Recent News

May 10, 2006

Mabe visited Government Agencies committee

~ written by John H. Jones, Government Agencies Committee Chair

William E. Mabe, administrator and chief executive officer of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, spoke to a large crowd attending the May meeting of the Government Agencies committee.

Governor Bob Taft appointed Mabe in November 2005 to restore trust at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and rebuild its reputation. Mabe, a retired Nationwide executive who built a reputation as an able administrator capable of improving operations in need of turnaround, spoke on his new position and plans to turnaround the bureau.

The bureau is coming off a year marked by the coin-gate scandal and investment losses that resulted in a significant loss in confidence. In the bureau’s agenda for 2006, Mabe plans to improve the agency’s financial performance, service and quality. Measures are included in the agenda to improve accountability and the transparency of the agency. The bureau will hire an independent custodian to calculate and report investment performance monthly.

Mabe has an ambitious agenda, which he projects through revenue enhancements, expense reductions and service improvements, will result in a combined ratio of one hundred and put an estimated $424 million on the bureau bottom line by year end. Under Mabe’s leadership, the bureau will be transitioning solely to fixed-income investments and establishing more stringent controls that will reduce the volatility of the portfolio in investment returns.

Other changes include establishing a more effective collections process for pursuing outstanding receivables; re-focusing the bureau’s legal resources to actively pursue settlements that will save money and more aggressively defend the bureau’s position in IC cases to mitigate expenses; lobbying for stronger fraud statues; and negotiating lower health care costs with healthcare professionals, medical equipment dealers and pharmacy providers, etc.

Mabe states that the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will deliver a responsible, financially sound and service oriented workers’ compensation system to all its customers. Expect periodical progress reports from bureau about how it’s accomplishing its goals.