Workers Comp CEO to speak at Safety Council Awards

Steve Buehrer, administrator/CEO of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, said the conversion to a prospective billing system for employers has "entered the active phase."

(The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For more than a year, the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation has been preparing private employers for major changes to the way these businesses pay their premiums.

Beginning July 1, businesses will be required to pay their Workers' Comp premiums in advance of receiving coverage. This means Ohio is switching to a prospective billing system. For more than a half-century, employers in the state have first received coverage, then retrospectively paid their premiums.

On May 29, BWC mailed a notice of an estimated annual premium to each of the 240,000 private employers in the state that pay Workers' Comp premiums.

"We have really entered the active phase to our conversion to prospective," said Steve Buehrer, BWC's administrator/CEO.

"This is not a bill that employers are getting, but it is going to be that first key document that will let them see what their payments are going to look like under the new system," he said.

The first bills won't be due until Aug. 31.

Despite the yearlong campaign to educate employers about the billing changes, in which BWC enlisted the help of local business groups, such as COSE, officials believe many employers may still have questions.

That is why BWC is continuing its education efforts, including:

Holding

Holding prospective billing webinars. For information,

Posting a FAQ on the BWC website at

Buehrer said the switch to prospective billing brings Ohio into line with how most insurance premiums are customarily paid.

"The biggest reason this change was never done before is that it would have required an employer to pay twice," he said. "You would have had to have paid your backward-looking bill and then your forward-looking bill."

The state is picking up these costs.

"Because of our strong financial position, we have the ability to do a transition credit that will ultimately be $1.2 billion - a pretty significant number of giving back to employers," Buehrer said. "Because of this transition credit, they will be able to make the transition without the double payment and see forgiveness of eight months of premiums."

He said the new system also gives employers the option of paying monthly, quarterly, twice a year or once a year.

Employers will also see lower bills as a result of the new billing system. The conversion alone is cutting premiums by 2.4 percent. Add in other factors, such as lower medical costs and fewer accidents, and the overall premium cut is 10.8 percent.

"It is part of a trend we are seeing here," Buehrer said. "Rates are 21 percent lower than 2011."