Our Services > Managing in-house health related risks
Managing in-house health related risks
Long term sickness absence is expensive for employers in terms of lost production, recruiting and training replacement staff and sick pay obligations. Professional absence management is a cost effective way of controlling this expense by objective assessment and pro-active claim management. It offers employers the opportunity to provide independent assessments of their employees who are sick and support in returning them to work as quickly as possible.
WHO WE ARE Health Claims Bureau has provided services to disability insurers for nearly 20 years and provides claim adjudication services to self insured Income Protection Schemes operated by UK employers for their employees. Our team is led by Mark Handford who has more than 25 years experience in the assessment of disability claims in the insurance industry. Mark is supported by a team of experienced assessors and Health Claims Consultants who are all qualified nurses or occupational therapists located throughout the UK. Our Chief Medical Officer is a Consultant Physician with many years of experience advising leading disability insurers. We have, in addition, a Medical Officer who is a General Practitioner who holds the Diploma in Disability Assessment Medicine.OUR SERVICES
We can provide complete management of disability claims from completion of the claim form, obtaining the necessary medical evidence, arranging any medical examination or other tests when appropriate and having the claim assessed and regularly reviewed by one of our experienced claim assessors with advice from our Medical Officers. We maintain close relationships with a range of service providers so that we can arrange medical examinations, functional capacity evaluations and a range of rehabilitation services with established and reliable providers. We believe that direct contact with disabled employees provides very valuable help in assessing claims and identifying work related issues that might be a barrier to a return to work. Our team of Health Claim Consultants are able to visit disabled employees in their homes to help with the completion of forms, assess motivation and to seek ways of helping the employee rehabilitate and return to work. When appropriate, they are able to produce and agree a return to work programme with both the employer and employee and then case manage the programme until a return to work has been achieved. The Bureau also has a separate division that can undertake covert surveillance in the small number of cases where this action is appropriate and necessary. We understand that each employer may want their claims managed differently to meet their own requirements. We pride ourselves on our flexibility and ability to provide a tailor made service to meet each individual client's needs. We work hard to provide an efficient service and ensure our client's are kept informed throughout. Our claims management system enables us to provide accurate statistics when we are managing a portfolio of claims for a client. Where appropriate we are happy to attend case conferences to discuss individual cases or the progress of a client's portfolio of claims. CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY All aspects of claim assessment/adjudication are undertaken in strict confidence and in accordance with current data protection legislation and medical confidentiality. Our office paper file and computer storage facilities are secure and regularly monitored. WHAT IT COSTS HCB charges a fee per case for the annual assessment of claims. The fee varies with the volume of cases and level of service provided. We are happy to discuss the options available and the associated cost with each client individually. The initial cost will usually include one of our Health Claims Consultants visiting the employee to gauge their motivation, set and manage their expectations and produce a comprehensive written report. Our prices do not include the costs of medical reports or other services such as medical examinations necessary to assess the claim. These are charged to the employer at cost. NEXT STEPS For further information please contact Mark Handford on 01235 750590 or at mhandford@hcbgroup.co.ukSome of our employer clients have decided to dispense with insurance and to carry the risk associated with long-term absence themselves by self-insuring in-house. We help them to manage all aspects of such cases, including:
· Claims adjudication. Deciding which claims meet the definition of
incapacity and are therefore valid
· Claims management. Regularly assessing an employee's ability to
return to work
· Devising and implementing rehabilitation strategies. Helping put in
place reasonable adjustments in order to meet legal responsibilities and
effect a speedy and safe return to work