In writing.  If you’re a client of our firm, we take on the insurance company for you.  So that’s not something you need to worry about.  But if you’re operating without an attorney, the best way to communicate with the insurance company is in writing.  Those adjusters have many different requirements that they need to respond to claims within a certain amount of time, request for medical treatment within a certain amount of time, and they don’t do it.

The best way to keep track of what’s going on is either getting your adjuster’s e-mail address and e-mailing things, documenting those e-mails.  Or doing it all in fax and keeping those fax confirmation sheets.  So, three months down the road, they can’t deny that they ever talked to you.

Another interesting development in the work-comp act in Minnesota is, if you’re getting ongoing weekly benefits from your insurance adjuster and they’re a day late, three days late, saying, ‘the check’s in the mail,’ that’s a very common thing.  You can request that those checks be placed in your bank account on automatic deposit.  That will help keep a record of when those checks are coming out.  It will get your money faster.  And that’s a new change in the worker’s compensation act.  So keep that in mind.