November 28, 1995
Wisconsin Workers Compensation Leads Cyberspace Race
Wisconsin Worker's Compensation has the most successful electronic reporting program
in the nation. The Division now receives 39 percent of its first reports of injury
electronically, the highest in the country. (South Carolina was second, with 33 percent.)
More than a dozen insurance carriers and self-insured employers have reported 29,000
claims this year. Several more carriers are slated to go on-line before the end of the year
Electronic reporting is an innovative program that saves time and money. Worker's
Compensation staff can process electronic claims nearly four times faster than claims
submitted on paper, and more accurately. This efficiency can help ensure injured workers
receive payments and medical treatment promptly, which can minimize the number of
claims that end up in costly litigation.
Electronic reporting also increases efficiency for the carriers who report the claims,
helping to keep costs down. Don Grassl, Assistant Vice President for Worker's
Compensation Claims at Employers Insurance of Wausau, which was the first carrier in
Wisconsin to send first reports of injury electronically, speaks highly of electronic
reporting.
"It increases our efficiency (and) gives us information about the WC system we can use for
analysis."
Richard J. Bagin, Director Worker's Compensation/Medical Services at self-insured
Briggs and Stratton, which has been reporting electronically for two years, said the system
works well.
"I endorse it," Bagin said. "It definitely leads to better efficiency, less paper shuffling.
From a procedural standpoint, it eliminates one step in the process."
The Worker's Compensation Division also has started receiving subsequent reports from
one carrier - Kemper Insurance - and will add other carriers to the list by early 1996.
Subsequent reports contain information concerning payments made to injured workers and
the amount of time lost from work.
Electronic reporting of subsequent reports could provide major relief from an avalanche of
paper. On average, for every work-related injury reported to the division - about 75,000 a
year - carriers generate three subsequent reports.