In the premiere episode of Chamber On!, we're joined by Jeff Price of Hunter Consulting Co., a Cincinnati-based third-party administrator for workers' compensation group rating insurance with decades of experience.
This eye-opening conversation covers one of the fastest and easiest ways small businesses in Ohio can cut costs: workers’ comp group rating programs. Tune in to learn about:
Plus, Jeff answers the all-important question: Who really is the greatest rock band of all time?
Whether you're a small employer, Chamber member, or just curious about stretching your business dollars, this episode is packed with insights to help you grow your bottom line. Get your free savings analysis here.
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Episode Transcript:
Matt Appenzeller:
Hello and welcome to the first episode of the Chamber On podcast—the go-to podcast for small employers and local Chambers of Commerce in Ohio. I’m your host, Matt Appenzeller, President and CEO of the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance—more commonly known as SOCA.
We are an alliance of 130 Chambers of Commerce in Ohio, and today we're going to talk about one of the fastest and easiest ways that small employers in Ohio can grow their bottom line. And I know this is true because I introduced my dad to this program about 15 years ago, when he was still working as a small business owner, and I was leading that local Chamber of Commerce, and he saved more than $1,200 by simply filling out a form. And he enjoyed that savings each and every year compared to what he had been paying previously, until he sold the business several years ago. So today, we have a special guest with us, Jeff Price, who is an expert and works with Hunter Consulting Company, a Cincinnati based third party administrator for workers compensation, group rating insurance. They can be found on the web at Hunterconsulting.com
Welcome, Jeff.
Jeff Price:
Thank you, Matt. It’s great to be here.
Matt:
So Jeff, just for the benefit of the small business owners listening to the podcast. Let's start with the basics. Could you tell us what a group rating program is and how it benefits small employers?
Jeff:
Absolutely. The group rating program is one of the cornerstone incentive programs for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Comp. In Ohio, it's a little different than every other state you know. You simply can't go to your broker and get supplemental workers comp policy like every other neighboring state, you know, Kentucky, Indiana, in Ohio, it's monopolistic, so you have to, you have to get your insurance through the state of Ohio, through the Bureau of Workers Comp. Everybody who has one employee has to get it. Now the experience rating program is a tool. It's called an incentive program that's offered through the state. So it allows companies that have better than average claim histories join together as one large group. The state then looks at that group and assigns it a rating or a discount. So the safer you are, the higher you can get. And the top discount in the state of Ohio for a group program is 53%
Matt:
So, Jeff, a 53% discount is substantial. But you know what other factors are considered when you're determining the discount?
Jeff:
Okay, there's two main factors, Matt, it's your claims experience and your payroll levels. So the state of Ohio looks at how they calculate premium is payroll times your claims, experience rate and your experience mod for payroll. They don't care if you have one employee making a million dollars or 10 employees making a million dollars, they look at the total payroll, and they also look at your last four years history of claims, and from that, you have an experience mod times your payroll, and that is your premium. Each employer has their own expected losses. So they say, over four years, this company is expected to pay out X amount of dollars in claims, there's going to be workplace injuries. When they look at your rating, they say, What did you actually lose during those four years? So that is what your experience modifier is. So when you say, what are the factors that go into determining what rate you can get, it's all about how safe you are and how many actual losses you have, which will slot you into the different groups that we offer at Hunter Consulting.
Matt:
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So, you know, let's just assume I'm a small business owner out there. What would the enrollment process look like for a guy like me who's interested in a group rating program and also need to ask, you know, Chamber of Commerce program, yeah, how are Chambers of Commerce affiliated with it?
Jeff:
Well, Chamber of Commerce are very important. So in order to formulate a group, you need two parties. You need a sponsoring organization, which is a chamber of commerce, and you need a third-party administrator, which is Hunter Consulting, you can't form a group without both of those parties. It's a win-win setup for us as a third-party administrator and the chambers, I mean, the employers, so the membership can receive up to a 53% discount. The chamber can strengthen their value prop, because they have a great tool to offer their members. I'm a former chamber employee down in Cincinnati, and I know that a lot of companies go to their local Chamber of Commerce to receive this benefit, so it's extremely impactful for them. And then the third-party administrator's role is to formulate the groups and run the program and really do all the behind-the-scenes work. The chambers don't do any of the actual group formations, where the claims work. That's what we're here for. Matt,
Matt:
Yeah, and, you know, as you know, having worked in a chamber, they're, they're always looking for stickiness, you know, with those members, and this program offers that.
