Blog Archives

Carisk® Partners, Tower MSA Partners, and Ametros to Provide Patient-Centered Case Closure and Settlement Solution in Workers’ Compensation

October 12, 2021

Carisk, Ametros & Tower logs for Case Closure

Carisk^® Partners, a specialty risk transfer and care coordination company, Tower MSA Partners, a settlement-focused MSP compliance company, and Ametros, a post-settlement medical administration company, are launching a novel, patient-centered case closure and settlement solution. The integrated program provides continuity in care and accurate medical cost projections while improving the settlement process for injured patients and workers’ compensation payers.

“We’re excited to partner with industry leaders Tower and Ametros on this innovative program that extends the trusted relationship built with the patient in our Pathways™ 2 Recovery program,” says Carisk CEO Joseph Berardo, Jr. “This bundled program benefits all parties by ensuring an accurate, fair and acceptable settlement and post-settlement experience for the patients we are entrusted to serve.”

As the patient approaches achievement of their care plan outcomes and goals, the Case Closure and Settlement Program introduces patient settlement resources delivered by Tower and Ametros into the Carisk Pathways™ 2 Recovery (P2R) process.

“Tower identifies all the treatment and legal barriers to settlement,” said Tower CEO Rita Wilson. “With the payer’s authorization, we proactively apply interventions to resolve pharmaceutical, medical, legal, and jurisdictional issues before we prepare a Medicare Set-Aside. This yields appropriate future care for workers’ comp patients, complies with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s review policies, and facilitates closure. We are thrilled to overlay our settlement-focused workflow with Carisk and Ametros to create win-win outcomes for both payers and patients.”

Ametros advocates for Carisk patients during and after the settlement process, educating them about the multiple benefits available through professional administration of their MSA.

“Our mission is to help the injured person live a better life after they accept a settlement with an MSA. In addition to paying bills from their MSA, providing discounts on their treatments, and completing required CMS reporting, we have a Member Care Team to help them navigate the health care system after settlement every step along the way,” said Ametros CEO Porter Leslie.

This comprehensive solution extends patient advocacy for workers’ compensation patients whose cases Carisk manages during and after their claims settlements by ensuring that their future medical expenses are accurately covered and that the patients receive on-going support post-settlement. Working together, our Case Closure and Settlement Program accelerates claims closure, reducing payers’ claims portfolios, adjuster burdens, along with their medical, pharmacy, and indemnity costs.

To learn more, please contact Kristine Dudley, Tower’s Chief Operating Officer, at (888) 331-4941 or Kristine.dudley@towermsa.com.

About Carisk Partners and Pathways™ 2 Recovery

Carisk is a specialty risk transfer, care coordination company serving insurers, government entities, self-insured plan sponsors, and other managed care organizations. With a foundation in behavioral health, Carisk’s end-to-end combined solutions include risk-transfer and care coordination of delayed recovery, complex catastrophic cases and MBHO services. Carisk’s Pathways™ 2 Recovery program guarantees to improve outcomes and reduce overall cost of quality care by applying best practices and a patient-centered approach to manage complex challenges for the Group Health, Casualty and Auto markets. Carisk is the first and only Managed Behavioral Healthcare Organization with dual accreditations from both the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare, Inc. (AAAHC). Visit www.cariskpartners.com to learn more.

About Tower MSA Partners

Based in Delray Beach, Florida, Tower MSA Partners provides MSP compliance and MSA services nationally. The company leverages the latest technology to seamlessly integrate, automate, measure, and manage every process from Section 111 reporting, conditional payment resolution and MSA optimization through claim closure and settlement. Tower is a nationally certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBENC) and has received its SOC2 Type II attestation. For more information, visit https://towermsa.com/ and https://towermsa.com/msp-compliance-blog/.

About Ametros

Ametros is the industry leader in post-settlement medical administration and a trusted partner for thousands of members receiving funds from workers’ compensation and liability settlements. Founded in 2010, Ametros provides post-settlement medical management services with significant medical and pharmacy discounts along with automated payment technology and Medicare reporting tools. Headquartered just north of Boston in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Ametros may be reached at 877.275.7415 or via www.ametros.com

Tower MSA Partners 10-Year Anniversary and 10 Distinguishing Achievements

September 21, 2021

We’re celebrating the Tower MSA Partners 10-year anniversary this year! To commemorate this landmark year for our business, we’ve compiled 10 distinguishing achievements over the decade that we’re proud of and that we think differentiate us from others in our field.

