WCB Updates Important to ACA Members

There are a couple of important updates from the WCB to share with ACA members.

1)      WCB-Alberta will be implementing cost relief measures to reduce the financial impact of COVID-19 affected claims. The WCB have understood that this was a significant concern for members, with COVID-19 claim costs that were outside of our members control and extended periods of disability for other claims due to treatment delays.

 The WCB-Alberta information sheet, titled COVID-19 cost relief Q&A, provides more information. It indicates that cost relief measures will be carried out in the third quarter of 2020 and will include an administrative change to positively affect employers’ experience rating.

 2)      WCB-Alberta has also identified a primary reference, called AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Disease and Injury Causation, for use by WCB Physicians and Medical Consultants to evaluate causation for workplace claims. 

 The WCB believe that causation plays a key role in determining whether workplace injuries or diseases are work-related, and how an injury may have occurred. This reference will provide a standard approach in the evaluation of causation that is fair and impartial. Please see the Employer Fact Sheet for more information and examples regarding causation.