Jeff:
Oh yeah, it's, it's an extremely important program, like you said, to make sticky, because the more chambers that can get you involved in the member. Benefit programs the better and for our enrollment. And it's it's super simple. It's very straightforward. When a company is interested, they simply fill out a request that comes to me and says, I'm interested in the group experience rating program. We pull the claims history and everything from the state of Ohio. We analyze it, we drop it into the buckets that discounts that they can qualify for. We send out the quote and the recommendation. It has the enrollment documents, and it's as simple as filling out the forms, like you said in your intro.
Matt:
I know, right. So are there any like other eligibility requirements that a small employer would need to look at?
Jeff:
There are some eligibility requirements. The main one is the enrollment time frame. I know you asked that in the previous question, but the time frame is very specific. We start enrolling for the group program this summer, every summer, with a deadline of Thanksgiving. So it's the end of November, but that is not for a policy year that starts to the following July. So missing out on the Summer Enrollment and the fall enrollment this year means you wouldn't be able to really gain any benefit until 2027 so it's very important to stick to your deadlines when completing these processes, and also, you have to maintain your BWC coverage. You have to make sure you do your payments to the state of Ohio, because A common misconception is when you're in the group program you're paying Hunter consulting your workers comp premiums. That is not the case. The discounts that you're eligible for apply directly to your workers comp premium installment schedule. So we simply formulate the groups apply those discounts and pray that you stay safe.
Matt:
So what I hear you saying is, as long as you stay on schedule and pay your premiums, it's just a matter of like, filling out the form, right? It sounds pretty simple, almost too simple. I know we've talked offline, you know, a couple of times where you've had some situations where people didn't really believe this program existed in the state of Wyoming, why don't you tell a couple of stories on that.
Jeff:
Well, as a new business, you have to apply for your workers comp premium, and that becomes public record. So when something becomes public record, you get a lot of phone calls, you get a lot of emails. And so I've told you this before, Matt, but what would you say if you just filled out this paperwork and all of a sudden your phone rings 100 times and someone says, Hey, I can save you 53% on your worker's comp. Click, click, I hear you. So that's why the chambers are vitally important to promote this program, to give it some validity that says, hey, this isn't some used car salesman trying to steal snake you out of some money. No, this is a legitimate program, one that can save you a lot of money.
Matt:
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So you know, beyond just the cost savings we talked about, right? You know, what are some of the other benefits of participating in a group rating program? Well,
Jeff:
When you're in a group program, you also receive the benefits of a third party administrator, so that means we're managing your claims that occur, if they occur throughout the year, that goes from everything from denying claims that you think are fraudulent, or most of the time really helping that employee get back get back to work. You know you want to promote a safe workplace, and if someone does get injured, you want to make sure that they have the proper care and the proper resources to get back work to work as soon as possible. In the addition that you do have to fight a fraudulent claim, we have a network of attorneys around the state of Ohio that will represent you at the Industrial Commission, which is the Ohio Bureau of Workers Comp, kind of adjudication arm or litigation arena. So we provide that representation to really help our employers keep their claims costs low, but also obviously help employees get back to work.
Matt:
That last part, having the representation is a key differentiator of Hunter and maybe some of your competitors.
Jeff:
We're one of the few administrators in the state of Ohio that that it does come included with an administrative fee the so the group administration fee, there's no additional cost for attorneys or anything like that. We want to make sure our clients are taken care of. Very cool.
Matt:
So what are some of the other challenges or pitfalls that maybe a small business owner should be aware of when they're participating in something like this?
Jeff:
Oh, it's eligibility. Can change year to year, and it does change year to year. So you might think you're locking in this great rate, and you are for the year, but if there is a workplace injury and a claim does go onto your account or into your experience, that will come back to bite you. So our goal is to really try to minimize those costs. When someone does get hurt, okay, we want to make sure that they're taken care of, but not ripping off the employer and having additional conditions that shouldn't be allowed in the claim. So the pitfalls are really making sure that you have your eye on the ball and know that this is a year by year renewal process. Conversely, when you do have those claims after a few years, they do come off so you can be eligible again.
Matt:
Yeah, very cool. Very cool. So I shared the story at the beginning where, you know, I talked about how my dad saved, like, immediately, you know, saved 1200 bucks. You know, you've been in this business for a while. Can you share any success, success stories or examples of businesses who have, you know, since seen a significant benefit from this kind of program?
