[February 28, 2011]

Midwest Employers Casualty Company Creates Healthcare Risk Management Practice

Midwest Employers Casualty Company (MECC), the leading workers' compensation excess insurance company that helps clients to manage their total cost of risk, today announced the launch of a Healthcare Risk Management Practice. From significant cost savings to better employee safety and retention, healthcare clients can now reap the benefits of MECC's unique, dedicated service to implement best practice programs.

MECC created the Healthcare Risk Management Practice in recognition of the potentially devastating consequences that injuries on the job can pose within healthcare organizations. It is estimated that an organization loses operating revenue at a rate of four to 10 times the direct costs of a work-related injury. And it costs about one and one-half times an employee's annual salary to replace that employee. The purpose of MECC's practice is to assist clients in reducing costs associated with work-related accidents. Several customers piloted the program so that MECC could identify their unique needs and develop a successful program.

"Midwest Employers provided the tools, technology, and human capital that really helped us launch our safe patient handling program," said Kris Hamann, Administrator of WC Programs, Essentia Health. "The program has achieved a 75 percent reduction in patient handling incidents which equates to approximately $1 million in savings. We likely would not have achieved the results we are seeing without their efforts. This initiative has certainly had a positive impact on our employees and our ability to provide quality healthcare to the community that we serve."

MECC's Healthcare Risk Management Practice designs and implements a wide variety of best practice programs, inluding developing transitional duty return to work procedures, addressing sharps/needle stick incidents or combative patients, reducing slips, trips and falls, a safe patient handling program and more.

"Healthcare organizations are realizing that in order to provide quality patient care, they must first take care of their own staff, particularly those that deliver patient care," said Darrell Toenjes, Healthcare Practice leader at MECC. "Safe patient handling and movement programs are among those that can have the greatest and most immediate impact."

A recent Federation of Nurses & Health Professional survey indicates that 56 percent of nurses said they are considering leaving the profession due to fear that they may experience a disabling on-the-job injury. MECC's Healthcare Risk Management Practice offers services in addition to program design and implementation, from access to hundreds of training resources online to benchmarking reports, online seminars and on-site training.

"When Baptist Memorial Health Care decided to enhance our existing safety program, Midwest Employers was there to help," said Barry Wolfe, Human Resources Director, Baptist Memorial Health Care. "The amount of data and information they shared with us was phenomenal, and we were able to compare our experience to national benchmarks at the onset."

MECC's Healthcare Risk Management Practice is available to create best practices programs for the company's healthcare clients.

"MECC is the only workers' compensation excess insurance company that offers a client services division, and our division has over 20 people in it," said Steve Link, executive vice president at Midwest Employers Casualty Company. "Having a Healthcare Risk Management Practice within client services is our way of showing healthcare clients that we really care about helping healthcare companies build and improve their programs, and we are invested in fostering happier employees and a safer work environment for our clients."

For more information on MECC's Healthcare Risk Management Practice, contact Renée Lunceford at 1.877.WRK.COMP or [email protected].

About Midwest Employers Casualty Company

MECC is focused on bringing more than insurance to its clients - it is focused on providing solutions to clients that help them manage their Total Cost of Risk. MECC provides services bundled with insurance coverage to help clients achieve best practice performance and improve their bottom line.

Since its formation in 1986, MECC has focused exclusively on providing workers' compensation excess insurance products to individual employers and groups across the country. For more information on MECC visit our website at www.mwecc.com and sign up to receive the monthly MECC Self-Insurance Bulletin. MECC is a member company of W.R. Berkley Corporation.

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