Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission releases annual report

The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission (VWC) released its 2018 Annual Report.

The report provides a summary of key initiatives, trends, and outcomes for the Commonwealth’s workers’ compensation system and other programs administered by the Commission. The interactive annual report can be viewed or downloaded by clicking here.

“2018 served as a record year in many ways for the Commission. January 1 marked the inauguration of the Commonwealth’s first fee schedule for medical services,” said VWC’s Chairman, R. Ferrell Newman. “The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Team experienced an overwhelming 90.4% growth in mediations in 2018 over 2017 and the Commission’s 2018 Educational Conference was the largest in history, with some 600 attendees. Additionally, VWC processed 46,278 electronic claims and issued 4,186 hearing-level and 864 appellate decisions, and began the commemoration of its Centennial, marking 100 years of service in the Commonwealth of Virginia, when the statute was introduced in 1918 to establish the agency.”

Key highlights noted in the 2018 Annual Report include:

• Record growth in the Judicial Division’s Alternative Dispute Resolution mediation program, VWC’s Educational Conference and Exhibition and implementation of the Medical Fee Schedule;
• Successful management of VWC’s fiscal resources, leading to a tax rate reduction in the 2019 approved budget;
• Enhanced technology offering new applications and enhanced functionality of multiple department applications;
• Continued evaluation of office spaces across the Commonwealth resulting in a new Roanoke Regional Office;
• Recognition of agency employees participating on boards of national and international organizations; and
• Successful compliance with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency’s (VITA) information security standards.

The report also features the financial results of the agency and the Virginia Victims Fund (officially the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund) for Fiscal Year 2018, as well as a look ahead to its 2019 initiatives.