May 7, 2020
Per SB 241, firefighter, emergency medical technician, paramedic, peace officer, or health care providers who are diagnosed with COVID-19, are presumed to have contracted it on the job and workers’ compensation will apply. This does not impact dependents or spouses of these employees. Any member that is presumed COVID-19 with these job titles must file a claim with the appropriate workers' Compensation carrier; this could be Office of Worker's Compensation or their Self-Funded Compensation Carrier.
If a member of this group seeks care, they should notify you they believe they contracted COVID-19 in the course of their job. The claim will need to be coded appropriately as a workers’ compensation claim and submitted. Premera pends the claim and asks the member to complete an Incident Questionnaire to obtain the worker’s compensation information. The claim will either be processed by workers’ compensation or by Premera, depending on the results of the Incident Questionnaire.