Recent enhancements to the University of Georgia’s workers’ compensation program have enabled injured UGA employees to return to work faster and healthier through a more streamlined process.
In Fall 2024, the university centralized the workers’ compensation claims process in Insurance & Claims Management (ICM) — part of the university’s Risk and Resiliency Division.
ICM Risk Coordinator Dayna Evans reviews every on-the-job incident to assess the medical treatment needed, helping each employee find medical care specifically suited to his or her injury while also providing a list of in-network clinics. This approach ensures employees receive the services they need without the obstacles of long waits or self-pay — enabling them to experience the fastest and most medically appropriate pathway to recovery, minimizing lost workdays and adverse financial impact to the employee.
ICM has also updated the claim reporting process, lessening the burden on supervisors to report workplace injuries. In addition to filing the claims, ICM collaborates with stakeholders on campus to assess injury claims and identify opportunities to reduce future incidents.
In the first year following the process update, the university reduced the amount of lost work time due to injury to UGA employees by nearly 500 hours and cut overall workers’ compensation costs by almost 50 percent. In addition, ICM has raised awareness of the workers’ compensation process across the university.
ICM worked collaboratively with University Human Resources (UHR), Environmental Safety, Payroll, and Occupational Health in the Office of the Vice President for Research to streamline the process, better coordinate the workers’ compensation program, and improve internal information sharing regarding workplace safety.
“The valuable collaboration among the various groups, particularly UHR and ICM, has helped us capture better data about workplace injuries,” said Adam Fouche, UGA’s interim associate vice president for environmental safety, risk, and resiliency. “We hope this approach will continue to enhance employee safety and get injured workers back to work at their full salary quicker.”
Evans also acts as a liaison between the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) — which administers workers’ compensation insurance for state agencies — and UGA departments and employees.
Moving forward, ICM is developing an online survey to assess departmental and employee satisfaction as well as overall usability of the updated program. The university expects to roll out the survey this fall.
“It is exciting to see the results of successful collaboration between the different units that helped to improve this process,” said Travis Jackson, UHR senior director for employee benefits and wellbeing. “UHR looks forward to continued partnerships and further improvements that will make these processes even more efficient and cost saving.”
ICM continues to work with UHR, Payroll and DOAS to further develop the university’s Return to Work program. This ongoing initiative will focus on increasing the availability of light-duty positions across campus. The goal is further reduction in the number of lost workdays, while ensuring the safest and smoothest possible return-to-work experience for university employees.