Ohio Workers Comp Appointment

May 31st, 2007 Posted by Amelia

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland recently made three cabinet appointments, including the appointment of Marsha Ryan as administrator of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, or BWC.

Ryan, who is 56 years old, will begin her duties as head of the Ohio Workers Comp bureau on May 1, 2007. “With her professionalism and years of experience, I believe that Marsha will carry out the bureau’s important obligations efficiently and effectively,” Strickland said.

Readers may recall that the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has been criticized lately for inappropriate management of funds, and a lack of oversight. The bureau underwrites insurance coverage for work-related injuries and illnesses for public and private sector employers conducting business in Ohio. It oversees the workers’ compensation programs for self-insured employers, as well.

Marsha Ryan has held a number of executive positions in government, marketing, customer service and operations. She is currently Vice President of Customer Operations at American Electric Power (AEP). Ryan has been with AEP since 1990, including two years as President and COO of Indiana Michigan Power.

Ryan also has experience in public service including positions involving consumer protection, customer service and regulation. She has worked at the Ohio Dept. of Commerce, the Office of the Attorney General, the Public Utilities Commission, and the Consumers’ Counsel. She has been a director of the State Auto Mutual Insurance since 2002. Previously, Ryan was also vice-chair of the Franklin University Board of Trustees and she served on the advisory board for US Bank, as well as a number of non-profit and civic boards.

“I look forward to working with Governor Strickland to reform the governing and oversight structures at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and to instill in Ohioans a renewed sense of trust in the bureau’s duties,” Ryan said. As administrator of the BWC, Ryan will earn an annual salary of $196,019. 

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Ohio Workers Comp Changes

May 31st, 2007 Posted by Amelia

Big changes are afoot at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the state agency that oversees Ohio workers comp benefits. And, they start with a budget to make sweeping changes. In presenting this year’s budget for the bureau, Governor Strickland indicated that they would include significant reforms of the way the bureau is governed. Big changes are also expected in the oversight structure of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

“We must rebuild trust and accountability in the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, and this budget will allow us to reform the Bureau,” Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said recently. “To be successful, we must ensure integrity, professionalism and efficiency in the BWC system.”

The total recommended budget for the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 is $328.9 million and $329.2 million respectively. The bureau underwrites insurance coverage for work-related injuries and illnesses for public and private sector employers conducting business in Ohio. It also oversees the workers’ compensation programs for self-insured employers.

Under the new budget, Governor Strickland will replace the current Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Oversight Commission. The Commission primarily has advice and consent powers. Instead, the Governor will create an independent, external board of directors. The independent board will act as the primary fiduciary of the fund and will be held accountable for all decisions and operations.

The independent board of directors will consist of 15 members, including business and labor representatives, and financial experts. Four of those members will be members or appointees of the state legislature, who will be non-voting board members. The governor will appoint the 11 non-legislative members of the board.

“The board members will exemplify the professionalism and broad expertise needed to run BWC with sound judgment and without influence from special interests,” Strickland said. “The board’s oversight powers will span the entire BWC, ensuring comprehensive review of all practices and providing the checks and balances necessary to effectively run the Bureau.”

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is the largest exclusive state-funded workers’ compensation system in the United States, with more than $19 billion in assets.  

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Ohio Workers Comp

March 26th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

Big changes are afoot at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the state agency that oversees Ohio workers comp benefits. And, they start with a budget to make sweeping changes. In presenting this year’s budget for the bureau, Governor Strickland indicated that they would include significant reforms of the way the bureau is governed. Big changes are also expected in the oversight structure of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

“We must rebuild trust and accountability in the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, and this budget will allow us to reform the Bureau,” Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said recently. “To be successful, we must ensure integrity, professionalism and efficiency in the BWC system.”

The total recommended budget for the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 is $328.9 million and $329.2 million respectively. The bureau underwrites insurance coverage for work-related injuries and illnesses for public and private sector employers conducting business in Ohio. It also oversees the workers’ compensation programs for self-insured employers.

Under the new budget, Governor Strickland will replace the current Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Oversight Commission. The Commission primarily has advice and consent powers. Instead, the Governor will create an independent, external board of directors. The independent board will act as the primary fiduciary of the fund and will be held accountable for all decisions and operations.

The independent board of directors will consist of 15 members, including business and labor representatives, and financial experts. Four of those members will be members or appointees of the state legislature, who will be non-voting board members. The governor will appoint the 11 non-legislative members of the board.

“The board members will exemplify the professionalism and broad expertise needed to run BWC with sound judgment and without influence from special interests,” Strickland said. “The board’s oversight powers will span the entire BWC, ensuring comprehensive review of all practices and providing the checks and balances necessary to effectively run the Bureau.”

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is the largest exclusive state-funded workers’ compensation system in the United States, with more than $19 billion in assets.

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Ohio Injury Reporting for Workers� Comp

December 11th, 2006 Posted by Mark

The Ohio state Bureau of Workers’ Comp has made injury reporting a 21st century type of reporting. They have taken the paperwork out of it for employees and employers who have gone completely digital, or who want to. That is because the traditional first report of injury form in the state of Ohio, the First Report of an Injury, Occupational Disease or Death, can now be accessed online.

One of the reasons that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp did this was to make it easier on both the employee and the employer. It can be a hard task for any employer especially to stay ahead of the paper chase and make sure that they have completed all the proper forms when one of your employees goes down with an injury. What’s more, it can be even more difficult to keep track of all these documents for when they may be needed during the claims process down the road.

So the state of Ohio has made it easy to file the first report of injury on the Web. The employee just needs to be able to access the World Wide Web and go to the site of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp. They must do this as soon as possible after their injury, a time frame which of course depends on how bad of an injury it was.

Employees can even also go online to file an Authorization to Release Medical Information form. In both cases, with the Authorization to Release Medical Information form and the First Report of an Injury, Occupational Disease or Death form, the worker and you the employer can rest assured that the state is doing its best to protect your information and privacy online so that hackers and thieves do not get their hands on it.

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Ohio Workers� Comp Compensation

December 2nd, 2006 Posted by Mark

Ohio is no different than other states that we’ve looked at. Like other states, it has a workers’ comp system with its own unique rules and regulations on which employers need to have the coverage, and how they go about getting this coverage. In the case of Ohio, they require all employers to have an active workers’ compensation insurance program in place.

Then again, as we have seen in many states, sometimes the term “employees” does not include the boss. So if you own your own business in Ohio and are you’re only employee, then you don’t necessarily have to have workers’ comp. The same is true for partners in a partnership and the people who are incorporated into a corporation. Such an instance would be a family farm, where all of the family members are incorporated into the business and thus the head of the family isn’t forced to get all of his relatives workers’ comp.

Why would somebody though not want to have workers’ comp? You would think they would want that protection in case they or one of their business partners or family members got hurt. Then all the medical bills and lost time wages would be covered. But then again, if you have a workers’ comp policy with the state of Ohio, you then have to report all of these people’s wages, yours included, and pay a premium based on that wage. And business owners may pay themselves pretty well, so imagine that their insurance premium for workers’ comp would be pretty high.

Also interesting about Ohio is the fact that the whole system is run by the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, or BWC. So when an employer files to get workers’ comp coverage. They are actually applying to the BWC and the state of Ohio itself.

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