Our single focus. We don’t try to be all things to all people, we focus on doing one thing extremely well. Everything we do is geared toward smooth settlements with 100% compliance with Medicare, cost-effective Medicare Set-Asides (MSAs) and partnering with clients on outcomes. Focusing our business model on Medicare Secondary (MSP) compliance and MSAs enabled Tower to develop technology specifically for this industry, hone our expertise, and become the industry’s “go-to” experts in these areas.
We are “Measurably Better.” Our tag line “Measurably Better” is not just a clever use of words, it’s the backbone of all that we do. We run our business on metrics, tracking and measuring everything that matters in MSP compliance and MSAs. Metrics drive Tower’s internal efficiency improvements and technology enhancements. It’s how we help our clients improve their MSP compliance and MSA programs and how we prove we—and our clients’ programs–are measurably better.
Our commitment to continuous improvement. We’ve aggregated 5 years of CMS response data to identify CMS performance metrics that matter to our clients and we track these monthly. And we continue to monitor every response CMS has to every one of our MSA submissions. When we think CMS is wrong, we challenge by proactively pushing the envelope to get the best possible results for our clients. Otherwise, we use the response data to reverse engineer internal processes to improve our MSA work product.
Everything we do is technology driven. We built our own technology from the beginning specifically to address this industry and our clients’ needs. Our technology is based on the best practices of MSP compliance and MSA preparation. There’s no patchwork of disparate systems or data in silos that needs to be extracted, just a seamless, integrated system that drives all compliance and MSA processes. Tower’s Section 111 Management Dashboard gives clients full visibility into their claims from a global level all the way down into the details of an individual claim. Technology Drives Better Medicare Secondary Payer Compliance.
Our commitment to cybersecurity. With a clear understanding of the importance of our systems, software, and data to Tower’s business functions and a keen awareness of the reality of cyberthreats in today’s digital environment, Tower has taken major steps to develop its enterprise-wide security infrastructure to guard against, detect and mitigate cyberattacks. This includes partnering with a data security firm that monitors data traffic 24/7, responds to threats in real time, provides direction to keep client data secure, and gives Tower unlimited access to incident response resources if attacks occur. monitoring data traffic 24/7, responding to threats in real time and Building a Better Tower – Cybersecurity.
We’ve earned external third-party validation. Tower MSA Partners completed its SOC 2 Type II audit, providing external third-party validation that a service organization’s information security practices meet industry standards stipulated by the AICPA. Tower MSA Partners Completes SOC 2 Type II Audit.
We are independent and women owned. We are wholly owned by our founders, CEO, Rita Wilson and COO, Kristine Dudley, Tower is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBENC). Celebrating Tower’s History as a Women-Owned Business.
Our stellar team. You can meet our outstanding leadership team, the top experts in the business. The passion and dedication of our certified MSA specialists, nurses, Quality Assurance team, and compliance staff are incredible. Their efforts enable Tower to manage by our metrics and drive results. Many have been with us since the beginning and became managers as they gained knowledge and skills. We are a cohesive team at all levels. But for our real secret sauce, learn more about how Tower Nurses Make a Difference.
We get results. Our systematic, aggressive approach to identifying and reducing unnecessary cost-drivers on MSAs saves clients hundreds of thousands of dollars on MSAs. Our certified specialists know what to look for and our technology, metrics, and processes give them all the tools they need to find every cent of savings. Because we record CMS response to every MSA, we can confidently produce MSAs that balance care, cost, and compliance. Check out our case histories, request others or ask for a free second opinion on an MSA.
Our clients love us. Hers’s an excerpt from one: “Second to None”….When I hear this idiom, I immediately think of Tower MSA Partners… While there are many MSA vendors, only one company, Tower MSA Partners, is “Second to None.” Tower serves their partners by guiding and directing from start to finish. They have advanced technology and certified specialists to ensure no stone is unturned. Regardless of the complexity or how fast you need help, Tower leads and delivers results that are always accurate and timely, serving you like family. Bryan Conner, Manager, Workers’ Compensation, American Airlines. See our Testimonial page to read more from Bryan and our other clients.

