The new and improved Ohio BWC.

The good news about the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) is that it has undergone its own vocational rehabilitation and is back working for Ohio employees and employers. The BWC itself was injured on the job in 2005 when it was beset by scandals over dubious investment schemes.

With current assets of $22.1 billion, the BWC--which last year provided coverage to more than 288,000 employers, processed more than 188,000 new claims and paid out more than $1.9 billion in benefits--touts the reduction in medical costs of about $56 million and the decline of temporary-total disability benefits by 5 percent as among its major year-end cost-control accomplishments.

To prevent the scandals that surfaced in 2005 from arising again, the BWC partnered with Governor Ted Strickland to pass a comprehensive reform bill in May 2007 that retools the bureau with a new governance structure, streamlined administrative capabilities and other long overdue checks and balances.

To implement the bipartisan reforms, Strickland appointed former American Electric Power executive Marsha P. Ryan as BWC Administrator. He and others believe her skill set can hasten the injured-bureau's own rehabilitation and get it back on the job helping workers and employers.

"I don't want to sound boastful, but I believe my decision to appoint Marsha Ryan to serve as the new BWC administrator is one of the best decisions I've made as governor," Strickland says. He lauded his new administrator for her "impeccable integrity and unwavering focus on improving the bureau." Acclaiming her performance to date as "extraordinary," Ohio's chief executive says that Ryan's leadership, and that of the new, professionalized board of directors, "are giving Ohio businesses and injured workers the balanced and accountable workers' compensation system they deserve."

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Ryan knows how inextricably tied together the mission of the bureau is with the health of Ohio's economy.

"The organizational reforms that took place in 2007 were significant milestones on the path to improvement for BWC," says Ryan, who brings her more than 30 years of private and public experience to the job. "As today's ever-changing global economy continues to challenge Ohio's progress," she says, "the BWC must continue these reforms and comprehensively improve its operations to enhance the quality of life for Ohio's workforce and promote economic success for its economy."