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WCIS e.NEWS
WCIS e.NEWS No.150
March 2, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccine Reaction Claims Reporting

The Workers Compensation Insurance Organizations (WCIO) has updated the Injury Description Tables with a new Nature of Injury Code 38 (Adverse reaction to a vaccination or inoculation) to reflect specific coding for adverse reactions to vaccinations. The description for the Cause of Injury Code 82 (Absorption, Ingestion or Inhalation, NOC) has also been updated to “Not otherwise classified in any other code. Applies only to non-impact cases in which the injury resulted from inhalation, absorption (skin contact), ingestion of harmful substances, or vaccinations”.

These codes are being adopted by DWC for reporting COVID-19 vaccine reaction cases and other NON-COVID-19 vaccine reaction cases. The WCIS reporting system has been modified to accept the new Nature of Injury code 38.

To report adverse COVID-19 vaccine reaction claims, use the new code 38 for Nature of Injury Code (FROI DN35) together with code 83 (Pandemic) for the Cause of Injury Code (FROI DN37).

To report adverse vaccine reaction claims that are not related to COVID-19, use the new code 38 for Nature of Injury Code (FROI DN35) together with code 82 (Absorption, Ingestion or Inhalation, NOC) for the Cause of Injury Code (FROI DN37).

To report regular COVID-19 exposure or positive COVID-19 test claims, continue to use the Nature of Injury Code 83 (COVID-19) and the Cause of Injury Code 83 as detailed in WCIS eNews 147. The most recent versions of the Injury Description Code tables can be found on the WCIO website: www.wcio.org and the WCIS website: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/WCIS.htm.

If you have questions about WCIS reporting, please contact your designated trading partner contact or the WCIS at mailto:WCIS@DIR.CA.GOV.

WCIS trading partner contacts:

Johnny Lee
email: jblee@dir.ca.gov
phone: 510-286-6772
Trading partner letters A, C, G, I-L, S-V, Z

Elisema Cantu
email: ecantu@dir.ca.gov
phone: 510-286-6763
Trading partner letters B, D-F, H, M-R, W-Y

Antoinette Esqueda
email: aesqueda@dir.ca.gov
phone: 510-286-6773
Medical reports technical contact

Contents of this bulletin do not change existing regulatory requirements; they provide additional or revised detail about the technical implementation of those requirements. All technical changes will subsequently be reflected in other WCIS documentation. Any bulletin can be forwarded as needed, but should be forwarded in its entirety and without modification. If you have received a forwarded copy of this bulletin and are concerned about its authenticity, you can view this and previous bulletins on our WCIS web site: www.dwc.ca.gov/wcis.htm.

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