a grant of up to $40,000 that can be acquired through the BWC to help out with such matters, she said.
The more precise details presented in Erin's speech can be found on the Ohio BWC's website at www.bwc.ohio.gov
Some of the details of that site follow:
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As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize our operations and provide better service to Ohio's employers, we will be transitioning to a new prospective billing system beginning in July 2015. Prospective billing is an insurance industry standard practice that will enable us to collect premiums before extending coverage. Currently, Ohio employers pay for coverage they have already received.
When will this transition happen?
- July 1, 2015: for private employers
- Jan. 1, 2016: for public employers
Transition credits to cover the cost
BWC will cover the $1.2 billion transition cost with transition credits for private and public employers. This means the switch from a retrospective billing system to a prospective billing system will come with no additional cost to Ohio employers.
In July 2015, we will provide an eight-month premium credit for all active (non-lapsed) private state-fund employers. This credit will cover the August 2015 payroll report (for January-June) and the first two months of the 2015 policy year.
For public employers, the plan is to provide the equivalent of a one-year transition credit in March 2016, when they receive their 2015 payroll report and 2016 invoice. The invoice will include a 50-percent credit for both the 2015 and 2016 premiums.
Rating plan and program deadline changes
In the near term, our switch to prospective billing also means we are making significant changes to the private employer sign-up dates for several rating plans and programs.
- Experience snapshot: Sept. 30
- The group-rating sign-up deadline is now the Monday prior to Thanksgiving (starting in 2014 for policy year 2015).
- The deadline for group-retrospective rating, individual-retrospective rating, the Deductible Program and One Claim Program is now the last business day of January.
- The deadline to sign up for Destination: Excellence programs is now the last business day of May.
Benefits of switching to prospective billing
As previously mentioned, switching to prospective billing brings us in line with the industry standard used by nearly all insurance providers. Other benefits of these changes include:
- An overall base-rate reduction of 2 percent for private employers and 4 percent for public employers;
- Opportunities for more flexible payment options (one, two, four, six or 12 installment payments);
- An increased ability for us to detect non-compliance and fraud, which can provide long-term savings.
If you have questions, please send an email to our prospective billing mailbox.
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Letters to employers
Letter to private employers - June 2014 (PDF)
Letter to public employers - June 2014 (PDF)
Letter to PEO clients - June 2014 (PDF)
Other resources
Overview sheet for private employers (PDF)
Fact sheet: Modernizing BWC - The plan to optimize the premium collection model(PDF)
Newsletter update article - June 2014 (PDF)
Prospective billing overview presentation (PDF)
Private employer timeline(PDF)
Public employer timeline (PDF)
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During its May 2013 meeting, the BWC Board of Directors authorized a $1 billion rebate for private employers and
public-taxing districts paying into Ohio’s workers’ compensation system. During June and July 2013, BWC issued
rebates to most of Ohio’s eligible employers. Each rebate equaled 56% of the employers’ annual premium (see below
for details).
Strong financial picture: The ability to provide employers with a rebate is a reflection of BWC’s
current overall financial strenght. BWC’s combined funds, including the State Insurance Fund that pays
for the care of Ohio’s injured workers, are in a strong position as a result of prudent management and a
careful, conservative investment strategy. At the time of the rebate, BWC had generated a three-year annual
return of 11.4 percent, far exceeding the expected 4 percent return. The result was net assets surpassing
$8 billion and a funding ratio far exceeding the target guidelines set by the BWC Board of Directors. The
three aspects of this plan are expected to move BWC’s net assets to within its funding ratio guidelines.
Eligibility: Private employers and public-taxing districts that pay premium into the State Insurance
Fund and have active, up-to-date policies will be eligible for the rebate. Each employer’s rebate will
reflect 56% of what they were billed during the last policy period (July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 for private
employers; January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 for public taxing districts).
To be eligible, private employers must have been in an active, reinstated, combined or debtor in
possession status as of April 1, 2013; public-taxing districts must have been in an active or reinstated status
as of March 31, 2013.
Employers with an outstanding BWC balance had their rebate first applied to that balance.
Employers who report through a Professional Employer Organization should have received their rebate
from their PEO, which is required to pass a portion of the rebate on to their members. Private employer
group retrospective participants will receive their rebate after their annual review this fall.
History of BWC rebates: Between 1996 and 2005, BWC issued multiple dividends or rebates for private
employers totaling $6.6 billion and an additional $1.4 billion for public-taxing districts. BWC last granted
a dividend for the first half of the July 1, 2004 policy year equal to 20 percent of premiums. The largest
dividend ever granted was 75 percent which reduced premiums by approximately $1.3 billion.
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