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SIBTF

SIBTF Definition Under the New 2026 Changes

The Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) remains a California state program that provides additional workers' compensation benefits to injured workers who had a pre-existing disability or impairment before suffering a subsequent work injury. When the pre-existing disability and the new industrial injury combine to create a substantially greater overall disability, SIBTF may provide benefits beyond those owed by the employer for the later injury alone

Comprehensive SIBTF Services

From Eligibility to Compensation — We’ve Got You Covered

Foremost Legal Services can assist you with your SIBTF cases, we can provide the following:

Review cases for eligibility

Set up SIBTF medical evaluation

Back office support to handle SIBTF case load

Settlement consultation

SIBTF confirmation package assistant

SIBTF hearing assistance

The Foundation of Every Successful SIBTF Claim Starts With the Right Medical Evidence.

Foremost Legal Services specializes in comprehensive medical discovery, helping attorneys uncover the records, documentation, and proof needed to meet California's evolving SIBTF requirements. With decades of experience and a commitment to innovation beyond discovery, we're here to help strengthen your cases from the start.

Contact us via email at sibtf@foremostlegalservices.com

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FAST AND ACCURATE RECORDS & DOCUMENT DELIVERY

Every Order Handled by Experts—Never Outsourced, Always Trusted

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SIBTF Medical Discovery Services

New 2026 SIBTF Guidelines Demand Stronger Pre-Existing Medical Evidence

With the implementation of the new 2026 SIBTF guidelines, establishing and documenting pre-existing disability has become more critical than ever. The burden of proof continues to increase, making comprehensive medical discovery essential to support a successful Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) claim.

At Foremost Legal Services, we specialize in locating, organizing, and delivering the pre-existing medical records and evidence necessary to meet today's heightened SIBTF requirements. Our experienced team understands the challenges attorneys face in proving qualifying pre-existing impairments and works diligently to uncover the documentation needed to strengthen your case.

Our SIBTF Medical Discovery Services Include:

Comprehensive pre-existing medical record searches​

Historical provider and facility identification

Medical records retrieval and organization

Disability documentation support

Chronological medical summaries

SIBTF-focused discovery assistance

Don't let missing records jeopardize a valid SIBTF claim. Partner with a team that understands the importance of thorough medical discovery and has decades of experience supporting California workers' compensation professionals.

Foremost Legal Services

Helping Attorneys Meet the Growing Demands of SIBTF Medical Discovery.

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To initiate a comprehensive review of your case, contact our SIBTF team and upload your documents . This will allow our team to assess your potential eligibility for benefits under the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) through a detailed analysis of your medical history, prior impairments, and supporting documentation.

SIBTF Office
Support Team
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At Foremost, your Records Specialist conducts a thorough review of your client’s pre-existing medical history to support SIBTF eligibility. This includes gathering prior records, identifying qualifying impairments, coordinating with providers, and aligning findings with the workers’ compensation file to build a strong, evidence-based claim.

SIBTF Medical Discovery

Understanding Eligibility, Claims, and Benefits

SIBTF FAQs

Clearing Up the Confusion About Subsequent Injury Benefits

    • Application on File: An Application for Adjudication of Claim must already be filed with the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) naming the SIBTF. 

    • Disability Threshold: SIBTF claims require proof of a pre-existing permanent partial disability and a subsequent industrial injury that combine to meet specific statutory percentage thresholds (typically a combined 35% or more). 

    • Medical Dispute: There must be an active medical-legal dispute regarding the apportionment, rating, or evaluation of the pre-existing versus subsequent impairments. 

  • 1. Prepare Claim Details:

     

    Gather your exact workers' compensation claim number, date of the subsequent injury, and the specific medical specialty needed for evaluating the pre-existing or combined disabilities. 

    ​

    2. Submit the Request:

    ​

    • If represented by counsel, file Online QME Form 106 via the DWC medical portal using your EAMS Uniform Assigned Names (UAN).

