WC insurer offers rebate for safe sharps
WC insurer offers rebate for safe sharps
Cost deducted from premium in Maryland
Cost is no longer a barrier to purchasing safer needle devices for some hospitals in Maryland. The Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund (IWIF), a workers’ compensation insurer based in Towson, MD, is offering premium rebates for hospitals that use safety devices.
The hospitals can receive a credit of up to 5% of their policy premium for as much as 100% of their costs for the devices, says Tom Cleary, IWIF executive vice president of corporate services.
"We have a form that’s attached to the policy. All they need to do is to provide us with a copy of the invoice to reflect the safer sharps, and we’ll credit their policy," he says.
The program drew kudos from Bill Borwegen, MPH, occupational health and safety director for the Washington, DC-based Service Employees International Union (SEIU). "I think this workers’ comp company in Maryland should be applauded for [its] leadership and [its] concern for policy holders and employers," he says. "It would be great to see more workers’ comp companies become more interested in prevention."
The IWIF Safer Sharps Credit Program was the brainchild of CEO Preston Williams, a diabetic. "He always found it intriguing that an insurer hadn’t offered the program before," Cleary says.
Despite the passage of the Needlestick Prevention and Safety Act and the revision of OSHA’s bloodborne pathogen standard, many health care facilities haven’t yet converted, he says. "This is an enticement to get them to do so."
IWIF also expects to save money with the policy. Cleary notes that each needlestick costs the insurer $3,000 to $5,000 in testing, lost wages, and other costs. The potential cost of a seroconversion to HIV or hepatitis C would be astronomically higher, he notes.
Cleary says he’s not aware of any other insurers offering financial incentives for safer sharps. In Columbia, SC, the Palmetto Hospital Trust, a self-insurance pool that covers 65 acute care hospitals as well as other health care facilities, adopted underwriting guidelines requiring members to implement a "sharps injury prevention program." (See Hospital Employee Health, March 2000, p. 32.)
Insurers also have offered rebates or incentives for hospitals that implement ergonomics programs with lift equipment. (See HEH, April 2001, p. 42.)
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