Employers don’t always know how important it is to report work injuries immediately.

As an agent, you can provide vital information on how timely reporting can impact the trajectory of a workers’ compensation claim.

The following are just a few of the benefits of reporting injuries right away:

• Start the claim off on the right foot.
  Reporting injuries immediately lets workers know their employer wants to see that they’re taken care of. It also gives their claims representatives time to gather all the necessary information to determine whether a claim is compensable.
• Avoid state penalties.
  States limit the amount of time between when an employer learns of an injury, and when the claim is accepted or denied. If the claim isn’t reported to SFM in time to meet the deadline, the employer could face fines.
• Get more out of accident investigations.
  Reporting right away gives employers and claims representatives the best chance of finding out exactly what happened while it’s still fresh in the minds of the employee and witnesses. This helps employers take steps to ensure that a similar injury doesn't happen again. It also helps claims representatives learn whether the employee's account of what happened is accurate and identify any third parties that might have been at fault.
• Take full advantage of the nurse option.
  Injured workers can get a treatment recommendation from a registered nurse when employers report immediately through the SFM Work Injury Hotline. This can prevent unnecessary hassles and costs and get the injured worker the best care for the injury — whatever that may be.

Encourage employers to report injuries to SFM first

To reap the benefits of reporting right away, it’s important to have employers report injuries directly to SFM first, rather than your agency. If you would like to be notified immediately anytime a claim is reported, you can set up alerts in SFM Agency Manager (SAM). Click on “manage alerts,” and then select the “FROI received” alert option.

For your clients, our Work injury claim packet is a handy resource that employers can reference to help them report and manage workplace injuries.

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