Filing a claim for long-term disability insurance (LTD) benefits can be a stressful process. Many people struggling their way through the initial phases of long-term disability claim management have questions about improving LTD claims with technology. How technology helps you manage your long-term disability claim will depend to a large extent on your individual needs and the types of tasks you personally find challenging. The good news is that there are a number of tech solutions for long-term disability processes from which to choose. For most people, the two types of tools that are likely to have the greatest impact in long-term disability claim management will be file handling apps (software applications) and task tracking or project management apps that offer assistance in keeping track of deadlines and the items in need of completion. Many apps today combine both sets of functions. Often taking time to thoroughly review the steps of the claim filing process can make it easier to select the tool or set of tools that will make sense for you.
What Are the Steps to the Long-Term Disability Process?
If you are evaluating tech solutions for a long-term disability process, there are a few items to keep in mind as you make your selections. These include:
- The types of information you will need to organize and submit: These types will generally be similar regardless of the specific condition that has led you to file or the particular specifications of your LTD policy.
- The format in which you will need to transmit the information: Most long-term disability insurance companies today do have options for filing claims and their supporting materials electronically, but the submission protocol can vary considerably, and not all providers may accept the same file types.
- The steps of the process in which you need to gather and submit the information: The steps are usually similar, but the order in which you need to begin and complete them may need to be adjusted to accommodate the timeline and the complexity of each.
How technology helps you manage your long-term disability claim will depend not just on the information you need to compile and submit and the format of the submission, but the way you personally find it easy and intuitive to schedule tasks and organize the information you need to start and complete them.
Step One: Review Plan Documents
Your policy documents will set out the procedures you need to follow to file a claim for long-term disability benefits. Often you will have received a summary of these procedures when you initially enrolled in the policy, or from a human resources (HR) benefits coordinator during employee onboarding if your LTD policy is part of an employer’s benefits package. However, there are often highly technical details that you will need to understand and adjust for, so at this point you will likely wish to get a copy of the full policy terms, and you may consider reviewing the full text of the policy with the assistance and support of a disability attorney. If you already have a note-taking system you find effective, whether it involves a physical notebook or a digital software program, it may be helpful here.
Step Two: Identify Key Deadlines
In addition to the deadline for submitting your claim for benefits, there may be specific targets for the individual components, especially in instances where the formal request for benefits is filed separately from the supporting documentation. Usually in that case you can expect that any supporting documents will need to be submitted shortly after you open a claim. You will also want to take note of the timeline the insurance company has for issuing a response, and the amount of time you have for responding to any requests for additional information or for appealing an initial claim denial.
Some of the timelines for your long-term disability claim management may depend on whether your policy is subject to federal regulations for employee benefits vs. state insurance industry regulations. If the policy is not governed by federal regulations, then you may additionally want to talk with an attorney who is familiar with the disability insurance laws in your state, since these can vary significantly depending on jurisdiction. In either case, some task scheduling and project management apps will let you import critical dates directly and map your process around them, so consider whether this feature is valuable to you as you evaluate possible tech solutions for long-term disability claim processes.
Step Three: Identify Required Documents
Any LTD claim for benefits will require medical evidence. Because different conditions yield different types of evidence, however, the forms of documentation that may support your case can depend on your situation as well as the terms of your policy.
Types of Documentation You Can Expect
In most cases, you can anticipate that you will likely be required to gather at least an attending physician statement (APS) from the healthcare professional who has been overseeing the management of your condition, and a statement of your own describing how the condition impairs your ability to carry out tasks necessary to holding down a job. A strong note-taking system can be useful for documenting the progression of your own symptoms and the treatments you have tried along the way.
Note-Taking and File Management for Personal Statements
If your own description of your condition may be submitted as a file upload rather than by completing an online form, you may wish to consider a scanning app for handwritten notes. If you have to fill information into a form, you may consider a note-taking app that allows you to draft and review your response to each question, then paste it into the appropriate field.
Sometimes these documents may be submitted as answers completing forms provided by the insurance company. Regardless of what documents are officially required, you will also want to keep in mind that meeting the minimum requirements is necessary, but rarely sufficient, to long-term disability claim management.
Step Four: Identify Additional Sources of Medical Evidence
Many types of documentation may be accepted that are not a specifically required form. Insurance claim reviewers are generally aware that what constitutes appropriate documentation of medical evidence can vary depending on the type of evidence relevant to the case. What you will want to do at this step is look for medical evidence in your case history that shows:
- You have a condition that is a recognized cause of disability in at least some patients.
- Your personal ability to function has been limited by this condition.
- The specific limitations imposed by the condition in your case make it impossible for you to work.
Often the kinds of documentation that will be useful here may be the results of the medical tests used in diagnosing your condition or in evaluating your prognosis. If you are able to cite a start date for your symptoms, that may help you in demonstrating that the condition that has caused your disability does not fall under a “pre-existing condition” exclusion.
History of Treatment Compliance
Sometimes a case history of attempted treatments that have failed to restore your health may also be helpful. Insurance companies will occasionally try to argue that treatments failed because the patient did not follow the guidelines appropriately, so if treatment failures are relevant to your case you will likely want to submit additional documentation showing that you did adhere to all of the protocols recommended by your medical care team. If you have used a habit-tracking system, including any of the various habit tracking apps available for digital devices, to track your dose compliance for prescribed medications, your participation in prescribed physical therapy, or other aspects of treatment, you may consider including that data here.
Possible Statements From Other Sources
In some cases, statements by managers or colleagues documenting how your condition has impacted your work may be appropriate. In others, these statements may be sought only if the insurance company requests additional information during the review process. Consider discussing with an attorney whether it makes sense to gather statements from people who have a non-medical familiarity with your condition at this stage. If so, you may also want to seek professional advice concerning the kinds of information that may be useful to include, based on what long-term disability insurance claim reviews look for in evaluating LTD claims. Both task coordination and file management tools may be useful tech solutions for long-term disability processes when it comes to managing this type of documentation.
Step Five: Create a Schedule
Gathering medical documentation to support a long-term disability claim can often feel overwhelming. Usually there are clear deadlines for when a claim must be filed and a clear elimination period that must be over before your long-term disability claim management can officially begin. However, it can be much harder to estimate how long the steps in your own preparation for filing a claim will take and the order in which you should initiate, not just complete, each part of that process.
Breaking the steps of the claim filing process into smaller elements can make it easier not just to verify what you will need to accomplish, but to identify the strategies for improving LTD claims with technology that make the most sense in your personal situation. Prepare for a successful LTD claim filing process by creating a schedule for yourself to follow. Place the start date for each element well ahead of the date when you will need that portion to be completed, and consider using task tracking or project management software among your tech solutions for long-term disability process.
Seek Assistance with Technology Regarding Your LTD Claim
Often disability attorneys and advocates will have seen many other individuals navigate their own long-term disability claim management. Members of support groups to which many people pursuing LTD benefits belong may also have experience. Consider asking your peers what tech solutions for long-term disability process management have worked for them, and do not hesitate to ask advocates or lawyers who have substantial experience in this area for their tips on improving LTD claims with technology.
Ultimately, how technology helps you manage your long-term disability claim will be not just about the kinds of information you need to collect and organize, or the way you need to convey that information to the insurance company, but about how you conceptualize tasks and timelines. Selecting tools that work with the way you think can be just as important to improving LTD claims with technology as finding tools that organize files or schedule tasks and track completions.