We are honored to serve clients like American Airlines, Acuity Insurance, Aramark, BETA Healthcare Group, CPC Logistics, Montana State Fund, Tyson Foods, and others, some who prefer not to have their names published. From the beginning, Tower sought partnership relationships with clients; we put “partners” in our name.

On our 10^th Anniversary, I want to thank our client partners who have trusted us with their MSP and MSA needs, our employees who are just stellar, and our executive leadership team who are the best of the best. We look forward to continuing to serve our existing clients, help new ones achieve their goals, and continue our close partnerships.

Tower Non-Submit MSA: A Reasonable Alternative

September 1, 2021

To submit or not submit a Medicare Set-Aside for approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been a hot-button issue for several years. While some follow a global non-submit strategy others opt to follow CMS’s guidance, where possible, considering a non-submit MSA only in specific situations. Whether a Non-Submit MSA is utilized for settlement depends on several factors and risk tolerances, and Tower MSA Partners stands ready to analyze your claim and help you decide.

A Non-Submit MSA, sometimes called an Evidence-Based MSA, may be a reasonable alternative when the settlement does not meet CMS’s Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) review thresholds. It may seem obvious to use a Non-Submit MSA when the MSA will not be submitted to CMS, but as the methodology in drafting the Non-Submit MSA varies from CMS policy (as detailed below) some prefer to stick to CMS policy for drafting the MSA, even when not submitted.

Besides utilizing a Non-Submit MSA when CMS MSA review thresholds are not met, as the review process is voluntary, settling parties may choose a Non-Submit MSA even when the review thresholds are met. This carries with it inherent risks in that CMS takes the position that if the funds set-aside prove insufficient “Medicare will refuse to pay for services related to the WC injury (and otherwise reimbursable by Medicare) until such expenses have exhausted the entire dollar amount of the entire WC settlement.”

A Non-Submit MSA report may have a lower allocation amount than a CMS-approved MSA because of the following features:

Full Use of Evidence-Based Medicine – Use of evidence-based medicine, i.e., Official Disability Guidelines (ODG) or state treatment guidelines to determine reasonable care to allocate in MSA.
- CMS inconsistently uses evidence-based medicine in its MSA review process. Using ODG and state treatment guidelines may result, for example, in a lower frequency of diagnostic testing or physical therapy visits compared to a CMS-approved MSA.
Examining Physician Opinions Considered – Both treating and examining physician recommendations are considered in drafting the Non-Submit MSA.
- CMS gives little consideration to examining physician opinions in its approval process. Depending on the case, the examining physician may be in a better position to provide appropriate recommendations for current and future medical care because of their expertise and the timing of their opinion. For example, a recent IME opinion on the necessity of surgery may be followed as opposed to a treating physician recommendation from a year ago.
State Statutes and Regulations Followed – Fully follow state statutory, regulatory, and other legal bases for including or excluding care from the MSA.
- While CMS approval requires an “Alternative Treatment Plan” when medical care is denied through a statutory utilization review (UR) process, a Non-Submit MSA will exclude care solely based on the UR determination. For example, a prescription medication will not be allocated in the MSA when a UR determination supports denial.
Claimant Statements and Agreements Considered – Consideration of claimant statements and settling party agreements concerning future medical care.
- CMS will not usually exclude the cost of care from an MSA for a procedure or device, such as a spinal cord stimulator, based on a claimant’s statement that they will not pursue that care. Yet that statement or an agreement among the parties that certain medical care is disputed and not included in the settlement, is sufficient for a Non-Submit MSA. For example, evidence of the claimant repeatedly refusing surgery will usually result in its exclusion from the MSA.

Professional Administration Recommended: Except for minor MSA allocations, Tower strongly recommends having a professional administrator manage the Non-Submit MSA funds. If CMS ever questions the use of these funds, proper administration will confirm they were spent properly, enabling a seamless transition to Medicare for payment if the funds run out. And, Tower proudly partners with Ametros for professional administration of all MSAs: Non-Submit MSAs and those that are CMS-approved.

