In September 2011, the City of Pasadena contracted with Keenan and Associates to provide third party administration of the City’s workers’ compensation claims. The contract term with Keenan expires on June 30, 2016: Consequently; staff prepared and issued a new Request for Proposals in February,2016. A total of nine responses were received by the deadline of February 29, 2016. AdniinSure was chosen as the successor administrator for contract award.

As part of the City Counsel review of the proposed new award, Richard F. Kunz, Human Resources Manager for Employee Relations, Workers’ Compensation and Safety, recently provided details on the workers’ compensation program in a document as reported by Pasadena Now. He was responding to queries from the City Council during its regular meeting on May 9.

He reported that a single vendor contracted by Pasadena’s Human Resources Department has managed to save the city close to $925,000 on medical billings for worker’s compensation claims during the 2016 fiscal year. The vendor charged the city just $11,260.

A bill review service that looks at every bill received from a service provider to determine that all invoices are not only necessary and appropriate but that the City also receives the lowest medical costs possible for the services provided. The bill review service is currently being provided by Lien on Me, which in fiscal year 2016 has so far reviewed 890 bills has saved the City up to $924,721 in billed costs. The amount is 76 percent of total provider charges – out of $1,210,880 total provider charges submitted to the city, the city only paid $286,159 after Lien on Me reviewed the bills.

The city paid Lien on Me just $11,260 for bill review services for the current fiscal year.

The third vendor that’s helping reduce costs for the human resources department is a Nurse Case Management company, ISYS Solutions Inc., that supervises and manages medical services as needed when the city believes cases are not receiving sufficient attention by service providers.

ISYS is paid as a provider through individual claims.

Kunz also reported on the city’s Return to Work Program, where city employees with temporary work restrictions – either illness or injury – are assigned to modified or alternative work assignments, instead of not working at all and collecting temporary disability benefits.

Through the program, the city’s temporary disability costs are reduced and employees continue to be engaged in productive work as they recover from their illness or injury.

Sixty-nine employees have served in modified assignments so far in fiscal year 2016, with an estimated 163 days of lost work time recovered.