The system for workers’ compensation in Minnesota should be focused to the two most important stakeholders: injured workers and the businesses that pay insurance premiums.

That was the message from Commissioner of Labor and Industry Steve Sviggum, the former speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Republican from Kenyon.

“We can do better by the stakeholders,” he said.

Sviggum sat down with members of the Albert Lea business community last Thursday at the Country Inn & Suites. He said the compensation system needs to be streamlined and added that a financial crisis could form in about two years if no action is taken.

He said there are many additional interests that have found a niche source of revenue and became built in to the workers’ compensation system — costing time and money for government and business. He pointed to the repricing industry as one example.

He called for less confrontation, fewer steps and quicker payouts, which would result in less litigation and thus less costs. He wants assured payments, too, so businesses know what they will get.

Sviggum said he plans to work through the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council, a state committee comprising labor and business that has the authority to draft bills and submit them to the state Legislature. Former state Rep. Dan Dorman said WCAC bills do not get amended and said it is up to the lawmakers to vote on the bill itself.

Sviggum talked with the group about “employer choice of physician,” which prevents doctor shopping and expands managed care. He talked about bill auditing, saying it is necessary but has too many interests slowing the audits. He talked about safety and vocational rehabilitation.

“Our focus is to get people back to work,” he said. “And our major goal is to keep people from getting hurt.”

After people in the room gave examples of workers who want to work but cannot because of delays in the system, Sviggum talked about disputes with doctors who won’t make decisions and about the need for doctors to have a better grasp of “light duty.”

He talked about hurt workers who might become healthy but become accustomed to the compensation payments as a result of system delays.

“The longer people are in the system, the longer it takes them to get back to work,” he said.

He said the entire system is riddled with doctors, bean counters and others who lack the willingness to make firm decisions.

“Our biggest frustration is nobody is willing to make a decision,” Sviggum said.

For people out of work and on assistance, he proposed a bonus system to give people an incentive to return to work. “We tried caps and it didn’t work. We will try the incentives end,” he said.

Sviggum proposed what he called the “15-15-15 approach” for bill determination. It gives 15 days for the provider and the business to make decisions and another 15 days to appeal.