The County of San Luis Obispo located on the Central Coast of California is home to more than a quarter million residents spread over 3,600 square miles. Consisting of 26 County departments, the County’s approximately 2,800 employees serve its many rural residents and its seven urban cities through its County seat located in the City of San Luis Obispo and locations throughout the County. The County of San Luis Obispo is a member of PRISM, a joint powers pool that coordinates insurance programs for participating public entities. The County self-insures its workers’ compensation exposure and limits per claim exposure with excess insurance through PRISM. The current excess retention is $350,000. The County also purchases aggregate excess insurance (up to $50,000,000) through PRISM. The Risk Management Division of the Human Resources Office is responsible for managing the Workers’ Compensation Program. A Risk Management Analyst is charged with managing the comp program and overseeing the internal modified duty/early return-to-work program (RTW). This position also oversees the third-party administrator, who, in turn, is responsible for handling the daily workers’ compensation claims management responsibilities. The County also enlists the assistance of a workers’ compensation consultant to monitor overall claims management performance, identify program cost drivers, and oversee key high exposure claims. In addition, the County has a very active RTW program aimed at reducing controllable disability costs and an ergonomic injury prevention program targeted at repetitive motion injury exposures to reduce RMI injury frequency.
