Update: As of April 1, 2021 Gallagher Bassett can locate and process claims for Foster Farms employees.

Workers’ compensation claims for injured employees of Foster Farms are in digital limbo, following the self-insured poultry company’s switch to Gallagher Bassett as their new claims administrator.

Due to the snail’s pace of claims data migration at Gallagher Bassett, it is currently impossible for providers to request authorization, submit bills, or even check the status of existing Foster Farm claims. In effect, Foster Farms currently has no claims administrator, because Gallagher Bassett offers only vague assurances that claims will be accessible sometime later this month.

The situation described below is clear non-performance of both companies’ responsibility to help ensure care for employees and proper remuneration for providers. Sadly, neither providers nor injured workers are offered any protection from Foster Farms or Gallagher Bassett’s apparent disregard of California workers’ comp laws and regulations.

Clearly in no rush to reimburse providers for treating Foster Farms workers, Gallagher Bassett is treating compliance as a game of poultry.

Injured Workers’ Claims Lost in the Shuffle

Effective March 1 of this year, self-insured employer Foster Farms announced that Gallagher Bassett would administer all workers’ compensation claims. In the announcement, Foster Farms included a Gallagher Bassett address for billing and other correspondence, as well as a phone number and email address for inquiries.

When DaisyBill agents reached out to Gallagher Bassett, we discovered that Foster Farms claims data is simply nowhere to be found.

What followed was a deep dive on behalf of our providers into a wasteland of ignorance, misdirection, and mis- and non-information. In the search for the missing claims, DaisyBill representatives bounced back and forth between Gallagher Bassett and Foster Farms, neither of which could provide answers. Our journey into the fog of claims maladministration is condensed below:

For a taste of what providers and their representatives must endure simply to conduct business with Gallagher Bassett, listen to our agent’s call below. Highlights include: a 4-minute phone tree to nowhere and a suggestion we revert to non-electronic billing (complete with an incorrect billing address). Actual dialog with a human being starts at 4:02, and we have edited out personal identifying information.

While representatives for both companies were cordial and apologetic, the facts remain:

• No one can access these injured workers’ claims.
• Providers cannot bill for services rendered to Foster Farms employees.
• Gallagher Bassett is currently incapable of compliant responses to providers.

As of this writing, Gallagher Bassett cannot provide a specific date for when providers can expect normal claims administration. According to a Gallagher Bassett representative, completion of claims data migration “is anticipated to be later this month.” Gallagher Bassett will assign new claim numbers for all claims.

Yes, migrations of this sort take some time and planning, but the Foster Farms transition was presumably planned well in advance; yet now providers (and injured workers) are left holding the bag, waiting for Gallagher Bassett to start doing what it’s paid to do.

Without access to critical claim numbers, providers cannot submit Requests for Authorization or bills for treatment. In playing this duet of ignorance, both Gallagher Bassett and Foster Farms’ actions signal a lack of concern about injured workers and whether or not they are receiving treatment.

When claims administrators misbehave, DaisyBill agents fight the good fight on behalf of providers. We combine technology that works with professionals who care. Schedule a free demo, and see what DaisyBill can do for your practice.

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