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HARRISON TOWNSHIP — At its meeting on March 24, the Harrison Township Board of Trustees approved a three-year contract with first responder health and recovery services provider Ready Rebound in a 6-0 vote.
Township Clerk Adam Wit was excused from the meeting.
“Ready Rebound provides a physician-specific network for its members which has proven to expedite the injury recovery time for employees who are injured both at and away from work,” a report attached to the agenda read.
The contract costs $39,519.72 and the township’s Fire Department and water/sewer departments will pay their fees separately.
“The pricing is guaranteed with the three-year contract and can be canceled after one year without penalty,” the report read.
Township Supervisor Kenneth Verkest said the reality is the employees face injuries, but it also costs the township. He compared it to football players who are expected to be given expert care and the best doctors. He said he thinks Ready Rebound is modeled after athletics.
“Let’s make sure when someone is injured that they get the attention they need, they get in front of the doctors and professionals necessary to get them back in service as soon as possible,” Verkest said. “Which ultimately results in a reduced amount of insurance costs and overtime to backfill those positions.”
Alec Wons, a representative from Ready Rebound, said the main goal is to see how they can get a person the care they need within 24 to 48 hours after injury and have a diagnosis within 72 hours. The service is also available to first responders on and off duty and their families, retirees and administrative staff.
“So it’s really almost like the Disney Fast Pass to helping first responders,” Wons said.
Trustees asked if Ready Rebound works with certain hospital systems such as Corewell Health or others. Wons said they work with individual providers.
“We’re just here to pick the best of the best at that point and time,” Wons said. “It’s not like there’s one group that you’re contracted with because that’s part of the problem.”
He explained further that going through the system is part of it.
Verkest said this is not only isolating “above average” medical professionals but also steering around good or bad claims.
“We talked about in earlier conversations before we put it on the agenda how if someone isn’t providing that attention, that willingness to flex their schedule, maybe we don’t want them on our list of preferred providers because they’re not giving us that access to their time,” Verkest said.
Verkest also acknowledged that the service is experimental.
“Again, as I said, I would love to be able to say we don’t need it because we won’t have any injuries in the next three years, but that’s what insurance is for,” Verkest said. “This is kind of a layer of insurance.”
Trustee Brian Batkins pointed out a clause within the contract that stated unless there is a legal valid clause, the contract cannot be terminated. He also said he doesn’t see anything about insurance. He did have some issues with the terms and conditions and would like to see more information.
“Sure, it’s a good idea,” Batkins said. “I’ve seen it, how you integrate with workman’s comp.”
Verkest said meetings were held with the fire chief and the workers’ compensation insurance carrier. He further explained that though it was new to the carrier, they liked the idea.
“The reality is it should save them money as well and if it does save them money, that comes back on our experience rating and would ultimately save us money on our worker’s comp renewals,” Verkest said.
Township Attorney Robert Huth suggested making the motion subject to final approval by him with respect to the terms and conditions.
A representative from Ready Rebound said the township can opt out after the first 12 months.
The motion was made to approve the contract after further review of terms and conditions and the contract can be terminated after each anniversary.
