Q. My husband has been receiving workers’ compensation benefits since 1993. Every year, we fill out the questionnaire sent to him regarding if he has worked in the past 15 months, etc. These forms also require a yearly medical exam and a narrative written by the physician. No problem there. We fill out the forms and my husband goes to the doctor. This year, when we got the forms in the mail, they were the same forms we’ve been getting every year except that at the top of the form, under his case file number, it has an OMB number and an expiration date in 2014. What does that mean?
A. When agencies send out a form requesting information from citizens, they are required to clear that form through the Office of Management and Budget, which gives it a number after it has been approved. Since that requirement has been in place for decades, it’s a wonder you haven’t seen it before. Maybe the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs had so many old forms on hand that it didn’t need to reprint it until now.
