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The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board announced this week the “eClaims,” the electronic reporting of workers’ injuries, is on schedule for a 2013 implementation.
The Board said it released the implementation requirements, supporting documentation and schedule for eClaims — completing the first phase of a transition from a paper claim process to an electronic system that is designed to cut employers’ costs for their workers’ comp claims while making it easier for injured workers to receive timely benefits.
The Board said it expects New York to see faster, more accurate processing of workers’ comp claims, at less expense to employers, by mandating electronic reporting using a standard already employed by nearly 40 states.
“Electronic reporting will reduce the cost of workers’ compensation and improve our data collection,” Board Executive Director Jeffrey Fenster said. “Delays and inaccurate paper filings lead to unnecessary controversy, disorganization, and ultimately higher costs. eClaims, and our overall modernization effort, represents the most concerted effort the state has made to deal with these fundamental issues within the system.”
This week’s announcement includes defining all the events and data that must be reported by claim administrators when a worker is injured. The Board also released an implementation guide administrators will use to comply with the electronic filing standard. Five full-day training sessions – in New York City, Binghamton, Rochester, Syracuse and Schenectady – will also occur in November.
The Board is implementing the electronic claim standard created by the IAIABC (International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions), a nearly century old not-for-profit trade association representing the majority of government entities in the U.S. and Canada that administer workers’ comp systems.
While today the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board accepts paper claims from employers and insurance carriers, eClaims mandates submissions arrive electronically and match the IAIABC standard. The first adopters, largely national insurers, will implement eClaims next June — they already employ these standards in other states. Other users will be phased in through March 2014. Smaller administrators may wish to meet eClaims requirements by submitting claims through a new web portal that is free, requires no system changes from users, and is among the first in the nation for workers’ compensation to provide immediate acknowledgement (acceptance or rejection) upon submission.
Based on the experience of other states that use the IAIABC standard, the Board said it anticipates that its adoption in New York will yield significant benefits, including:
• Improving the timely delivery of benefits to injured workers
• Cutting costs, waste, abuse, and delay in the system
• Lowering high costs associated with handling, processing, and scanning paper documents
• Reducing duplicate claim form filings
• Increasing the quality and timeliness of information received by the Board
• Improving data collection for system oversight and policy making
Source: The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board