Jeff:
Yeah, yeah, sure. You met this year. I had one of the best stories ever. So, okay, everybody's seen, everybody uses Amazon, so everybody's now seen the third party drivers that you know, deliver packages and whatnot. So we had a client call in, and he's, he was just doing it himself, and he's got his workers comp policy, and this is right near the end of the enrollment. And next year, you know, he's like, I plan to hire a driver. And I'm like, Well, you should get into a group right now, based on your payroll, it shows that it's going to save you $0 but if you hire that employee, it's going to save you probably $1,500 because you're going to be paying half for that employee next year when it kicks in. Year when it kicks in. Well, by the time his policy or started, he hired 10, $80,000 under 10, he had an 80, like an $80,000 premium that was chopped down under $40,000 and he had the foresight to think about it, and took a leap of faith that says, Okay, I might lose a couple 100 bucks if I, if I don't actually hire someone, but he ended up saving, you know, $35,000 that is just by being smart, you know, eight months ahead of time, like just praying that, okay, I hope my business takes off, which it did, and truly saving a ton of money that is substantial.
Matt:
That's a very cool story. So let me ask you this. So what advice would you give to a small business owner who's just, you know, they've heard about this. They didn't know if it was real or not, you know, but then they're considering joining a group rating program.
Jeff:
Well, my advice is, you know, keep your eyes open and listen to the resources around you, whether it's your chamber of commerce that usually heavily promotes this program. You know, you don't want to leave these potential savings on the floor. You know that's 53% off, even for a small business is could be substantial. You know, a small business that could save $1,000 well, that's $1,000 you can reinvest into your employees, into your into your store, into whatever. So I would say my advice is just don't wait. You know, it's never too early to look into the group, even though I said we don't start enrolling until July. You know, clients are calling in right now and I'm saying, Okay, I've got your information. We're gonna be prepared. Here's what I project. But don't wait, because then it gets pushed off again and again, and all of a sudden, you're in November, and maybe you're busy and you forget, and now you're in the endless cycle of, I'll do it next year. I'll do it next year.
Matt:
Well, on that note, let's keep it top of mind. What deadlines should they be thinking about now?
Jeff:
The deadline is Thanksgiving, 2025 for the policy year that begins July, 1, 2026
Matt:
And how do they get all to you?
Jeff:
They call me at Hunter Consulting, 513-372-8718, or on the website, www.hunterconsulting.com.
Matt:
Very cool. Well, Jeff, thanks. Thanks very much for sharing your insights on group rating programs, and it's very clear, and just with my experience in chambers, that these programs can offer substantial savings and benefits for small businesses. They're also a great program as far as stickiness for chamber membership. But I wanted to mention that next year marks the 30th year of the saca Hunter consulting partnership. And, you know, we, between the two of us, the two companies here, or two organizations, I should say, we've been able to help a lot of employers over the years.
Jeff:
It's just been a great partnership. I don't know what else Brandon has in mind for you guys.
Matt:
Well, I mean, our group has been growing steadily over the last few years. We expect that to continue, especially with the increased partnership with we have, with a lot of these chambers that are part of the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance, really promoting the program because they're, they're they're dedicated to help their membership.
Yeah, it's very cool. So I, Jeff, I do have one final very important question for you. Oh, we're gonna ask this for of every guest on the show. Oh, dear, right, Jeff, who's the greatest rock and roll band of all time? Is it the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or Led Zeppelin?
Jeff:
Well, you know, we've known each other for for a bunch of years we have and my favorite rock band should be yours too. Is none of those? Okay? Greatest, it is The Band.
Matt:
Yes, we have listened to The Last Waltz many times.
Jeff:
Every Thanksgiving, I make my kids watch The Last Waltz, film. It was filmed in the 70s on Thanksgiving. It's like five hours long, and I put it on and I make my kids pop in and out of the room and jam do a couple tunes. So, you know, it's a great movie, great concert by the greatest band.
Matt:
Well, I wasn't expecting a none of the above, you heard it here first folks. So that's it for today's episode of Chamber On! Thank you for tuning in and be sure to join us next time for more valuable insights tailored to small businesses and local Chambers of Commerce in Ohio. Jeff, thanks for being with us.
Jeff:
Man, I appreciate you having me.
Matt:
Until then, Chamber On!