    ​

    • If unrepresented, submit QME Form 105 by mail or in coordination with a local DWC Information and Assistance (I&A) officer. 

    ​

    1.  Serve the Other Parties: Send a copy of the panel request and proof of service to all involved parties, including the SIBTF/state legal representative. 

    2.  Select or Strike Physicians: Once the DWC Medical Unit issues the panel of three doctors, you have 10 days to either select a physician (if unrepresented) or execute the "strike" process (if represented) to land on the final neutral evaluator. 

    • Stricter Burden of Proof for Pre-Existing Conditions: To claim a pre-existing disability, there must be "substantial evidence" documented in medical records that existed before the new work injury occurred. 

    ​

    • Impact on Daily Living Required: The pre-existing impairment must be proven to have caused a loss of earnings, interfered with work, or directly impacted activities of daily living prior to the subsequent industrial injury. Broad non-work-disabling conditions (such as mild sleep apnea, acid reflux, or obesity) are facing intense exclusion scrutiny. 

    ​

    • New Rating Calculation Methods: For the purpose of meeting the necessary 70% threshold, multiple body parts can no longer simply be added together using old, generous formulas. Instead, they must strictly be "combined" under modern workers' compensation rating tables, making it much harder to reach the lifetime benefit threshold. 

    ​

    • New Statutes of Limitations: Claims face a tighter deadline. In general, applications must be filed within five years of the subsequent work injury, or within a brief window after the permanent disability tier is finalized. 

    ​

    • Mandatory Independent QME Medical Reports: The law moves away from allowing a worker's personal treating physician to establish the fund's requirements. Neutral, Qualified Medical Evaluators (QMEs) are now standard to control excessive medical-legal evaluation costs. 

  • 1. You Cannot Submit Post-Injury "Retrospective" Medical History

    ​

    • The Change: You can no longer submit an application where the pre-existing condition is only documented after your work injury happened. 

    ​

    • What is banned: Medical reports written after the fact that simply say, "The patient recalls having back pain ten years ago."

    ​

    • What you must use instead: You must submit contemporaneous medical records—meaning hard medical evidence doctor's notes, X-rays, prescriptions) that actually existed before the subsequent industrial injury occurred. 

    ​

    2. You Cannot Submit "SIBTF-Only" Medical-Legal Reports (Track B)

    ​

    • The Change: For standard "Track B" claims, the law eliminates standalone medical evaluations created exclusively for the SIBTF case after the main workers' comp case is over. 

    ​

    • What is banned: Separate, privately retained expert medical reports generated specifically to boost your SIBTF claim. 

    ​

    • What you must use instead: All medical discovery must happen directly within the primary workers' compensation claim. The QME reports, depositions, and supplemental questionnaires from your actual work injury case are the only medical-legal foundation allowed. 

    ​

    3. You Cannot Submit Standalone Vocational Expert Reports

    ​

    • The Change: In an effort to curb administrative and litigation costs, the state has restricted outside evidence.

    ​

    • What is banned: Vocational rehabilitation expert reports created solely for the purpose of the SIBTF proceeding are now legally inadmissible. 

    ​

    4. You Cannot Submit Common, Non-Labor-Disabling Ailments

    ​

    • The Change: The state is heavily cracking down on minor, lifestyle, or non-work-limiting health issues that applicants previously stacked together to hit the 70% threshold.

    ​

    • What is banned/excluded: You can no longer successfully submit claims for conditions like mild sleep apnea, obesity, acid reflux, heartburn, or minor arthritis unless you have pre-injury medical proof that it explicitly caused a loss of earnings or directly interfered with your daily work activities. 

    ​

    5. You Cannot Submit "Stacked" Formulas (The Todd Additive Method)

    ​

    • The Change: The legal precedent allowing the "Todd additive method" has been overturned.

    ​

    • What is banned: Your attorney can no longer simply add up different partial disability percentages mathematically to reach the 70% mark.

    ​

    • What you must use instead: Ratings must strictly use the Combined Values Chart (CVC), which uses a compounding scale that makes it much harder to reach the 70% threshold. 

