What is the NCCI in Relationship to the Arizona Workers’ Compensation Program?

The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), founded in 1923, compiles research information and statistical data on industry trends and suggests insurance rates and loss cost recommendations, according to its website here. Insurance departments in those states who are members of the NCCI, follow the recommendations given by NCCI, to provide a basis for the state’s workers’ compensation program. Arizona is one such member state out of 35 current member states and the District of Columbia.

Each state reports back to the NCCI throughout the year, providing information on all workers’ compensation claims, any statistical data available on those cases, health and treatment information, and information on employers and insurance groups. The NCCI also develops tools to move the insurance and workers’ compensation programs forward with quicker efficiency in filing and processing claims and outlining best medical treatment procedures. See the NCCI infographic here.

The Class Look-Up Tool

In September of 2018, NCCI released a new free tool to help with classification coding of injuries for determining the benefit payments structure, as well as eliminating potential misclassification of information. This provides better accuracy in gathering data for any specific code for historical and decision-making purposes. Go here to find out more about the Class Look-Up tool, including a video that briefly shows how it is used.

The Services and Tools Catalog

The services and catalog page is set up to show information that can be found alphabetically or by category, providing a host of information topics to members looking for them. The page for the Annual Statistical Bulletin shows what information is provided, such as history of benefit level changes, a five-year history of assigned risk market shares, benefit provision summaries, and more, all referenced by state. Only member states (affiliate) with subscription access can access the information. All other independents can subscribe to the service as a non-affiliate for $700 each user, on an annual basis.

The Learning Center

All subscribers have access to the learning center where there are a series of training webinars for all departments connected to any part of the workers’ compensation system. This includes insurance departments, workers’ compensation boards, and commissions. Other areas in the learning center are:

• Data reporting
• Industry information
• Residual markets
• Underwriting, and
• Agents/Brokers.

The ICA and ODG

In Arizona, the Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) oversees the Workers’ Compensation Program using several resources, including the NCCI, to build the foundation for ensuring and treating workers in the state. Classifications of injuries are set by the American Medical Association (AMA) Guide (6^th ed.) for evaluating injuries and how payments will be determined.

The Official Disability Guide (ODG) is another component added to the infrastructure, which determines the type of treatments to be done for specific injuries. An Editorial Advisory Board consisting of 100 healthcare professionals, assist in developing these treatment outlines, based on recent case studies and research provided by NCCI, as well as other sources.

This method of cross-sourcing information provides the best system that Arizona’s Workers’ Compensation program can pull together to provide the best medical services and help for its Arizona workers. When you file a claim, the methodology of examination for whether a claim is valid or not, the decision for how an injury is classified by codes, and how the treatment will occur, including benefit payments, are an outcome of all these resources.

If you need help with your workers’ compensation claim, call us at once for a consultation. 602-346-9009