WCDefenseCA

Happy Monday, dear readers!

Your humble blogger has missed you these past few weeks and is so happy to be back, infecting your in-box and polluting your computer screens.  I bring to your attention today a topic so exciting, so thrilling, so prone to make the hair stand on the back of your neck, that I almost thought it appropriate to get a rating on this blog post before publishing it.

It’s not about cool ninja krav maga fighting at the WCAB. It’s not about a worker who claimed an injury after he was bit by a radioactive spider but then was photographed fighting crime while technically on TD. It’s about new EAMS regulations proposed by the WCAB!  Search your souls, dear readers – is that not the most exciting news ever?

Some of the changes are relatively minor – insurance companies will receive UANs much like claims administrators and attorneys.  The proposed regulations codifies electronic or digital signatures as well as scanned handwritten signatures and eliminates section 10205.6 which allowed parties to designate their preferred method of service, which is appropriate as accepting service by e-mail is not optional any more (see 8 CCR section 10625(b)(2).)

You can read the full text here, but the big takeaway for immediate action is that, since there are some insurance companies that are distinct entities from the claims administrators already registered with the EAMS system should do so promptly once the new regulations are approved and implemented.  The way to do so is to contact the Central Registration Unit via e-mail at CRU@dir.ca.gov and providing the insurance company’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. 

So, dear readers, follow your humble blogger as we take yet another step forward into the future and shift from paper to electronic everything!