California Workers’ Comp Division “Tames Backlog”

California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation, which recently implemented a multi-phase plan to help its district offices process paper into the Electronic Adjudication Management System (EAMS), said it has reduced the paper backlogs at its 24 district offices, some by more than 70 percent.

Prior to the EAMS system, the Division said some large offices had months of accumulated files to process. Over a three month period, for example, Long Beach reduced its backlog from 1,255 total inches of paper to 732; Los Angeles cut 900 inches down to 102; and Van Nuys, DWC’s largest office, reduced its 1,095 inches of paper to 246.

“The taskforce has done a great job in helping get our district offices on top of the situation, and now filers will see a quicker response when they bring in new documents,” said DWC Regional Manager Joel Harter.

In April, the division did an inventory to measure the extent of the backlog in each district office. A taskforce was created to help district offices eliminate their backlog by focusing on one office at a time and on forms filed after Jan. 1, when scanner-ready OCR forms were required. The taskforce scanned and completed the backlog while the office staff concentrated on day-to-day business.

At each office, once the taskforce is finished, the EAMS internal training team follows up with district office staff to provide ongoing training, while the external user training team comes in to help filers understand how to fill out the OCR forms correctly. This process should help prevent the backlog from growing again.

Source: DWC