According to David A. Jollin, President and CEO of IRG, "The new division will expand on Insurance Recovery Group's core competency, which is identifying, investigating, and recovering claims dollars through legal and regulatory processes." He adds that, although IRG has offered workers compensation subrogation services to select clients in the past, the new division expands the scope of the operation and creates a dedicated unit with deep expertise.

Jollin announced the following executive team to spearhead ISG:

John J. Connolly - President
Previously, Connolly was a commodity broker on The New York Board and senior advisor for several hedge funds specializing in commodity risk management. John has served as COO and CFO of other subrogation operations.

Neil Salters, Esq. - COO
Salters has extensive experience in designing and managing insurance company and subrogation operations, having held senior positions at Continental, CNA and GAN North America, and was a senior trial partner of his own law firm.

Mark Nevils, Esq., CSRP - Senior Vice President, National Director of Claims and Subrogation.
Nevils is an attorney highly experienced in property and casualty subrogation and recovery business including auditing, investigation, and litigation. Nevils currently oversees IRG’s client recovery in multiple jurisdictions.

Candace LaChapelle, CWCP - Vice President of Business Development.
LaChapelle has extensive experience in operational management and marketing of workers' compensation and recovery related services. LaChapelle currently manages all marketing operations for IRG.

Insurance Recovery Group (IRG) is a national subrogation (Insurance Subrogation Group), second injury fund (SIF), COLA recovery, and cost containment company operating in the insurance industry, including property, auto, and workers compensation recoveries. Its staff of expert attorneys and claims recovery managers help clients to reduce administrative expenses, improve claims handling efficiency and substantially increased recovery opportunities.

IRG identified this key claim when it was invited by the client to take one more look at claims that had already been reviewed for potential SITF by in-house adjusters, attorneys, and other vendors in advance of the approaching SITF deadline. In its week long review, IRG found this and several other claims that to its expert eye looked like they represented significant recovery potential. Without IRG's expert evaluation, this claim, which involved a claimant with a cervical spine injury who was permanently and totally disabled and medicals estimated at $78,000 per year for the rest of the claimant's life, would not have been pursued for recovery. However, through IRG's expert assessment of the file, the claim’s untapped potential was identified and ultimately realized.

Below, find the full text of release issued by CWCS:

Coventry Workers' Comp Services and Impairment Resources LLC Announce Strategic Alliance
Services of national impairment expert to enhance CWCS solutions that drive accurate impairment ratings

Franklin ,TN – April 15, 2009 – Coventry Workers' Comp Services (CWCS), a division of Coventry Health Care, Inc., has announced a strategic alliance with Impairment Resources, LLC to offer a suite of tools designed to ensure accurate impairment ratings for its clients. Impairment ratings are a key cost driver in workers’ compensation cases. CWCS can for the first time help clients regain confidence with regards to the impairment ratings.

"Studies have conclusively demonstrated that the majority of impairment ratings are incorrect, and the average incorrect rating is nearly three times higher than is appropriate," stated Christopher Brigham, M.D., Chairman and Founder of Impairment Resources. "Our goal is to assist Coventry Workers’ Comp Services by providing fair, reliable impairment evaluations, while demonstrating the integrity, service, and excellence for which the company is known."

Impairment Resources will afford CWCS unique professional and technological abilities, including a suite of services that will allow client adjusters and risk managers the ability to measure or assess ratings and to access expert physician reviews. These services are complimented by Internet-based educational resources, tools for all Editions of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and expert consultation services that can also be effectively used to ensure accurate ratings.

"By implementing the disciplined impairment rating program offered by Impairment Resources, we will now be able to offer clinical expertise to adjusters who have been dealing with imprecise and inconsistent legal interpretations of impairment," said Derrick Amato, Chief Operating Officer, Clinical Services, CWCS. "By partnering with the nation's leading expert, we expect the clients who take advantage of this systematic approach to disability impairment rating will realize significant cost reductions.”

About Coventry Workers’ Comp Services
Coventry Workers’ Comp Services, a division of Coventry Health Care, Inc., is the leading provider of cost and care management solutions for property and casualty insurance carriers, (workers’ compensation and auto insurers), third-party administrators and self-insured employers. We design best-in-class products and services to help our partners restore the health and productivity of injured workers and insureds as quickly and as cost effectively as possible. We accomplish this by developing and maintaining consultative, trusting partnerships with our clients and stakeholders, built on a foundation of innovative and customized solutions that support the claims management process.

Go to www.coventrywcs.com for more information.

About Impairment Resources, LLC
Impairment Resources, LLC, the nation's leading resource on impairment evaluation, offers a comprehensive suite of cost containment services that address long term indemnity costs, which now represent over 20 billion dollars of workers' compensation benefit expenditures. Founder Christopher Brigham, MD is an internationally recognized expert on the AMA Guides and author of nearly two hundred publications on impairment assessment. The firm has offices in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Hawaii.