Depending on the facts of the case, a Non-Submit MSA can have a significantly lower allocation than a CMS-approved MSA and still reasonably consider Medicare’s interests. Nonetheless, using a Non-Submit MSA poses risks to the settling parties that should be fully considered and accepted prior to settlement.

Tower offers free consultations on Non-Submit MSAs. If you have any questions about these or other areas of Medicare Secondary Payer compliance, please contact Dan Anders, Chief Compliance Officer, at daniel.anders@towermsa.com or 888.331.4941.

Attend the Virtual MSPN Annual Conference!

August 23, 2021

The National Medicare Secondary Payer Network (MSPN) will hold its virtual MSPN Annual Conference on September 29 and 30. With the theme of the Roaring ‘20s, the conference celebrates surviving, revamping, and emerging stronger.

MSPN is the only national MSP organization with an influential membership base of claims adjusters, insurance carriers, life care planners, Medicare Set-Aside allocators, nurses, and other medical professionals. Attorneys, professional administrators, self-insured employers, settlement planners, social workers, structured settlement brokers, and third-party administrators are other prominent members. If you’re one of those, work for a self-insured employer, or are reading this post, you should attend.

Open to non-members, the MSPN Annual Conference is designed for insurance, healthcare, financial services, and litigation professionals whose business touch MSP compliance directly or tangentially. The conference applies for continuing education for multiple licenses and certifications in insurance, case management, legal, disability, nursing and other medical, and disability management fields.

Presented by national leaders in MSP compliance, representatives of CMS and its contractors, the annual meeting examines various aspects of Medicare Secondary Payment. Sessions dive into Medicare Set-Asides, the recent PAID Act, MSP compliance in Liability, legislative updates, the coming Civil Monetary Penalties for incomplete or inaccurate Section 111 reporting, post-settlement overview, and other timely topics.

CMS Directors and executives from its contractors explain its conditional payment recovery reimbursement and appeals processes in separate presentations. These give you a chance to hear from the folks who make the MSP decisions that determine our compliance.

Plus, Tower’s Chief Compliance Officer and MSPN President Dan Anders (that’s me) will host a lively Fire Side chat with Jackie Cipa, Deputy Director, CMS Division of MSP Program Operations and Steve Forry, CMS Division Director for MSP Program Operations. They will share meaningful takeaways from this year’s annual meeting and highlight emergent issues in the MSP universe.

You can find plenty of information on MSPN’s website about the conference along with early registration fee discounts (Available before Sept. 1). Remember, the conference is virtual, September 29 and 30 (As the conference is virtual, all sessions will be recorded and may be viewed post the set conference days). Don’t delay! Register today!

If you have questions about the MSPN or its annual meeting, do not hesitate to contact me at Daniel.anders@towermsa.com or (888) 331-4941.

PAID Act Implementation How-to Guide Webinar, Sept. 15

August 18, 2021

Details of PAID Act Webinar with photo of Dan Anders & Jesse Shade

Join Tower’s Webinar for PAID Act implementation “How to Guide” on September 15th.

Because of the PAID Act, self-insured employers, insurers and other non-group health plans will finally have access to Medicare Part C Advantage Plan and Part D prescription drug plan information for Medicare beneficiary claimants, starting December 11, 2021. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will provide the data through the Section 111 reporting query process.

While the implementation of these PAID Act requirements is a technical one, it gives rise to many policy questions as to what payers are required to do once they have this data.

Join Dan Anders, Chief Compliance Officer and Jesse Shade, Chief Technology Officer on Wednesday, September 15 at 2:00 PM ET, for a webinar which will tackle both the technical and policy implications around the PAID Act. Topics include:

The Part C and Part D plan identification problem the PAID Act is designed to resolve.
Technical changes needed to receive this new CMS data come December.
Best practices for handling Part C and D plan data to resolve reimbursement claims from these plans.

Dan and Jesse will describe the steps Tower has taken to ensure our Section 111 reporting clients have a seamless transition to receive the PAID Act data and how Tower can work with you to identify and resolve Part C and D plan reimbursement claims.

A Q&A session will follow the presentation. Please click the link below and register today!

