JEFFERSON CITY, MO - The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) continues to expand the use of Box Account, a virtual mailbox, to achieve efficiencies for its external stakeholders. The Attorney General’s Labor Unit recently began using Box to file Answers to Workers’ Compensation Claims filed by injured state employees.
DWC has expanded the use of Box Account to achieve better efficiencies for its external stakeholders. The pilot program began in October 2018, which allowed attorneys and law firms to submit Claims and Answers electronically, at no cost, saving time and money. This has also decreased the DWC processing time of these documents and increased the savings on postage and labor. Instead of mailing DWC three copies of the documents with one to be returned to the attorney/law firm after being stamped, the final copies are now downloaded the next business day.
Because DWC staff is no longer waiting on mail deliveries to begin their work, they can be more efficient and get through claims faster. The filings are pulled four times a day starting at 7:00 a.m. and are distributed to staff members accordingly. This has allowed for same day processing of claims.
Since October, DWC has had 102 law firms with 337 staff members sign up for Box Account. This has resulted in 2,072 total electronic filings. Though filing through mail cannot be eliminated completely at this time, the DWC is hoping to allow electronic submission of most documents. DWC Director Colleen Joern Vetter praised staff members for continuing “to respond to our stakeholders’ requests to make their interactions with us easier, more convenient, saving time and money. And there are more improvements coming.” There are no fees for signing up to use this service, all that is needed is an email address, and it will result in immediate savings in time and money.
Information on how to sign-up for a Box account is available for law firms and insurance companies.
###