The New York Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) isn’t taking sides when it comes to empowering stakeholders to build a system that better serves injured workers.

daisyNews readers know that the WCB offers loads of educational resources and compliance support for providers, like its recurring What Providers Need to Know webinar series. Just as crucially, the WCB is making the same investment on the payer side.

On July 28, the Board's Payer Compliance unit will host a free, one-hour webinar covering payment and filing timeframes, performance thresholds for penalties, the Payer Compliance process, available resources, and more. The event, titled What Claims Administrators Need to Know, will include time for Q&A.

Representatives of insurers, self-insured employers, and Third-Party Administrators should take the time to get as familiar as possible with state requirements. No one wins when unintentional payer non-compliance creates disputes and friction that could be avoided with a little know-how.

The more informed all parties are, the better. New York isn’t leaving its providers out to dry the way some state comp agencies do. It’s in payers’ interests to be just as informed as their payees.

Find Out What Payers Need to Know

The WCB webinar is essentially a guided tour of agency expectations for payer performance and what happens when payers fall short. Payers who attend can save themselves time and money by learning how to play according to the rules and preclude needless disputes.

This is particularly important with mandatory electronic billing in effect. Both sides of the payer/provider equation incur unnecessary costs when the system as a whole runs poorly.

The resources a payer expends on battles with providers and injured workers are resources that could be put to use ensuring access to care and incentivizing trustworthy doctors to stay in the system. Reducing the friction that comes from ignorance of processes, from missed deadlines to improper payment denials, is worth an hour of study with the agency governing the system.

Getting Familiar With NY Payer Requirements

In the WCB’s webinar announcement, the agency also directs payers to its What Payers Need to Know web page, a comprehensive onboarding and reference hub that payers can visit before and after these live webinars.

Like the webinar, the page covers all the basics of how to stay on track, including:

• Becoming Board-authorized (carriers, self-insured employers, and TPAs)
• Obtaining a “W” Number, i.e., an official payer identifier
• Becoming a “Trading Partner,” a requirement for any party sending claims data to the WCB
• Accessing the Medical Portal
• Using OnBoard

The page also outlines timely filing and payments across several categories and penalties for missed deadlines, how to request action by the board, and more.

To paraphrase a classic children’s cartoon, the WCB clearly understands that “knowing is half the battle” when it comes to eliminating some of the hurdles to a smoothly-functioning system. Payers can register for the webinar here.

As an entity whose product also serves both payers and providers, daisyBill strongly encourages payers to attend.

Don’t settle for a clearinghouse. daisyBill is a WCB-approved NY e-billing submission partner. Click below to learn more:

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