A strong focus and commitment to injury prevention is the most surefire way to improve your safety metrics and reduce your workers’ comp costs. When prevention activities fail and an injury occurs, it is equally important to have strong claim-handling procedures in place. In fact, our data supports that claims reported within a week are 44% less expensive than those reported at four weeks! Here are some other benefits of early claim reporting:
- Decreases attorney involvement – 31% of claims reported after 4 weeks have representation.
- Expedites Claim closure – 71% of claims reported after four weeks are still open at 18 months.
- Allows immediate incident investigation, which can help your safety team identify cause and avoid similar injuries as soon as possible.
- Promotes a caring and helpful atmosphere. When you know an incident occurred you can help your worker navigate the confusing L&I system and overcome barriers with medical treatment.
- Provides critical information for early claim management.
- Generates a level of accountability and helps you avoid fraudulent claims.
Our team of dedicated claims managers are here to help you navigate the claim process, and the sooner we know about a claim, the sooner we can help. Please report claims to us immediately by:
- calling your ERNwest Claims Manager
- reporting claims via email at claimsreporting@ernwest.com or
- reporting claims securely online in our ERNwest Reporting Portal.