It will take six months for the Michigan Workers' Compensation Agency to recover from a computer programming error that lost 1.7 million pieces of data from the system, the WCA's interim director said today.
In the meantime, while the unit's mainframe computer is being worked on, employees are back using a manual paper system, noted Craig Petersen, WCA deputy director.
The computer data loss, he noted, had only affected the subsystem that stores contested case information, applications for mediation or hearing, docket history, claims forms and related payment information.
Mr. Petersen said for injured workers with a claim, the problem meant that it was delaying hearings on claims before magistrates or mediators from 30-to-45 days, adding that the snag should be cleared up "by the end of the month. It's a short-term problem," he explained.
He noted that previously scheduled magistrate and mediator sessions are not affected, and the glitch did not impact employer insurance records, data listings of carriers for individual injury claims or fund administration functions that pay benefits, or self-insured company records.
The problem, which was first publicly acknowledged on May 25, he noted, had occurred as technicians were trying to load a program that would provide for an electronic data interchange allowing carriers to send the agency proof of coverage. Currently hard copy is used to notify when insurance takes effect and when it terminates.
Curt Weiss, a spokesman for the state's Department of Information Technology, said the problem occurred when the state created a central IT unit, and the technician with the WCA retired without passing on key knowledge about alterations in the workers' comp system computer.
The lost information is available on microfiche, but "for all practical purposes our 14-year claims history prior to April 16, 2005 will never again be totally reliable," according to a Web posting by Mr. Petersen.
He said users knew there was a problem on April 16, but no announcement of the extent of the problem was made until May, while officials looked into what was wrong.
"We're doing the best we can to help them through this. It's not a pretty story to tell at this point," said Mr. Weiss.
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