    ​

    6. You Can No Longer Demand Interest or Penalties

    ​

    • The Change: If the state delays your SIBTF payouts due to the massive multi-year backlog, the avenues for financial recourse have been stripped.

    ​

    • What is banned: Litigating for interest on delayed awards or demanding late payment penalties against the fund. 

    • The Rule: You must have physical medical records doctor notes, imaging, prescriptions) that existed prior to your subsequent work injury. 

    ​

    • Why it's vital: If you have a pre-existing condition, but never saw a doctor for it until after your work injury, a QME report cannot magically "verify" it retrospectively. Without contemporaneous, pre-injury medical reports, your pre-existing claim will be summarily denied.

    ​

    2. All Evidence Must Be Built Inside the Main Workers' Comp Case

    ​

    • The Rule: The state has banned standalone "SIBTF-only" medical reports.

    ​

    • Why it's vital: In the past, workers would settle their main work injury claim and then hire a specialized doctor to write an independent report just for the SIBTF case. Now, all medical-legal discovery must happen within your primary workers' comp case. The primary QME or Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME) must address the complex SIBTF thresholds and pre-existing conditions right from the start. 

    ​

    3. Medical Reports Must Detail "Labor-Disabling" Limitations

    ​

    • The Rule: The medical reporting must contain substantial evidence that your pre-existing condition caused a measurable impairment or impacted your activities of daily living before the new injury. 

    ​

    • Why it's vital: A simple mention of a diagnosis (like mild arthritis or sleep apnea) in an old medical chart is no longer enough. The reports must explicitly describe how the condition interfered with your ability to work or function; otherwise the judge cannot legally award benefits. 

    ​

    4. Ratings Must Shift From "PD" to Raw "WPI"

    ​

    • The Rule: Medical reports must explicitly detail your raw Whole Person Impairment (WPI) under the strict AMA Guides.

    ​

    • Why it's vital: Under SB 171, the qualifying statutory threshold has shifted to a 35% raw WPI for the subsequent injury. Attorneys can no longer use the adjusted "Permanent Disability" (PD) numbers that relied on generous multipliers. The evaluating QME's report must be highly accurate and technical to successfully hit this raw percentage threshold. 

  • One of the most important aspects of SB 171 is the grandfather clause, which effectively creates two separate SIBTF systems operating side-by-side. Which rules apply depend on the status of the claim as of June 1, 2026 and, in some cases, whether the claim was filed before July 1, 2020. 

    ​

    Grandfathered Claims

    Claims that qualify under the grandfather provisions continue to be evaluated under the prior SIBTF framework. According to published summaries of SB 171, these claims may continue to utilize:

    ​

    • The traditional SIBTF eligibility standards.

    • The Ferguson line of cases.

    • The Todd additive rating methodology where applicable.

    • Party-selected medical evaluators and the prior evidentiary framework. 

     

    Why the Grandfather Clause Matters

    For many applicants, grandfathered claims may have significantly higher settlement potential because they remain subject to rules that existed before SB 171's reforms. Published summaries indicate that claims governed by the new law face additional restrictions, including:

    ​

    • A 35% Whole Person Impairment threshold.

    • Documentation requirements for pre-existing disabilities.

    • QME-only evaluation procedures.

    • Elimination of interest on awards.

    • Elimination of penalties. 

     

    Because interest and penalties are no longer available under the new framework, the overall value of some future claims may be reduced compared to similarly situated grandfathered cases. 

    ​

    Attorney Takeaway

    The first question every SIBTF practitioner should ask is:

    ​

    "Does this claim qualify for the grandfather clause?"

    ​

    The answer could determine:

    ​

    • Which eligibility rules apply.

    • How permanent disability is measured.

    • What medical evidence can be used.

    • Whether interest and penalties are recoverable.

    • The overall settlement value of the claim. 

Understanding Eligibility, Claims, and Benefits

SIBTF FAQs

Clearing Up the Confusion About Subsequent Injury Benefits

    • Application on File: An Application for Adjudication of Claim must already be filed with the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) naming the SIBTF. 

