There are now new simplified, standardized forms for group short-term disability and ongoing long-term disability claims.
The two new forms will be accepted by all Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) member companies and will greatly reduce the administrative burden on physicians when assisting their patients with disability claim submissions.
“Our industry wanted to find a way to make the claims process simpler and less time consuming for doctors, so that we could help them spend more time on patient care. This represents a positive step towards improving Canada’s healthcare system,” said CLHIA president Frank Swedlove.
Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull, president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), said the CMA has been working with CLHIA to simplify the forms process. “We know that the completion of forms for industry and government takes up a lot of our members’ time, so we welcome any steps that will simplify the paperwork process and leave us free to spend more time with patients,” he said.
The new forms can be obtained centrally in both the CLHIA and CMA forms libraries and can be submitted in support of any group short-term disability or ongoing long-term disability claim to any CLHIA member company across Canada.
Group plans account for 93% of disability plans in Canada.