REGISTER HERE

Related Prior Posts:

PAID Act Becomes Law

CMS to Host Webinar on PAID Act Implementation and Upcoming Testing

August 12, 2021

Tower MSA Partners covers CMS new guide on Medicare conditional payment appeals and the upcoming Section 111 reporting webinar.

On Thursday, September 9, 2021, at 1 p.m. ET the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be hosting a second webinar on the implementation of the Provide Accurate Information Directly (PAID) Act. Per the notice:

CMS will be hosting a second webinar regarding the impacts to Section 111 Non-Group Health Plan (NGHP) Responsible Reporting Entities (RREs) related to the PAID Act, which was signed into law on December 11, 2020. The intention of the PAID Act is to help NGHP RREs better coordinate benefits by providing beneficiary Part C and Part D enrollment information via updates to the Section 111 Query Response File. These changes will go into effect on December 11, 2021. This webinar will offer important PAID Act reminders and focus on the details of the upcoming testing period, which will begin on September 13, 2021. The webinar presentation will be followed by a live question and answer session with staff from CMS and the Benefits Coordination & Recovery Center.

Check out slides from the first CMS Provide Accurate Information Directly Act webinar.

If you are a Tower Section 111 reporting client, we recently provided a draft query response file layout. This layout incorporates the additional fields required to receive Part C and Part D enrollment information and Part A and Part B effective and termination (if applicable) dates. Tower will initiate testing with the BCRC in September and make changes, if any, to the final file layout before the December 2021 implementation. Additionally, Tower’s next quarterly webinar (date and time to be announced soon), will address PAID Act implementation and best practices for resolving reimbursement claims from Part C Medicare Advantage and Part D Prescription Drug Plans.

We encourage anyone involved in the Section 111 reporting process to attend the CMS webinar.

If you have any questions, please contact Tower’s Chief Compliance Officer, Dan Anders, at daniel.anders@towermsa.com or 888.331.4941.

Related Prior Posts:

CMS: PAID Act Implementation Guidance & New ORM Termination Option

PAID Act Becomes Law

Technology Drives Better Medicare Secondary Payer Compliance

August 4, 2021

Building a Better Tower – Through Technology

You may not think about the technology that drives Tower’s Medicare Secondary Payer compliance and Medicare Set-Aside preparation services very often – and that’s understandable. You may like our simple user interface or the proactive communication our software generates to identify issues, make recommendations, and drive MSA optimization, or appreciate the S111 Management Dashboard, all without thinking about the technology behind the scenes. That’s ok because we think about it everyday. In fact, Tower’s CEO Rita Wilson put technology front and center when she and co-founder Kristine Dudley started the company, automating much of the MSP compliance and MSA preparation operations, quality assurance, and analytics for maximum efficiency, accuracy, and productivity.

With cybersecurity in the news and hurricane season upon us, we wanted to remind you that Tower has you covered in these areas, as well. Tower stores and manages all data, both internal and client information, securely via a cloud management partner, and has a dedicated “hot site” disaster recovery backup to ensure business continuity should our primary data center fail. For us, business continuity means Section 111 reporting, conditional payment negotiation and resolution, MSA triage, clinical interventions, final preparation, and submission all go on.

“Hurricanes do not affect Tower’s systems, data or internal processes,” Rita explained. “We have employees based all over the country, and before a hurricane impacts our Florida headquarters, our local employees have safely relocated to areas where they can continue to do their jobs with the assurance that the network, infrastructure and cybersecurity protection will be available. If a natural disaster strikes our primary data center location, an automatic process fails over to our private hot backup site.”

Tower had mastered the IT infrastructure to support a remote workforce long before COVID-19. Aware of steadily increasing cybersecurity threat over the last several years, the company had already secured Vigilant Technology Solutions’ services for 24/7 monitoring, intrusion detection and prevention. With VPN access that included multi-factor authentication and secure computer and telephone systems in place, it took less than two hours for employees to transition to work from home

Tower’s complex technology is overseen by Jesse Shade, who was recently promoted to Chief Technology Officer. This was Jesse’s third promotion in less than four years, which says a lot about how we feel his contributions and talents. Last year, Jesse designed our S111 dashboard to help clients avoid the upcoming penalties associated with erroneous or late reporting and to provide end-to-end visibility to your claims.

