Overview
Uniform Task Based Management System (UTBMS) Workers’ Compensation Code Set 2010
The American Bar Association (ABA) and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) facilitated the creation of a series of task based code sets to cover the major classification of legal services, including a specific UTBMS Litigation Task Code Set in 1995. Neither association officially endorsed or took ownership as such for the code sets. No umbrella management/professional development organization was created.
There was tacit recognition at the time of the creation of the litigation code set that there were distinct classes of litigation that warranted it’s special attention. It was resolved at that time to focus on introducing the concept of task- based management of budgeting and billing for litigation in general. UTBMS is digital based making it ideal for e-billing. It has become synonymous with LEDES supported e-billing applications.
Insurance defense litigation has emerged as the dominant user of “task based billing” systems. To address their specific budgeting and billing requirements a representative stakeholder group developed a modified UTBMS Litigation Code Set 2007. Subsequent to that a substantive stakeholder group with workers’ compensation expertise, although supportive of the modifications, identified task gaps in code phases and ambiguity in the wording of existing tasks.
The UTBMS Workers’ Compensation Code Set 2010 remedies ambiguities and deficiencies in task based budgeting and billing for workers compensation litigation while retaining compatibility with the methodology and integrity of the UTBMS Litigation Code Set 2007. The UTBMS Workers’ Compensation Code Set 2010 will serve both as an e-billing platform for task based budgeting and billing and a practice management guide. Each task contains a set of “Commentary & Practice Tips” that will help workers’ compensation defense lawyers and Workers’ Compensation Claims Managers to develop a mutually beneficial working relationship.