Opening the Kimono

Every Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m., I have a Zoom meeting with my social media manager and SEO director. We review our weekly agenda and assess the progress we’ve made in strengthening Fed-Hurt’s market position. During one recent meeting, the topic of my weekly blog came up, along with the question of why I sometimes write about subjects not directly related to Federal employees.

In response, I explained that people often connect with the messenger before they connect with the message. To illustrate this point, I used the phrase “Opening the Kimono,” which drew a few chuckles from the ladies on the call. The first time I heard this phrase was on the show Mad Men, where one of the principals, Burt Cooper, would often use it. I assumed my colleagues might not be familiar with the phrase, so I provided some context. In feudal Japan, a lord might be asked to open his kimono to prove he wasn’t concealing a weapon while meeting with one of his adversaries. The phrase later became associated with business practices in Japan during the 1980s, symbolizing a quid pro quo — “I’ll show you if you show me.”

This explanation reflects why I write my blog. I believe it’s crucial for a company to have heart, to be authentic, and to set itself apart from others offering similar services. Each week, I aim to “open the kimono” and show the Federal community that there’s a real person behind the mission of caring for injured Federal employees. Beyond creating content for the web, this weekly writing exercise allows me to communicate with my team, share insights with our network offices, and reflect on the past while looking ahead.

The population we aim to serve is relatively small, consisting of approximately 2 to 2.25 million full-time Federal employees, depending on the statistical analysis. When I first started working with this group, I quickly realized how little I knew about reaching them. My initial approach was to connect directly with Federal unions, which are responsible for their members’ safety and welfare. While this assumption was partially correct—unions do provide oversight in these areas—I learned that most unions are highly protective of their members, and rightly so. Union officials are tasked with thoroughly vetting potential “vendors” who offer services not provided directly by the union.

In most cases, Fed-Hurt was able to provide a solution to the Union problem faced by most, if not all, injured Federal employees. Many of these unions were led by local presidents who understood their members’ pain points and were open to allowing an outsider to help solve those issues. While other Unions seemingly think that they can provide all aspects of claim management to their members. One of the key challenges that Unions face is that only medical providers registered with OWCP can issue the required medical narrative for an injured Federal employee. Fed-Hurt provides this solution to Unions across the country.

The reason behind this pain point, and the need for a company like Fed-Hurt, is that the U.S. government does not offer a straightforward path from injury to treatment under the FECA/OWCP program. The burden of opening a claim, finding a medical provider, and navigating the OWCP process falls entirely on the injured worker. Normally, this should not be too difficult, but the reality is that supervisors provide little to no assistance, and very few medical providers participate in Federal Workers’ Compensation. Even those who do often hesitate to continue when a claim is denied, let alone provide the appropriate medical narrative that is required from the beginning. This leaves injured Federal employees to navigate the process alone, which is the challenge Fed-Hurt seeks to solve with each union official we engage.

Thanks to our expertise and commitment to supporting injured Federal workers, we have a 97-98% success rate on all initial claims. For a claim to even be considered, the medical provider must submit a detailed narrative explaining the injuries and the need for care. The claim is reviewed by a claim examiner, and this examiner may or may not approve said claim.

Unfortunately, this process can cause injured Federal employees to wait weeks or even months before receiving treatment. This is what happens to Federal employees if they go to the wrong medical provider or if they attempt to navigate the system with little to no experience. Often resulting in a denied claim. This delay can be both frustrating and harmful, but Fed-Hurt has resolved this issue. We provide care to all injured Federal employees before their claims are approved, confident in our ability to get each claim opened and accepted.

This means an injured Federal employee can receive care immediately by contacting one of our nationwide locations, eliminating the guesswork for the injured worker. It’s a win for both the employee and the unions that recognize this value, allowing unions to focus on providing other services within their scope of influence. Fed-Hurt handles the medical care and oversight, leaving the Unions free to concentrate on the areas that they are experts at.

Our nationwide network of providers and office staff is ready to offer care to those who take care of us. I’m incredibly proud to offer this service, and even more proud of the dedicated people who provide that care. Have a great week, everyone.