This year Jesse worked closely with Rita to secure our SOC 2 Type II attestation. The SOC 2 audit is designed to give clients and prospects a level of assurance as to how a company organizes and executes its business processes and technology in a structure that provides security, privacy, and confidentiality.

It is one thing for Tower to protect our data and yours, but a major data vulnerability occurs during data transfer between Tower and its business partners. To ensure that all data exchanged between Tower and any outside entity remains secure, we implemented a third-party risk assessment program to assess and monitor ourselves and our business partners to ensure that privacy, security and cybersecurity best practices are consistently followed.

In addition, Tower is committed to educating clients and other stakeholders. We hosted a webinar on cybersecurity for our clients and published articles in WorkCompWire last year to help educate others in the industry.

Technology changes all the time, and Tower stays abreast of these changes, always seeking new ways to build a better Tower and a better way to serve the MSP community. If you have questions about this article or technology in the industry, please contact Rita Wilson, Rita.Wilson@TowerMSA.com or Jesse Shade, Jesse.Shade@TowerMSA.com

The Patel Memo Launched the Medicare Set-Aside Review Process

July 28, 2021

The Patel Memo Launched the Medicare Set-Aside Review Process

Last week, July 23, 2021, to be precise, marked the 20^th anniversary of the Patel Memo, which set the stage for the Medicare Set-Aside industry as we know it. Released under the name of Parashar B. Patel, Deputy Director, Purchasing Policy Group for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the memo was directed to the CMS Associate Regional Administrators on the subject of “Workers Compensation: Commutation of Future Benefits.”

It addressed questions sent to CMS regional offices from attorneys who were settling workers’ compensation cases and submitting MSAs to regional offices for review and approval. Although there were some MSAs before this time, the Patel Memo of July 23, 2001, had a pivotal impact and led to the start of several MSA and MSP compliance companies, including Tower MSA Partners 10 years ago.

The memo cited regulatory authority and gave a green light for the regional office review and approval process for submitted MSAs, including criteria and thresholds for review for non-Medicare beneficiary claimants. It established instructions for the regional office to add the MSA to the CMS common working file and annual accounting requirement for the MSA administrator once the MSA was funded. The memo also acknowledged structured set-aside arrangements, confirmed that an MSA should be allocated over life expectancy and allowed for fee schedules as a basis for allocating care.

Some of its provisions did not stand the test of time and were eliminated by subsequent CMS memos. These included a prohibition on the use of the MSA funds before Medicare entitlement, indexing the MSA for inflation, and regional office review of the administrative fee and expenses to be charged to the arrangement.

Although the WCMSA Reference Guide officially supplanted the Patel Memo, the memo laid the foundation for the WCMSA review process.

If you’d like to know more about the man behind the memo, listen to this interview conducted by Shawn Deane, General Counsel of our professional administration partner Ametros.

Take Those Legacy Claims to Settlement!

July 13, 2021

a gavel and a magnifying glass to represent Medicare Set Aside settlement process

Tower’s Legacy Claims to Settlement Initiative identifies claims that can settle now or with intervention and produces smooth, efficient settlements.

Legacy claims. Old dog claims. Whatever you call them, these are the claims that languish on the books and just won’t close for any number of reasons. If you missed Tower’s webinar hosted by Hany Abdelsayed, EVP of Strategic Services last month, here is a synopsis:

Legacy Claims Defined

Legacy claims can fall into one of several categories:

Long-term open medical claims
Run-off claims
Claims from mergers and acquisitions
Claims in a guaranteed cost program
Loss portfolio transfers
Non-acute cases with a high monthly medical and/or prescription drug spend

Often, legacy claims are left in the rear-view mirror as claims representatives take on new claims. Sometimes, the injured worker or their attorney has an issue that needs to be addressed or the anticipated high cost of the Medicare Set-Aside stops the insurance carrier or employer from heading to the settlement table. However, these legacy claims can represent significant reserves and liability for these payers that impact their entire workers’ compensation programs.

