OH BWC SID Annual Report Highlights $55 Million In Savings Identified Last Year

Columbus, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) - SID recently published its annual report for fiscal year (FY) 2013. The report reflects and reviews recent performance statistics, ongoing trends, as well as future strategies for preventing and detecting fraud.

We are pleased to report that SID identified $55 million in savings during FY 2013. Among the more than 2,000 cases that were closed, 915 were founded, meaning the original allegation was proven. The average savings identified among the 915 cases was more than $60,000. 236 of these cases were referred for prosecution, resulting in 134 indictments and 140 convictions to date. These 140 convictions were a 14 percent increase over last year.

Additionally, SID received more than 3,300 allegations and teams are currently investigating approximately 1,000 open cases.

During the last twelve months, SID staff members remained tuned to emerging trends that affect their work, such as the rise in prescription fraud. The department also creatively utilized available resources such as social media and data digital forensics to root out otherwise undetected fraudulent activity and bring public attention to combating wrongdoing. This resourcefulness and persistence is prevalent in the work of each SID team and reflects the department's commitment to protecting the Ohio State Insurance Fund. The FY 2013 fraud report includes information about these efforts and the condition of workers' compensation fraud in Ohio.

Furthermore, the conclusion of FY 2013 also brings to a conclusion the third five-year SID strategic plan. The results of this level of planning are responsible for the success SID experienced in this past fiscal year. Comparatively, SID achieved:

• The lowest number of cases open at year end;
• The highest number of terabytes of data processed by Digital Forensics Unit;
• Second lowest number of investigative lag days per closed case in the past five years;
• Second highest number of convictions in the past eight years;
• Second highest percentage of founded cases referred for criminal prosecution in the past six years; and
• Second highest savings identified per closed and per founded case in the past six years.

Lastly, the report reviews results since our department's inception in 1993 – including that we have closed nearly 59,000 cases and identified more than $1.5 billion in savings to the Ohio workers' compensation system.

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