Workers Compensation – Backoffice Process Improvements

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

Risk Management – Workers’ Compensation Division administers all aspects of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act for 20,000 Cook County employees. Our goals for this program are to manage the financial resources of the County and to resolve claims in a timely fashion. In trying to meet these goals, the greatest operational challenges in workers’ compensation claims administration involve payment processing. In 2019, this office issued 47,000 non-indemnity payments via US mail. Challenges with this volume of payment handling resulted in returned checks, multiple inquiries from medical providers and claimants, and inconsistent system reporting.Internal process improvements and the ability to leverage a vendor partner resulted in:• Reduced payment issuance time;• Reduced in-house vendor payment volume and clerical tasks, allowing staff to focus on more essential activities;• More standardized, granular, and transparent cost reporting.