Tower’s Legacy Claims Initiatives service reviews your portfolio and identifies claims that have the potential to close, both those that that can close immediately and those that can close with intervention. We provide interventions for those that need them, customizing them to your needs and workflows. We also identify claims that have no possibility of settling and position those for ongoing cost reduction. As the settlement project manager, Tower assembles a team with our partner professional administration Ametros and a structured settlement broker to smoothly and efficiently bring your legacy claims to closure.

We know that an MSA’s cost can pose a barrier to settlement. And we know exactly how to reduce unnecessary medical and pharmacy costs. When scrutinizing medical records, we often find inappropriate use of opioids, muscle relaxants and benzodiazepines, often with multiple prescribers. Our free Physician Follow-up service contacts treating physicians and obtains written changes to the drug regimen. In addition, the switch of brand drugs to generics and verification of discontinued drugs and confirmation of ongoing treatment when properly documented so Medicare can approve the MSA, can result in thousands of dollars of savings on claims.

Injured workers and their attorneys can also be reluctant to settle claims. This is where Tower’s partner Ametros, as the MSA professional administrator, can step in to talk with the injured worker and their attorney to allay any concerns they may have with closing out medical care and utilizing the MSA for future treatment. Ametros provides medical and pharmaceutical discounts and has 24/7 care advocates available to help injured parties find providers. While injured workers often complain about the workers’ comp system, some don’t want to lose their adjusters help navigating the healthcare system, and Ametros gives them that post-settlement support. Structured settlements help people who are afraid of spending all their money in a few years. Tower, Ametros and the structured settlement broker also may attend mediahttps://ametros.com/tions when in-person settlements return.

When injured workers and their attorneys understand the post-settlement benefits available Ametros and structured settlement partners, they often agree to settle.

Results:

In a settlement initiative for a large national employer, Tower and its partners were able to work with the client to settle cases with MSAs that resulted in a 43% reduction in open claims and 26% reduction in total claim costs along with a 55% reduction in CMS-approved MSA amounts compared to prior MSAs.

In a current settlement initiative started in March 2021, so far 23% of pursued claims have been settled with $60K in MSA savings because of Tower interventions.

Goal is Claim Closure

Keeping claims open is usually not the answer. At no cost, Tower is ready to assist you as your project champion in selecting the right partners for the legacy claim settlement project and developing a plan which is customized to your type of claims and your claims team. Further, this plan will identify and implement interventions to mitigate the MSA amount and alleviate the injured workers’ concerns in closing out their medical.

For more information or to consult on a potential legacy claims project, please contact Hany Abdelsayed at (916) 878-8062 or hany.abdelsayed@towermsa.com.

Jesse Shade has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer

June 30, 2021

With great pride, we announce Jesse Shade’s promotion to Chief Technology Officer. As we continue to build a better tower, we recognize its foundation of technology and the people who manage it.

Technology drives Tower’s Medicare Secondary Payer and Medicare Set-Aside processes. Our technology was designed specifically for MSP compliance processes and MSA best practices with modern development tools. It takes someone with the Jesse’s experience to really understand its complexity to continually enhance, improve and maintain it.

As CTO, Jesse is responsible for the strategic planning, development, and management of Tower’s complex technologies. These include systems architecture, cybersecurity, data transfer, business continuity, and disaster recovery.

Jesse possesses an unusual blend of interpersonal and communication skills as well as technical expertise. He is a valued member of Tower’s executive leadership team, responsible for strategic planning and the education of clients and other stakeholders.

He belongs to the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community of world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives with track records of successfully impacting business growth metrics. A thought leader in the areas of technology and security, Jesse has presented and written on these topics, while working closely with CEO Rita Wilson to ensure that Tower has state-of-the art technology and security.

During the pandemic, he managed the work-from-home technology transition and successfully defeated countless cyberattacks. Jesse also designs and develops new products like our S111 Dashboard to help clients maintain Section 111 reporting compliance that launched along with a major upgrade to the client portal and MSP Automation Suite. Most recently, he was instrumental in helping the company successfully complete its SOC 2 Type II audit.

This is Jesse’s third promotion since joining Tower in 2017 as Director of Information Technology, bringing with him 35 years of experience in IT in the insurance, aviation, healthcare and other industries. He became Senior Vice president of Information Technology two years later. Congratulate Jesse by emailing jesse.shade@towermsa.com.