Minnesota
Wells Fargo Insurance Services, Bloomington
Maguire Agency, St. Paul
R J F Agencies, Minneapolis
Apollo Insurance Agency, St. Cloud
Northern Capital Insurance, Minneapolis
Liscomb Hood Mason Co., Duluth
Mahowald Insurance Agency, St. Cloud

Wisconsin
R & R Insurance Services, Waukesha
Fish & Schulkamp, Madison
Robertson Ryan & Associates, Milwaukee
The Vincent Group, Green Bay
A N Ansay & Associates, Port Washington
The Starr Group, Greenfield
CRB Insurance Agency, Racine

SFM began electronically submitting lost-time First Reports of Injury to state reporting agencies earlier this year.

“Electronic reporting reduces costs and turnaround time on First Reports,” said Meg Kasting, SFM vice president, Claims.

It also helps reduce the state work comp system’s processing costs. The cost to process a paper First Report is $3.97 compared to $1.77 for an electronic First Report, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

SFM also began submitting First Reports electronically in Wisconsin earlier this year.

State regulatory agencies, which monitor the timely payment of benefits to injured workers, require workers’ compensation insurers to forward to them all First Reports involving wage-loss or other injured worker benefits.

Because SFM is now doing this electronically, it is asking policyholders for a few minor new things when they report injuries to SFM. For instance, employee gender and marital status are now required. Ultimately that benefits the employer because the information is captured to more closely align with OSHA recording requirements so employers can use the First Report in lieu of the OSHA 301 form.

Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Steve Sviggum recently appointed three SFM people to Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council work groups.

SFM Vice President Meg Kasting will serve on the 12-member “Employer choice health care benefits” work group. The group will make policy and operations recommendations for employer medical choice options and the continuation of healthcare and other benefits to injured employees.

SFM Medical Services Manager Rose Hatmaker will serve on the nine-member “Repricing industry” work subgroup, which is part of the WCAC “Work group on billing and auditing processes.” The subgroup will review the need for a professional code of conduct and regulation of the repricing industry within the workers’ compensation industry.

Tim Collin, president and chief operating officer of CompRehab, an SFM subsidiary, will serve on the 12-member “Vocational rehabilitation” work group. The work group will make policy and operations recommendations on qualified rehabilitation consultant practices.

SFM recently expanded its Wisconsin-based staff by adding a new loss prevention specialist, Dave Guettel, to meet the growing needs of policyholders.

Guettel, based in Port Washington, Wis., has more than 30 years’ experience assisting Wisconsin employers with loss control efforts. He joins SFM’s experienced Wisconsin staff of underwriters, claims representatives and loss prevention.