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Sun City West committee hears workers’ compensation renewal briefing; officials say claims trending down
Summary
The Budget and Finance Committee heard a workers’ compensation renewal overview from Marsh McLennan and HR staff showing a high experience modification tied to 2022 claims but improving loss ratios and fewer indemnity claims; staff and the insurer recommended continued proactive claims handling and quarterly reporting.
The Recreation Centers of Sun City West Budget and Finance Committee on March 4 heard a presentation on the association’s workers’ compensation renewal from Brian Wilder, principal at Marsh McLennan, and Kirsten Peterson, head of human resources.
Wilder told the committee the program had a difficult claim year in 2022 that is still affecting the association’s experience modification (eMod), the industry metric used to calculate premium. “Let me just say that it is improving,” Wilder said, adding the current eMod is 1.77 and — assuming current trends continue — could fall to about 1.5 next year and below 0.8 once 2022 drops out of the three‑year eMod window (projected in the 2027 timeframe).
The presentation explained that the experience modification is largely driven by actual losses versus expected losses and is administered by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). Wilder and staff showed a falling loss ratio after the spike in 2022 and said indemnity (lost‑time) claims have declined: seven indemnity claims in 2022, three in 2023 and one in 2024 to date. The association’s worker‑comp insurer is CopperPoint.
Peterson said human resources is expanding its safety focus to help reduce future claims. “We have made that a full time position,” she said of the safety coordinator role; the full‑time coordinator will work with HR, operations and the insurance partners on incident investigation, employee education and return‑to‑work accommodations.
Wilder described the association’s current mitigation and cost‑control strategies: proactive claims handling with the carrier and agent, quarterly claim reviews for higher‑cost claims, risk control site visits with CopperPoint, employee education (in person and online), nurse triage and a transitional‑duty program to return employees to work sooner.
Committee members asked which factors are within the association’s control. Wilder said payroll, class codes and the NCCI formula are largely outside local control; the principal local levers are the experience modification and a 5% credit for an alcohol‑ and drug‑free workplace program that the association currently maintains. Committee members requested that staff provide periodic updates of loss‑ratio tracking so the budget committee and governing board can monitor progress before next year’s renewal.
No formal action or vote on the renewal was recorded at the meeting; the item was presented for review and committee questions.