    • Disability Threshold: SIBTF claims require proof of a pre-existing permanent partial disability and a subsequent industrial injury that combine to meet specific statutory percentage thresholds (typically a combined 35% or more). 

    • Medical Dispute: There must be an active medical-legal dispute regarding the apportionment, rating, or evaluation of the pre-existing versus subsequent impairments. 

  • 1. Prepare Claim Details:

     

    Gather your exact workers' compensation claim number, date of the subsequent injury, and the specific medical specialty needed for evaluating the pre-existing or combined disabilities. 

    ​

    2. Submit the Request:

    ​

    • If represented by counsel, file Online QME Form 106 via the DWC medical portal using your EAMS Uniform Assigned Names (UAN).

    ​

    • If unrepresented, submit QME Form 105 by mail or in coordination with a local DWC Information and Assistance (I&A) officer. 

    ​

    1.  Serve the Other Parties: Send a copy of the panel request and proof of service to all involved parties, including the SIBTF/state legal representative. 

    2.  Select or Strike Physicians: Once the DWC Medical Unit issues the panel of three doctors, you have 10 days to either select a physician (if unrepresented) or execute the "strike" process (if represented) to land on the final neutral evaluator. 

    • Stricter Burden of Proof for Pre-Existing Conditions: To claim a pre-existing disability, there must be "substantial evidence" documented in medical records that existed before the new work injury occurred. 

    ​

    • Impact on Daily Living Required: The pre-existing impairment must be proven to have caused a loss of earnings, interfered with work, or directly impacted activities of daily living prior to the subsequent industrial injury. Broad non-work-disabling conditions (such as mild sleep apnea, acid reflux, or obesity) are facing intense exclusion scrutiny. 

    ​

    • New Rating Calculation Methods: For the purpose of meeting the necessary 70% threshold, multiple body parts can no longer simply be added together using old, generous formulas. Instead, they must strictly be "combined" under modern workers' compensation rating tables, making it much harder to reach the lifetime benefit threshold. 

    ​

    • New Statutes of Limitations: Claims face a tighter deadline. In general, applications must be filed within five years of the subsequent work injury, or within a brief window after the permanent disability tier is finalized. 

    ​

    • Mandatory Independent QME Medical Reports: The law moves away from allowing a worker's personal treating physician to establish the fund's requirements. Neutral, Qualified Medical Evaluators (QMEs) are now standard to control excessive medical-legal evaluation costs. 

  • 1. You Cannot Submit Post-Injury "Retrospective" Medical History

    ​

    • The Change: You can no longer submit an application where the pre-existing condition is only documented after your work injury happened. 

    ​

    • What is banned: Medical reports written after the fact that simply say, "The patient recalls having back pain ten years ago."

    ​

    • What you must use instead: You must submit contemporaneous medical records—meaning hard medical evidence doctor's notes, X-rays, prescriptions) that actually existed before the subsequent industrial injury occurred. 

    ​

    2. You Cannot Submit "SIBTF-Only" Medical-Legal Reports (Track B)

    ​

    • The Change: For standard "Track B" claims, the law eliminates standalone medical evaluations created exclusively for the SIBTF case after the main workers' comp case is over. 

    ​

    • What is banned: Separate, privately retained expert medical reports generated specifically to boost your SIBTF claim. 

    ​

    • What you must use instead: All medical discovery must happen directly within the primary workers' compensation claim. The QME reports, depositions, and supplemental questionnaires from your actual work injury case are the only medical-legal foundation allowed. 

    ​

    3. You Cannot Submit Standalone Vocational Expert Reports

    ​

    • The Change: In an effort to curb administrative and litigation costs, the state has restricted outside evidence.

    ​

    • What is banned: Vocational rehabilitation expert reports created solely for the purpose of the SIBTF proceeding are now legally inadmissible. 

