IAIABC Perspectives

NextGen Profiles: Ryan Duke

Perspectives / December 2019

NextGen Profiles: Ryan Duke EDI QA ASSISTANT MANAGER, VIRGINIAWORKERS’ COMPENSATION COMMISSION

broad range of very specific data, we’d be unable to calculate scores and grades.

and others in different demographics than them, and it is our duty to prove them wrong. I’ve never stopped trying to prove people’s absurd (forgive me) philosophies to be untrue, and I’ve also made it a point to encourage others to push themselves out of the box, not only just generational boxes but racial or otherwise. The old teammate later supervised a department along-side of me and was easily one of my favorite people to work with to this day. Compliance Initiative have helped to make Virginia one of the most talked about jurisdictions when it comes to the success of its EDI program. His designs of the report cards were the first on its kind in the nation. The work Ryan puts in every day helps the Commission achieve our vision.” - Stephanie Sweeney, VirginiaWorkers’ Compensation Commission “Ryan is always focused on building positive morale in the workplace in an effort to keep employees engaged and productive. His efforts on the Commission’s EDI Outreach and

Ryan Duke is the Assistant Manager in theVirginiaWorkers’Compensation Commission’s EDI—QA Department. He holds an extensive career within the Commission, including the Customer Contact Center, Awards, Claims Services as well as the Document Management Division.With nearly 14 years of employment at the Commission, amajority of those years included supervision of a large team, evenmore of which specifically managing the EDI team. Ryan played a vital role in implementing a compliance program to bringVirginia’s trading partners in line with state and national requirements for submitting. This included the creation and issuance of quarterly EDI report cards for each EDI submitter. is remarkable. The uses of housed data to allow us to query specific information has made major milestones in Virginia and have been a primary source for various documents like the VWC Annual Report, as well as when requests are made of us to pull very detailed and specific information in a particular format that aligns with other states in order to pull a national set of data. Being able to pull specific claim/injury information from multiple states at once and group it together to show how states line up with one another on a regular basis is one of many ways data is used to positively impact the workers’ compensation system. The ability to pull such data has been detrimental in Virginia’s EDI compliance program. Without the ability to pull a Most recently, Ryan is responsible for many day-to-day functions of the EDI team.

Another specific example is how I’d personally like to see our agreement form process evolved into an EDI process based on the submission of Subsequent Report of Injury (SROI) transactions to automatically enter Award. This would really save a huge chunk of time between mailing forms from one party to the next for signature and then to the agency. What have you learned in amulti-generational workforce and how has that shaped you as a manager/leader? I started as an intern at my agency when I was still in high school. I tracked down files to insert incoming mail into, sorted incoming files awaiting entry of Awards (Virginia is an Award state), and entered medical payments into the claims system. I was very clerical. Upon graduation, a position opened in another department and one of my teammates said “you can’t get that job. They don’t want a young guy fresh from high school, trust me.” This teammate was 50 years of age and had worked at the agency in the same position for many years. I did get the job, and she apologized once a week for at least two years. I learned that day that not only will some people form misconceptions and notions about things like race, religion, sexuality, etc. but also about me

How do you see data being positively used to enhance service/delivery within the workers’ compensation system? Data is simply facts. It’s not theories, estimates or guidelines. If I need to see the number of fatal cases that occurred in Stafford, VA reported to the state in the year 2015, I can formulate a query and am provided data to show me exactly that. The ability to pull something so specific and concrete

Quick Facts • First Job: Flagstop Carwash • FirstWork Comp Job: Intern • FavoriteTravel Destination: Home • Favorite Social Media Platform: None, “I really dislike social media.” • Hashtag: #farmlife

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