UPMC WorkPartners Workers' Compensation Product Now Available in Central, Eastern Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The UPMC WorkPartners' workers' compensation product has expanded its reach and is now available to companies in central and eastern Pennsylvania.

The workers' compensation product is part of an expanding set of UPMC WorkPartners services aimed at providing health and productivity solutions to employers. These services include a commercial workers' compensation product as well as third-party administrator services. UPMC WorkPartners' commercial workers' compensation product first became available to western Pennsylvania businesses in 2010.

"In two years, UPMC WorkPartners has witnessed significant growth in its worker's compensation product," said David M. Weir, President of UPMC WorkPartners. "This is due to our commitment to strong, consistent underwriting, our effective claims management and loss control, our partnerships with producers and companies, and our broader health and productivity solutions.

"Now we are bringing these solutions to producers and companies across Pennsylvania."

UPMC WorkPartners, which is part of the UPMC Insurance Services Division, is known for its comprehensive network of resources that focus on individual employee health and well-being.  Its return-to-work and vocational experts, combined with its robust medical network, provide employers of all sizes with a strategic approach to absence management and workers' compensation, which results in better care and better outcomes. 

On average, Pennsylvania employer workers' compensation costs have increased since 2006 and were nearly $3 million in 2010. In its first year, UPMC WorkPartners' workers compensation product has had proven cost savings for the insured which resulted in a decrease in experience modification factors (which compares an employer's past loss experience to expected experience), and which ultimately reduced premiums.

UPMC WorkPartners has reduced durations on disability claims by an average of 10.6 calendar days per claim. That resulted in $6.6 million in direct savings for its short-term disability clients. In 2011, UPMC WorkPartners structured a return-to-work program for a client that resulted in opportunities to avoid additional costs of $2.7 million.

Distinguishing UPMC WorkPartners' workers' compensation product from other carriers is that it comes with guaranteed "high-touch" customer service. Workers compensation issues create complications for any employer and, that is why UPMC WorkPartners provides a consistent, reliable resource that employers can use whenever questions or problems arise. UPMC WorkPartners' worker's compensation product can achieve this because its worker's compensation product is backed by the medical expertise and resources of UPMC.

As part of this expansion, UPMC WorkPartners opened a fully staffed office in Philadelphia to provide onsite customer support in eastern and central Pennsylvania.

"With the success we have achieved in western Pennsylvania, we saw a lot of potential opportunities," said Patrick Haughey, Senior Director of Workers Compensation at UPMC WorkPartners.  "We have helped companies in western Pennsylvania reduce worker's compensation costs and we expect to do the same for customers in central and eastern Pennsylvania as well."

(For more information about UPMC Work Partners Commercial Workers Compensation program contact Patrick Haughey at [email protected].)

About UPMC WorkPartners
UPMC WorkPartners is part of the world-renowned UPMC global health enterprise. UPMC WorkPartners provides health and productivity solutions to high-performing companies throughout the United States. Its products and services are designed to identify an organization's health and productivity needs, build better strategies, effectively manage programs, and continually monitor and measure to drive the outcomes needed to control organizational costs and improve employee productivity.  UPMC WorkPartners experts deliver both tactical services that align with a company's existing health and productivity programs, and fully integrated comprehensive solutions designed to provide an organization with even greater results. For more information about UPMC WorkPartners, visit www.workpartners.com.

SOURCE UPMC WorkPartners