    ​

    4. You Cannot Submit Common, Non-Labor-Disabling Ailments

    ​

    • The Change: The state is heavily cracking down on minor, lifestyle, or non-work-limiting health issues that applicants previously stacked together to hit the 70% threshold.

    ​

    • What is banned/excluded: You can no longer successfully submit claims for conditions like mild sleep apnea, obesity, acid reflux, heartburn, or minor arthritis unless you have pre-injury medical proof that it explicitly caused a loss of earnings or directly interfered with your daily work activities. 

    ​

    5. You Cannot Submit "Stacked" Formulas (The Todd Additive Method)

    ​

    • The Change: The legal precedent allowing the "Todd additive method" has been overturned.

    ​

    • What is banned: Your attorney can no longer simply add up different partial disability percentages mathematically to reach the 70% mark.

    ​

    • What you must use instead: Ratings must strictly use the Combined Values Chart (CVC), which uses a compounding scale that makes it much harder to reach the 70% threshold. 

    ​

    6. You Can No Longer Demand Interest or Penalties

    ​

    • The Change: If the state delays your SIBTF payouts due to the massive multi-year backlog, the avenues for financial recourse have been stripped.

    ​

    • What is banned: Litigating for interest on delayed awards or demanding late payment penalties against the fund. 

    • The Rule: You must have physical medical records doctor notes, imaging, prescriptions) that existed prior to your subsequent work injury. 

    ​

    • Why it's vital: If you have a pre-existing condition, but never saw a doctor for it until after your work injury, a QME report cannot magically "verify" it retrospectively. Without contemporaneous, pre-injury medical reports, your pre-existing claim will be summarily denied.

    ​

    2. All Evidence Must Be Built Inside the Main Workers' Comp Case

    ​

    • The Rule: The state has banned standalone "SIBTF-only" medical reports.

    ​

    • Why it's vital: In the past, workers would settle their main work injury claim and then hire a specialized doctor to write an independent report just for the SIBTF case. Now, all medical-legal discovery must happen within your primary workers' comp case. The primary QME or Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME) must address the complex SIBTF thresholds and pre-existing conditions right from the start. 

    ​

    3. Medical Reports Must Detail "Labor-Disabling" Limitations

    ​

    • The Rule: The medical reporting must contain substantial evidence that your pre-existing condition caused a measurable impairment or impacted your activities of daily living before the new injury. 

    ​

    • Why it's vital: A simple mention of a diagnosis (like mild arthritis or sleep apnea) in an old medical chart is no longer enough. The reports must explicitly describe how the condition interfered with your ability to work or function; otherwise the judge cannot legally award benefits. 

    ​

    4. Ratings Must Shift From "PD" to Raw "WPI"

    ​

    • The Rule: Medical reports must explicitly detail your raw Whole Person Impairment (WPI) under the strict AMA Guides.

    ​

    • Why it's vital: Under SB 171, the qualifying statutory threshold has shifted to a 35% raw WPI for the subsequent injury. Attorneys can no longer use the adjusted "Permanent Disability" (PD) numbers that relied on generous multipliers. The evaluating QME's report must be highly accurate and technical to successfully hit this raw percentage threshold. 

  • One of the most important aspects of SB 171 is the grandfather clause, which effectively creates two separate SIBTF systems operating side-by-side. Which rules apply depend on the status of the claim as of June 1, 2026 and, in some cases, whether the claim was filed before July 1, 2020. 

    ​

    Grandfathered Claims

    Claims that qualify under the grandfather provisions continue to be evaluated under the prior SIBTF framework. According to published summaries of SB 171, these claims may continue to utilize:

    ​

    • The traditional SIBTF eligibility standards.

    • The Ferguson line of cases.

    • The Todd additive rating methodology where applicable.

    • Party-selected medical evaluators and the prior evidentiary framework. 

     

    Why the Grandfather Clause Matters

    For many applicants, grandfathered claims may have significantly higher settlement potential because they remain subject to rules that existed before SB 171's reforms. Published summaries indicate that claims governed by the new law face additional restrictions, including:

    ​

    • A 35% Whole Person Impairment threshold.

