Update, and Help with Repetitive Information


We are about 9 days into e-service, and the feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. I had the opportunity this week to attend the meetings of the Florida Workers’ Advocates and The Florida Bar Workers’ Compensation Section Executive Council.


I gave them an update on the e-service transition, which I share now with you. Since January 14, 2013, we have assisted hundreds with inquiries about carriers. Some have had problems that required some time. To others we have been able to provide very rapid responses. To date we have added more than ninety carriers to our database. 

This post is dedicated to publishing some of the answers I have had to email repeatedly, in hopes that readers will not need to email me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your contact and welcome your question; but, publishing the answers is more efficient.


Most companies are in the carrier "drop-down" (database) only once.  So if you need to have “Liberty Mutual” in your PFB or RACN, there is only one Liberty Mutual. This will be our process from now on. Each carrier or third party administrator (TPA) has designated one email and one U.S. Mail address for our purposes. 

They will be responsible, internally, for routing the incoming documents to the appropriate team, division, department, adjuster, location, etc. I receive a fair volume of inquiries regarding some specific address, which you are used to, which is not in our drop-down for a particular carrier.


Some self-insured companies used to have a company address and a company "risk management" address. A good example is Publix. In our new process, though, Publix has registered one email and U.S. Mail address. It is in the list under “Publix.” The same is true for WalMart, which has one address pair registered. We acknowledge that you are used to having a second “Risk Management” address, but that is no longer the case.


The Division of Risk Management for the State of Florida is under “T” for “The” Division of Risk Management. I receive many inquiries that reflect the “Division of Risk Management is not in the list." The same is true for some "acronym" companies. Before notifying us that a carrier like Preferred Governmental Claims Solutions is not on the list, please check for the acronym “PGCS.” Likewise look for the "The" on companies like "American Insurance Co," which is "The American Insurance Co."


There is no “Claims Center.” This business is “Summit” and they wish to be called that. Summit is in the carrier database and available for your use. I usually get a “please add Claims Center” communication at least daily.


Before you contact me to inform that a carrier or TPA is missing, I would appreciate you checking the Coverage Database to assure that the employer with which you dealing is still associated with the carrier you believe you want.


The Proof of Coverage Database is here 

https://apps8.fldfs.com/proofofcoverage/Search.aspx


The Menu of DWC databases that might help you in other instances is here 

http://www.myfloridacfo.com/wc/databases.html


To do that, click this link to their site. If you have not done so, I encourage you to use these databases. They are handy and user-friendly. I commend the Division for building them and for keeping them current despite the ever decreasing budget of state government.


As of this time, we have a number of carriers which we still need to add to our system. Each day we add a few and each day we receive a couple of new notifications. On average, we are clearing these missing carriers from our “working list” in about two days each. I recognize that you want them faster, and that you need this information to make your client’s case move forward. 

I appreciate your patience more than you know. However, each minute I spend replying to an email regarding the topics above is a minute that I am not on the phone with a carrier or writing to a carrier to get the information we need to add them to our listing. I appreciate your reading these points and hope they assist you.


Again, thanks for the patience and assistance.  Send questions, suggestions, ideas, problems, thoughts, comments and criticisms to david.langham@doah.state.fl.us


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