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Efficiency Enhancements: Issue 8, Form Best Practices
Objection to medical bills
The NYS Workers’ Compensation Board (Board) recently announced the Notice of Objection to a Payment of a Bill for Treatment Provided (Form C-8.1B) was updated to require payers to provide a detailed explanation of their objections to bills for medical treatment. The failure to provide a detailed explanation as required can result in the C-8.1B form being deemed incomplete and denied. The form’s certification statement has also been amended to indicate that copies of the form were sent to all those required by law. Payers must start to use the revised form by January 5, 2026. Older versions of the form received after this date will not be scanned or processed.
Section 32 waiver agreement forms
Earlier this year, the Board updated its Waiver Agreement – Section 32 WCL (Form C-32) and Section 32 Waiver Agreement: Claimant Release (Form C-32.1). As of July 7, 2025, the Board only accepts the 3/25 version of Form C-32.1. Likewise, as of November 24, 2025, the Board will only accept the 8/25 version of Form C-32. Any other form versions submitted to the Board will not be scanned into the case file or processed.
A copy of the Section 32 waiver agreement must be submitted for each claim included in the agreement. Circle/underline the WCB Case ID to indicate which case or accident date each document is for when submitting the waiver agreement.
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Filing of attorney fee applications
Attorneys and licensed representatives may file an Application for Fee by Claimant’s Attorney or Licensed Representative (Form OC-400.1) via the Board’s eCase Document Upload feature. However, to swiftly address attorney’s fee requests, the Board requires that OC-400.1 forms be uploaded to eCase only before or during a hearing at which the fee request will be addressed. Once the hearing has concluded, the OC-400.1 form can only be filed with the Board via email (wcbclaimsfiling@wcb.ny.gov) or by regular mail (P.O. Box 5205, Binghamton, NY 13902-5205). Following this guidance will help ensure fee applications are promptly addressed by a judge at a hearing or by the Claims unit thereafter, as no action is taken by an examiner on documents uploaded in eCase.
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RFA-1LC eForm efficiencies
The electronic Request for Further Action by Legal Counsel (Form RFA-1LC) has reduced the number of invalid/unnecessary forms submitted to the Board and enabled the Board to schedule hearings and issue decisions faster than ever before. However, sometimes the form is submitted incorrectly, such as misusing the “Other - Request preclusion of medical report(s)” checkbox to make requests that need to be made via the online claims inquiry form (e.g., request to release attorney fees, status of hearing request, status of appeal, etc.). These requests are problematic as they undermine the purpose of the electronic form’s dynamic design and can cause the form to be improperly routed for processing. Information on when each request reason should be used can be found in the “Request Reason Quick Guide” on the Board’s website.
Questions?
If you have any questions regarding the guidance in this issue of Efficiency Enhancements, please write to outreach@wcb.ny.gov.
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