HISTORY
- Workers' compensation was designed more than 100 years ago to provide medical care and wage replacement to injured workers
- The system serves it general purpose, but has limitations
- Many medical providers will not accept workers' compensation patients
- Workers' compensation requires an "act of congress" in each state, in order to make changes. Accordingly, this creates some delay and limits ability to implement marketplace 'best practices":
- A tangible example of this delay example would be that almost half of all states do not use drug formularies for workers' compensation, despite their widespread acceptance for two decades in group health
There are some who believe traditional workers’ compensation programs have lost their original intent and moved toward entitlement programs. Consequently, there is now expanded interest in alternatives to traditional workers’ compensation or “Options” which have many advantages for employees and employers, and restore a sense of engagement and balance to the system.
TIMELINE
1911 - Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire. Need for employee care becomes paramount
1911 - First workers' comp programs implemented in US slowly move state by state, across the US - first on voluntary basis, then mandatory
1948 - Mississippi last state to implement workers' comp program
1974 - Following the development of employee benefit industry ERISA enacted to provide protections to employees - workers' comp is mandatory in almost all states by this time (but not Texas)
Late 1980's - The Texas Option begins in earnest: employers begin to "opt-out" of workers' comp in Texas and Occupational ERISA benefit programs are developed
1994 - PartnerSource is formed
2004 - PartnerSource first Fortune 100 client
2006 - Texas Alliance of Nonsubscribers (TAN) formed
2009 - PartnerSource named a "Best Small Employer to work for in Texas"
2011 - PartnerSource announces that by focusing on employee care, its clients have collectively exceeded $1 billion in savings by nonsubscribing from Texas workers' comp
2013 - Option to workers' comp passes in Oklahoma
2014 - Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers Compensation (ARAWC) formed as interest grows in other states
2016 - Oklahoma Option ceases. ARAWC releases Oklahoma Option Performance Report, and PartnerSource releases actuarial confirmation of Texas Option performance
2017 - PartnerSource and WorkComp Central published Special Report, "Texas Nonsubscriber Option Providing Better Disability Benefits?"
2018 - PartnerSource leads industry compliance with new Disability Regulations
2019 - PartnerSource celebrates 25 years of Innovation, Insight & Care