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High-performing workers compensation claims organizations use predictive modeling eight times more frequently than firms with less success in closing claims, according to recent research on a practice that experts say has grown swiftly over the past decade. “I think we are at a tipping point, at least in terms of using predictive analytics to improve claims management and claims practices,”…

A government corruption watchdog group has voiced its support for efforts to move Chicago's workers' compensation program out from under the control of a powerful city alderman. "Chicago is the only major city to pay injured workers out of its legislative body," Rachel Leven, policy manager at the Better Government Association, wrote in Crain's Chicago Business this week. "The way…

The owner of a trucking company that contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to help distribute mail was charged with pocketing more than $1.9 million by requesting reimbursement for workers’ compensation coverage that he never purchased, Illinois’ top law enforcement official announced. Keith A. Ratcliff, 53, faces three felony counts of theft, one count of mail fraud and one count…

It could be a David versus Goliath legal battle. A longtime political gadfly and a city worker are suing Mayor Rahm Emanuel and powerful Ald. Ed Burke in federal court. Burke, the longtime Finance Committee chairman, controls the city’s controversial and obscure $100 million workers’ compensation program, which has come under scrutiny for years. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend…

The Illinois Policy Institute says that the city of Belleville, Illinois, has spent $420,000 settling workers’ compensation claims by employees this year, with much of that money going to workers who returned to their jobs the day after the injury. The Policy Institute, which advocates for more business friendly public policies, reported that Belleville pays for workers’ compensation settlements of…

Who decides what to pay city staffers after on-the-job injuries? It’s the Finance Committee of the City Council. And, as virtually everyone knows, it shouldn’t be. Pop quiz: Who manages the annual expenditure of more than $100 million to approve and compensate city workers for on-the-job injuries? Is it the head of human resources? Nope. Maybe the city’s top lawyer?…