EDI Update
As you may know, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission is currently advancing its technological capabilities to streamline its claims administration and handling. Through EDI, or electronic data interchange, the Commission will be able to process claims information electronically from insurance companies, self-insured and self-administered employers, and third party administrators.
The Commission also issued proposed regulations on EDI that not only dealt with the electronic processing of claims information, but aimed to potentially change claims administration in a variety of ways – most notably, in the area of entering awards on behalf of injured workers in “non-disputed cases.” Understandably, these regulations met with some concern from the business and insurance industry.
A selection of representatives from the business and insurance industry, including Ralph Whitt and Mike Del Bueno, recently met with the Commission to discuss EDI and the proposed regulations. The meeting was a chance to learn and share information, express thoughts and ideas, and talk about the directions in which this new venture may be taking the workers’ compensation industry in Virginia.
Whitt and Del Bueno have now learned that the Commission has decided to withdraw the proposed regulations regarding the entering of awards in “non-disputed cases.” The Commission is still going forward, as previously planned, with its EDI initiative and the phased implementation of EDI injury reporting that is scheduled to begin in October of 2008.
For more information about EDI and how it may affect your claims handling and administration, you may want to look at the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission’s website at www.vwc.state.va.us.