Go to www.impairment.com for more information.

San Diego, California (Jan 22, 2009) ― Brigham and Associates Inc. and Insurance Recovery Group, Inc. (IRG) announce the formation of Impairment Resources, LLC a new joint venture established to assure accurate and reliable impairment ratings. Impairment Resources will combine the expertise and resources of national leaders in the areas of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, workers’ compensation cost containment, and recovery services. It will offer a proprietary suite of new cost containment services to address monetary payouts for impairment, key cost drivers in workers’ compensation cases. Educational resources, training, certification and strategies to produce quality ratings will also remain a focus.

Christopher R. Brigham, MD, founder of Brigham and Associates, Inc. explains "Studies have conclusively demonstrated that the majority of impairment ratings are incorrect, and the average incorrect rating is nearly three times higher than is appropriate. Our goal is to drive fair, reliable impairment evaluations, and to demonstrate integrity, service and excellence." David Jollin, President and CEO of IRG adds: "Impairment Resources offers a significant opportunity to address long term indemnity costs, which now represent over 20 billion dollars of workers' compensation benefit expenditures. Our process-engineered cost containment systems married with the deep expertise that Brigham and Associates holds in impairment ratings will bring a strong new resource to the market."

Impairment Resources, LLC is unique in its professional and technological abilities, offering a suite of services ranging from ImpairmentCheck,™ a new online claims resource to be used by adjusters, lawyers and risk managers to measure or assess ratings to ImpairmentExpert,™ expert physician reviews. These services are complimented by Internet-based educational resources, tools for all Editions of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and expert consultation that can also be effectively used by doctors to achieve accurate ratings.

Christopher Brigham will serve as Chairman of Impairment Resources, LLC. Directors include W. Frederick Uehlein, attorney, founder and chairman of IRG; David Jollin, President and CEO of IRG; and Craig Uejo, MD, MPH, national medical director of Brigham and Associates.

Impairment Resources, LLC (formerly Brigham and Associates, Inc.) is recognized as the nation's leading resource on impairment evaluation. The founder, Christopher Brigham, MD, is an internationally recognized expert on the AMA Guides and author of nearly two hundred publications on impairment assessment. The firm has offices in California, Maine and Hawaii.

Insurance Recovery Group, Inc. is a national leader in workers’ compensation recovery and cost containment systems, having recovered more than $900 million on behalf of its clients. The firm has offices in Massachusetts, New York, and Georgia.

The Trust Fund made an offer for settlement that IRG deemed inadequate and out of sync with the Fund’s exposure in the case. IRG instead recommended a trial of the case.

IRG, through its law firm IRLA, brought the employee back from California to testify at hearing. Although the evidence was strongly in favor of our client, the Fund still failed to make a reasonable offer of settlement. In the end, the Judge issued a well-crafted decision, finding all the elements of the statute satisfied. The appeal period for the Fund will run out on November 1, 2008.

This claim exemplifies IRG’s willingness to prosecute claims on behalf of our clients and maximize our client’s rights to reimbursement when Trust Funds are unwilling to offer fair value for their exposure.

Summary: In recent years, New York, South Carolina, and Georgia have enacted legislation to phase out their respective Second Injury Funds (SIFs). Over 20 SIFs have closed or "sunset," leaving about 20 states with SIFs open to claims with new dates of injury. Of these, about 10 have enabling language that creates significant opportunities for employer savings.

While many SIFs have closed to future claims, employers should not forget that there is still, by the authors' estimates, upwards of $40 billion dollars to recover from those funds. Employers and insurers need to be certain that processes are in place to recover those dollars effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, the clock is ticking on several funds, making it imperative that insurers and employers with exposure in those states act now to recoup any outstanding recoveries.

This article briefly reviews the history and intent of SIFs and provides an update of major changes with respect to SIFs that have recently closed or been changed by key laws. It also seeks to put the role of today’s SIFs in a more modern context. For employers, that context is an era of significant interstate and world competition.

Insurance Recovery Legal Associates fought this battle to preserve the right to file these claims for our clients. We diligentlay pursue claims through the appellate system when necessary in order to protect our clients' rights. This decision was extremely close with the SJC split 4 to 3 on one case and 3 to 3 on the other. It is favorable news for the many clients and business partners that currently have IRG working on their Massachusetts files.

If you are not currently working with Insurance Recovery Group (IRG) on your MA files, be aware that the further we get from the 1985 - 1991 DOI claims, the more difficult it will be to obtain the documents and evidence needed for successful SIF recovery. Timing is of the essence and urgency is in order to ensure that all such cases are identified and are being aggressively pursued before the passage of time creates an insurmountable obstacle to obtaining aged documents. Otherwise, your opportunities may be lost forever.

Contact us today if you would like to learn more about how we can help you with your second injury fund recoveries.