Q: How do I know if my company needs to respond to this data call?
A: If your company is on the list of selected insurance carriers, it must respond to the data call.
Also, your company must respond to the data call if it is a member of one of the commercial insurance carrier groups on the list of selected insurance carriers and it writes workers’ compensation insurance coverage in Texas. Commercial insurance carrier groups listed in the data call must coordinate with their member companies and provide one combined response for the entire group. See the data call instructions for more information.
Q: My company writes workers’ compensation insurance coverage in several states. Do I need to submit data on Texas COVID-19 claims only or COVID-19 claims nationally?
A: The data call requests summary information on Texas COVID-19 exposures and injuries reported to the insurance carrier since December 1, 2019.
The purpose of the data call is to provide the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation with information necessary to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the Texas workers’ compensation system.
Q: My company is on the list of selected insurance carriers, but we don’t have any COVID-19 exposures or injuries to report. Does my company still need to respond to the data call?
A: Yes, all selected insurance carriers must submit a response to the data call and report the information requested. If your company does not have any COVID-19 exposures or injuries to report, then your data call response should indicate that. Also, the data call contact must complete the certification section of the spreadsheet to certify that the information is complete and accurate.
Please note the data call timelines and instructions, and do not submit a response to the data call before the end of the data call reporting period.
Q: If a COVID-19 claim arises under an excess workers’ compensation insurance policy, should we report it in the DWC data call? If so, what do we report (for example, payments made by the insurance carrier only or all combined payments made by the self-insured and the insurance carrier)?
A: Yes, you should report all the workers’ compensation payments made on a COVID-19 claim in the data call, regardless of whether a payment was made by the self-insured or the excess insurance carrier.
This also applies to workers’ compensation large deductible policies. The workers’ compensation insurance carrier should report all the workers’ compensation payments made on the claim, regardless of whether the payment was made under the deductible portion of the policy.
Q: I’m confused about how to report salary continuation payments to an injured employee in the data call. What if I know there was salary continuation, but I don’t know how much was paid to the injured employee?
A: When reporting income benefits for COVID-19 claims in the data call, insurance carriers should include any salary continuation that was paid to the injured employee instead of income benefits.
Insurance carriers should know the amount of salary continuation that was paid to an injured employee, so it can calculate an injured employee’s post-injury earnings correctly under 28 Texas Administrative Code Section 129.3.
If an insurance carrier doesn’t know the amount of salary continuation that was paid, but knows the amount of temporary income benefits that would have been owed to the injured employee, report that amount and note the reporting issue in the optional box on the data call.
Q: Should I report injuries resulting from an adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine as part of DWC’s COVID-19 data call?
A: No, injuries resulting from an adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine should not be reported as part of DWC’s COVID-19 data call. Only COVID-19 exposures reported to the insurance carrier as work-related, as well as the number of COVID-19 claims with a positive test or diagnosis should be reported on the COVID-19 data call.