The sprained joints and strained muscles of some of Montgomery County’s hurt workers can quickly cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, according to a new report.
In looking at the 10 percent most expensive workers’ compensation claims over the last three fiscal years, the county found that it paid $8.78 million to treat and compensate 183 employees suffering from sprained joints — an average of $47,960 per employee.
The county also paid $6.34 million for muscle strains of 176 employees during the same period.
Thirteen employees who injured themselves when they “slipped, but did not fall” cost the county $1.11 million, an average cost of $85,304, according to the report.
In total, the county spent $32 million in the last three fiscal years on workers’ compensation costs, paying into a system county officials say is rife with problems.
“There is a significant amount of fraud in the system,” said County Attorney Leon Rodriguez.
The county has been trying to crack down on fraudulent cases and lobby the state to more aggressively prosecute employees who try to abuse the workers’ compensation system.
Terry Fleming, head of the county’s risk management division, said the county has started keeping detailed statistics on workers’ compensation claims and presenting those findings to department heads in an effort to reduce the enormous costs to the county.
“We want to make sure that department heads focused on trying to reduce these costs,” Fleming said.
An average of more than four new workers’ compensation claims were made daily during the last three fiscal years, according to county data.
The county paid $22 million for the 10 percent most expensive claims in recent years, or 70 percent of the overall costs, according to the report.
“It adds up quick,” Fleming said, adding that costs rise quickly because the county has to pay for medical expenses such as physical therapy and in some cases surgery, cover back pay, and compensate employees for their injuries.
County officials added the state Workers’ Compensation Commission has no appetite to pursue fraud cases and point to fact that it referred 10 cases out of 45,417 hearings to fraud investigators out in fiscal 2008. It also referred 24 tipsters to a fraud investigators that year.
The Examiner first reported that the county plans to sue a former police officer they say withheld information about an off-duty event that caused a knee injury. The county also hired a private detective to trail an employee, who said she was too hurt to work, to a picnic and Luray Caverns.
