DATE:         March 4, 2008

TO:             All Insurance Companies, Self-Insured Employers, and Group Funds

FROM:        Jack Nolish, Director

RE:             2006 Notice of Dispute Report

The report listed below shows the number of initial payment cases for 2006 in which a Notice of Dispute (Form WC-107) has been filed. Only voluntary payment claims were selected for this report and we have excluded any claims in which a Form 104A or 104C has been filed or in which partial benefits were initially paid. As noted on the chart below, the average for all companies is 22.52%.

We urge you to examine the report and compare your company's percentage to others in your grouping as well as to the statewide average. While I appreciate that there are going to be situations where payment of compensation should be disputed, there certainly is no excuse for filing Notices of Dispute in a high percentage of payment cases. We ask that you examine your company's current policy on this issue and remind your claims department that filing unnecessary Notices of Dispute may do more to encourage litigation rather than prevent it, and adds additional costs to the agency in having to process these forms.

If you have any questions about this report, please contact Kathy Rademacher at (517) 322-1883 or e-mail her at rademacherk1@michigan.gov.