QCARE, the Qualified Compensation Alternative for Recovering Employees, is a no-cost online designation created by ARAWC to recognize employers whose Texas injury benefit program satisfies ten published industry standards.
Texas is the only state where an employer may decline workers’ compensation. That makes the middle choice the one that matters: a responsible injury benefit program, measured against a published standard.
Texas’s traditional system, and one of the best-performing workers’ compensation systems in the country.
A responsible Texas injury benefit program that meets all ten QCARE Standards and carries the designation.
May not meet those standards, and may not provide any injury benefits to employees at all.
QCARE was created by ARAWC, the Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers’ Compensation, an organization dedicated to better medical outcomes and improved benefits for injured workers alongside cost savings for employers.
The designation separates responsible nonsubscription from the absence of a standard. An authorized representative attests that the employer’s program satisfies all ten standards; the QCARE Committee and Program Administrator review and verify the application, and designated employers appear on a public registry.
Developing and maintaining a responsible injury benefit program is the real work. Obtaining the designation afterward is deliberately simple: the application is online, free, available at any hour, and commonly takes 5 to 15 minutes.
The standards emphasize legal compliance, fairness in benefit delivery, insurance protections, and professional claims administration.
The employer accepts that declining workers’ compensation keeps negligence liability exposure in place.
Texas notice and filing obligations for nonsubscribers are met on schedule.
Medical, wage replacement, and other benefits are written down and communicated, not improvised per claim.
Reporting rules are reasonable, disclosed in advance, and applied consistently.
Coverage is written broadly rather than narrowed by exclusions that defeat the purpose of the plan.
Benefit eligibility does not turn on assigning blame for the injury.
No employee contribution, and no waiting period before coverage begins.
Disclosure, due process, and anti-retaliation protections under federal benefit law apply.
Insurance protections stand behind the promised benefits.
Claims are handled by qualified, professional administration.
QCARE guides employers and insurance agents toward ensuring every Texas employee has on-the-job injury protection, through either workers’ compensation or a designated responsible injury benefit program. About 95% of Texas employees are eligible for benefits under one or the other. The designation exists to close the remainder.
Building on common goals, extensive industry dialogue, and recent program improvements, QCARE gives "responsible nonsubscription" a definition an employer can be measured against instead of a phrase anyone can claim.
The designation promotes fairness in injury reporting and benefits coverage, and increases compliance with Texas notice laws and federal notice, due process, and anti-retaliation laws. It distinguishes employers providing quality injury benefits from those providing none.
A four-person shop and a national retailer face the same ten standards. The application does not scale with headcount.
The vast majority of companies that do not carry Texas workers’ compensation insurance are small employers. Share of Texas companies electing not to be covered, by employment size:
“All employers should have an injury benefit plan in place. The results on faster return to work, better medical outcomes, and lower costs speak for themselves.”
An authorized representative attests that the Texas injury benefit program satisfies all ten QCARE Standards. The application is online, costs nothing, and is typically reviewed in days.