Employers: 4 Ways to Create a Faster Claims Reporting Process
When you manage workers’ compensation for a company, you have two priorities: get your employee the care they need and get them back to work ASAP. Having likely experienced a few drawn-out cases, you know how arduous and time-consuming they can become.
There are a few factors that prolong injured worker cases, but the most common roadblock is when employees don’t know what to do or who to contact once they’ve been injured. As they try to navigate internal business lines and stakeholders, precious time is lost reporting the injury, assigning case managers, getting the proper treatment and ultimately helping them get back to work.
Here, we outline four ways to create a faster claims reporting process for employees, setting you up for a faster, more streamlined case.
1. Create a general mailbox to report injuries
Rather than driving employees to a person or team, create a generic mailbox, like injured@xyzcompany.com, that anyone on the claims, workers’ compensation, injury management or HR team can access and manage.
Employees will have an easier time remembering a dedicated email address over a person they’ve likely never interacted with and the shared inbox creates a more streamlined workflow for the claims team.
2. Review your internal claims reporting pathway
Carve out a day to gather the appropriate stakeholders and map out what happens from injury reports to employees returning to work. Where are things running smoothly? Getting held up? How can you simplify and streamline the process? What additional resources might you need? Don’t be afraid to explore technology platforms and/or apps to help automate and expedite the workflow.
3. Find a medical case management team you trust
Great medical case management teams act as the air traffic controllers of the case management process. They know the various stakeholders, understand everyone’s objectives, are experts on the deadlines, regulations and protocols of each state and can help you navigate the nuances and roadblocks that exist in getting the injured worker the care he or she needs.
The best case managers have two objectives: to make your job easier and get the injured worker healthy and back to work ASAP. Here at Viscardi, we’re proud to be known for some of the quickest and most efficient case management in the Northeast and getting injured workers back on the job faster than the national standard. (If this is a resource you’re looking for, we’d love to chat.)
4. Create a simple education program for employees
Claims processes are expedited significantly when employees have a baseline understanding of how the process works. We encourage companies to educate employees on three things:
Who to contact: injured@xyzcompany.com
What to expect: Once the employee emails the inbox, what are next steps? How soon should they expect a response? What is the employee responsible for and what is the company responsible for? This context speeds up cases that often get bogged down in employees trying to get these foundational questions answered. It also helps to calm the nerves of employees managing both an injury and a complex process at the same time.
The importance of timely reporting: If injuries aren’t reported within 24 hours, the risk of fines and penalties for “lag time” increases. You want employees to know to reach out ASAP within that 24 hour period.
We’ve seen companies educate employees in a number of ways—from webinars to email communications to dedicated online portals. Teaching people what to do if they get injured on the job is similar to getting people to pay attention during a safety demonstration on an airplane: the more accessible and entertaining you can make it, the more you’ll hold their attention.