Ravenna – Portage County government has seen a significant savings in its Workers Compensation premiums with the semi-annual premium changes released recently by the state. The Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation issued premium updates that resulted in a decrease in premiums for Portage County of $291,012, with the new premium being $753,006, Commissioners announced.
In the last update released last July, the county had seen a decrease of $266,040, also a significant savings over the originally- stated premium then of $1,310.060.
“This is really good news for us,” President of the Board of Commissioners Chris Smeiles told county Safety and Loss Control Coordinator Michelle Ripley when the Board received the report.
Commissioner Maureen Frederick noted that this is due to a partnership between the county Safety and Loss Control Coordinator’s efforts at reducing claims and the county’s managed care organization, University Hospitals Comp Care, which provides claims processing and case management. Commissioner Tommie Jo Marsilio congratulated the Safety and Loss Control Coordinator for her work on this program.
“Aggressive (in-house) claims management in conjunction with claims processing and case management are important factors; however, the implementation of Transitional Work and Injury Reduction programs have a significant contribution to the success of premium reductions for Portage County”, Ms. Ripley said.
