2003 Annual Report

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Schedule S - Administrator's Year 3 Annual Report for the Period Ending March 31, 2003

On March 9, 2000, the Courts appointed Crawford Adjusters Canada Incorporated/ Expertises Crawford Canada Incorporée/The Garden City Group Canada to act as the Administrator of the 1986-1990 Hepatitis C Class Action Settlement. The administration of this complex class action settlement celebrated its third anniversary on March 9, 2003.

Year One aimed at setting up this complex settlement administration. Year Two focused in part on refining processes and procedures coupled with meeting and exceeding the needs and expectations of Claimants. Year Two also included important development work in regard to compensation for loss of income/services or support; compensation for costs of care and out-of-pocket and uninsured treatment / medical expenses. As a result, we increased our claims processing resources significantly in Year Two. In Year Three, the Centre continued to process “residual claims” and “new claims”. The Centre received and processed an increased number of Requests for Review and supplemental claims. The renewal forms for loss of income/services or support were created and issued. The number of requests for disease level reassessment also increased. Our claims processing resources was decreased by 38% before the end of Year Three.

Some important year to date milestones include the following:

• Completed development work and processed a record number of Loss of Income/Services or Support claims; Out-of-Pocket and Uninsured Treatment and Medical Expenses claims.
  
  
• Developed and processed renewal forms for loss of income/support/services.
  
  
• We continued our research with respect to HCV associated medical conditions and medications for the purposes of updating the “HCV Medication List”.
  
  
• Processed all Claimant requests for a disease-level reassessment.
  
  
• Developed and programmed new sections (customer feedback tracking; costs of care; appeals and loss of income/services/support) within the customized software application known as CLASS.
  
  
• Established and implemented a claim file “archiving system” for inactive claims.
  
  
• Developed and launched the Request for Review Process (Appeals) including appointing an Appeal Coordinator, drafting template denial letters, setting up procedures with respect to conveying the claim files to Fund Counsel and the Arbitrators/Referees, at the request of Fund Counsel attending all appeal hearings held to date.
  
  
• Launched new sections on the Web site for loss of income /services/support and Out-of –Pocket Expenses /Uninsured Medication, which include the “HCV Medication List”.
  
  
• Processed and issued the $5,000 holdback stipulated in section 4.01 (1) (b) of each Plan as per Court Order.
  
  
• Scanned over 421,000 pages of claims-related documents.
  
  
• Handled over 103,000 telephone calls via the 1-800 telephone assistance line.
  
  
• Updated the www.hepc8690.ca Web site on a regular basis.
  
  
• Updated and revamped the Initial Claim Forms Package.
  
  
• Provided on-site personal assistance to Claimants as requested.
  
  
• Answered all requests for “data dumps” to be used for medical modeling and fund sufficiency purposes.
  
  
• Reported weekly to the Joint Committee.
  
  
• Met on a quarterly basis with the Joint Committee.

Operational Highlights

Total approved payments to date are $313,832,622.96.

Not all of the claims received in Year Three could be fully evaluated by year-end mostly due to incomplete submissions. Incomplete submissions mean that additional proof, tests results or documentation are needed before we can diligently make a final decision. In all cases where the submission was incomplete, we advised the Claimants in writing of what exactly was missing. Should the file remain inactive for more than sixty days as of the date said letter was sent, we attempt to follow-up with the Claimant by telephone.

The Centre saw peak staffing in Year Two due to the fact that the volume of work increased. Our work volume included Year One “residual claims” and “new claims”. At the end of Year Two, the Claims Centre operated with a total of forty full-time and part-time staff. Various key functions were assigned to individual employees, which allowed the staff in the Centre to work more efficiently and provide a higher level of service to Claimants. At the end of Year Three, the Centre had a total of twenty-eight full-time and part-time employees.

While we kept very busy processing both “new claims” coupled with claims by Approved Claimants for supplemental compensation, we also undertook several special projects in the hopes of “pushing along” incomplete claims. These projects focused primarily on the following claims:

1. Claims where the file was inactive for a period of sixty days or more;

2. Claims where individuals had registered with the Claims Centre but never returned a completed Initial Claim Forms Package to the Centre.

3. Claims where the approved claimant was eligible for Out-of-pocket expenses and Uninsured medication/treatment but never applied.

4. Claims where the approved disease level 6 Claimant was eligible for Cost of care but never applied.

Overall, these projects involved a few thousand letters and telephone calls over the course of several months.

Customer service is important to the Claims Centre. In Year Three, the average wait time for callers was seventeen (17) seconds. All “new claims” were scanned and first reviewed within 72 hours of receipt. Our service results are meeting acceptable standards.

Year Four Outlook

Year Four will once again be a busy year. The year should involve a combination of processing “residual claims” and “new claims”. Processing work relating to Requests for Review and supplemental claims is also expected to increase. We also expect an increase in requests for disease level reassessments.

Crawford & Company

Garden City Group Canada (GCGC) is an operating division of Crawford Adjusters Canada Inc. (CACI). CACI is the largest claims administration company in Canada. Services provided include claims and risk management, loss adjustment, healthcare management, class action administration and risk information services.