Phoned In FROI (First Report of Injury) Reader Response To My Last Article
A reader phoned in FROI response left an unapproving voice mail this morning. My last article covered the First Report of Injury coding becoming very important due to COVID-related claims.
The reader said examples of the sections in the FROI should have been included in my last article.
The old saying – “The customer is always right” rang true in this example. We put the rush on this article to get it in our newsletter for today. Gulp! – deadlines!
The WCIRB (California Rating Bureau) sent out a press release that any Corona virus-related claims will not count in any California employer’s X-Mod.
I had recommended employers use their carrier or TPAs online claims systems. A phoned in FROI or a paper report may cause the carrier’s data inputters to code a COVID-related claim as not related to the coronavirus.
Two First Report of Injury Examples
I decided to show the readers two examples of what you must fill out that make a claim considered and coded as COVID-related. Please note these are image thumbnails – click on them to see a larger image.
The two are cutouts of the paper reports of injury. The first one is from California. The second cutout is from our HQ state North Carolina.
The California Form 5020 covers the injury or illness a little more thoroughly than the North Carolina Form 19. I am not sure if either state has or will devise another form or attachment to identify COVID-related claims.
Cannot Fill Them In – Even The Examples
Our legal advisor said that I should not fill in each for examples of how to designate them as COVID-related. That cuts down what I was going to cover in the article.
My advice from the last article I wrote is to try to attach the physician’s statement to the FROI if possible. Be explicit as possible when filling out the report or if you are doing a phoned in FROI.
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