In 2022, Preferred Medical made a decision that went beyond typical corporate training. We entered into a first-of-its-kind partnership with WorkCompCollege.com to offer our entire team the opportunity to enroll in the Workers’ Recovery Professional (WRP) certification program. WRP is a comprehensive educational initiative that fundamentally changed how we think about our role in workers’ compensation. Many team members began their certification journey with the Workers’ Recovery Professional Associate (WRPA) program, a foundational course covering all the same core concepts as the WRP, with the option to continue on and earn the full WRP certification. All customer service team leaders and managers have completed at least the WRPA program.
This wasn’t about checking a compliance box or adding credentials to business cards. It was about deepening our commitment to a principle we’ve always believed in: that treating the whole person, not just the injury, leads to better outcomes for everyone involved.
Beyond Technical Expertise
The workers’ compensation industry has long focused on technical competence. Claims professionals learn state regulations, adjusters master compensability rules, pharmacy teams understand formularies and prior authorization. These skills matter. But Bob Wilson, president of WorkCompCollege.com, and Mark Pew, provost & founder partner of WorkCompCollege.com recognized something the industry was missing.
“We as an industry kept training people on the ‘what’ of workers’ compensation: what to do, what forms to file, what medications to authorize,” Pew explains. “But we weren’t addressing the ‘why’ behind our decisions, or the ‘how’ in terms of human interaction. The soft skills such as communication, empathy, understanding the complete stakeholder ecosystem were being overlooked, even though they’re often what determines whether an injured worker actually recovers and returns to work.”
That realization led to the creation of the WRP certification, the only formal training system in the workers’ compensation industry specifically designed to incorporate these essential “soft skills” alongside technical knowledge.
A 360-Degree View of Recovery
The WRP curriculum is divided into nine schools of discipline: Claims, General Studies, Humanities, Legal, Medical Management, Regulatory/Legislative, Return to Work, Risk Management, and Stakeholders. Together, these 64 courses and over 50 hours of content provide what WorkCompCollege calls a “Work Comp 360” approach to help each participate not only better understand their own role, but how every piece of the system interconnects. For Preferred Medical, this comprehensive perspective proved transformative.
Erin Malik, Senior Pharmacy Team Lead at Preferred Medical, describes the impact firsthand:
“The curriculum strengthened my understanding of the full claims lifecycle, which has helped me communicate more clearly and confidently with all parties involved. I’m able to explain processes, set expectations, and guide individuals through next steps in a way that reduces confusion and builds trust. The program also made me more intentional about empathy and whole-person communication—seeing the injured worker not just as a claim, but as someone navigating a stressful and often unfamiliar situation. That perspective has improved the way I listen, validate concerns, and collaborate with providers to support recovery.”
The Research Behind the Investment
Our decision to invest in company-wide WRP certification wasn’t just philosophical, it was backed by compelling data. Research shows that injured workers who report a positive claims experience, driven largely by respectful and timely contact, are far more likely to be back at work.
The financial implications are equally significant. Studies have found that empathy-centered claims practices can reduce claim costs by 20-50%. Better communication also reduces litigation. A critical factor given that attorney involvement adds approximately $7,700 to $12,400 to indemnity costs on average, while sharply increasing lost-time days.
“These aren’t soft metrics,” says Amy Wrightsel, CEO of Preferred Medical. “When we invested in WRP certification for our team, we were investing in measurable outcomes. We knew that better-trained staff who understood the complete workers’ compensation ecosystem would make better decisions—not just clinically, but strategically. And that would directly benefit the injured workers we serve, the claims we manage, and the clients who trust us.”
Changing the Culture
Perhaps the most profound impact of the WRP program has been cultural. When every member of a team, from pharmacy technicians to IT managers, shares a common educational foundation, it creates a unified language and philosophy.
“The WRP program gave us a framework for what we already believed,” Wrightsel continues. “We’ve always said that we see the person behind each claim number. But the certification formalized that commitment”
The Whole Person Recovery Method
At the heart of the WRP curriculum is what WorkCompCollege calls the “Whole Person Recovery Method,”a philosophy that recognizes injured workers aren’t just medical cases to be managed, but people navigating physical, emotional, financial, and occupational challenges simultaneously.
This perspective shifts the conversation. A worker struggling with pain medication adherence isn’t just “non-compliant”, they might be dealing with side effects, confusion about dosing instructions, or fear about returning to the job that injured them. Understanding these interconnected factors allows for more effective interventions.
The program emphasizes that recovery isn’t linear and stakeholders need to work collaboratively. Claims professionals, medical providers, pharmacy and ancillary teams, employers, and injured workers all share the same ultimate goal: safe, sustainable return to work and quality of life.
An Ongoing Investment
The WRP certification isn’t a one-time training event. It’s an ongoing commitment to professional development and industry excellence. Our team members who’ve completed the certification continue to access updated courses, participate in continuing education, and engage with the broader WorkCompCollege community.
Bob Wilson notes, “What sets apart organizations like Preferred Medical is that they view education as strategic, not tactical. They’re not just training people to do a job, they’re building a culture of recovery advocacy that permeates every interaction.”
A Model for the Industry
Since our partnership with WorkCompCollege began in 2022, we’ve seen other organizations follow suit, recognizing that technical expertise alone isn’t sufficient in an industry built around human recovery. The workers’ compensation field is changing, driven by organizations willing to invest in their people’s ability to see beyond transactions and toward relationships.
“The industry talks a lot about innovation like new technologies, AI, predictive analytics,” Wrightsel reflects. “Those tools matter. But the most powerful innovation we’ve implemented is teaching our team to understand the complete human experience of workplace injury and recovery. That’s what the WRP certification delivered. And that’s why it wasn’t just a training investment. It was a strategic commitment to being the kind of company that truly serves injured workers, not just manages their prescriptions.”
As we look ahead, the WRP certification remains a cornerstone of how we develop our team and define our culture. Because in workers’ compensation, expertise without empathy is incomplete. Technical skill without human understanding falls short. And managing claims without supporting recovery misses the point entirely.