    • Documentation requirements for pre-existing disabilities.

    • QME-only evaluation procedures.

    • Elimination of interest on awards.

    • Elimination of penalties. 

     

    Because interest and penalties are no longer available under the new framework, the overall value of some future claims may be reduced compared to similarly situated grandfathered cases. 

    ​

    Attorney Takeaway

    The first question every SIBTF practitioner should ask is:

    ​

    "Does this claim qualify for the grandfather clause?"

    ​

    The answer could determine:

    ​

    • Which eligibility rules apply.

    • How permanent disability is measured.

    • What medical evidence can be used.

    • Whether interest and penalties are recoverable.

    • The overall settlement value of the claim. 

  • SIBTF is the acronym for the State of California Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. It is also called SIF for short. The state of California administers this fund of money which is paid from work comp insurance premiums paid by employers. So this is not tax dollars or the “peoples” money. It is virtually unheard of by anyone except those few attorneys that represent injured workers. Even among injured workers attorneys, an extremely small percent have ever handled an SIBTF case or even understand how one successfully qualifies for SIBTF benefits. This fund is misnamed since it does not pay you for the subsequent injury. The subsequent injury is your work comp injury case. This funds should be called the “Preexisting injuries combined with work injuries fund”. But title, like the SIBTF itself, is also confusing

  • The short answer is you must have a disability that preexists your work injury. It can even be a disability you don’t know you have; what the doctors call “silent pathology”. Like degenerative disc disease you didn’t know existed until the work comp clinic doctor told you. So don’t think your preexisting disability must be labor disabling or cause an actual provable loss of earnings in the past. IT DOES NOT. Any medical condition or injury you have had since birth can and is used to support your SIBTF case. Attorneys typically use past medical records of treatment for hypertension, diabetes, thyroid conditions cancer, prior injuries, etc to help prove the SIBTF case. We then combine that prior disability with the work injury for an overall percentage of disability. Most people don’t know that they can be compensated for having prior conditions or prior injuries through the SIBTF. Most attorneys representing injured workers shy away form cases with preexisting disabilities. That is a mistake. As an example, a simple finger injury causing no more than 5% disability (with a value of a few thousand dollars) can result in a lifetime of payments from the SIBTF (with a value of hundreds of thousands of dollars) if there are preexisting conditions and the SIBTF thresholds are met.

  • As the title of this guide states, there are two thresholds or hoops you must pass to qualify. The first of the two actually has two parts or two different ways you can meet the first threshold. Remember that earlier i mentioned that the SIBTF case is made up of combining the disability from the work injury (the work injury is the “subsequent” injury) with the preexisting disability. The first threshold focuses on the work injury part and the second threshold, discussed below, focuses on the combined disability. One way to meet the first threshold is to show through doctor reporting that your work injury has cause at least 35% disability after multiplying your medical Whole Person Impairment (WPI) by 1.4. So your minimum disability for your work injury that your work doctor provides must be 25% (25% x1.4 = 35%). If your work injury is 25% WPI or better, congratulations! You meet the first threshold for SIBTF benefits. But what if your disability is less than 25% WPI? Don’t give up hope! The second way to meet the first threshold is to show that you have an injury that affects an eye, arm, hand, leg or foot (an eye or any part of an upper or lower extremity) (the injury does not have to be in that body part) and the effect is a disability of at least 4% WPI (4% x 1.4= 5.6)

     

    The law says a minimum of 5% but that is misleading since the percent must be multiplied by 1.4 to arrive at your minimum of 5%. So the doctor only needs to say at least 4%. Also the work injury (aka subsequent injury) can be a low back injury “affecting” a lower leg causing 2% in the lower leg combined with a 2% old knee injury for a 4% overall which multiplied by 1.4=5.6 which rounds to 6% and you have more than the 5% minimum required. But you ask why try to prove the higher percentage of 25% when you can get in with 5%? The answer is that if you go with the lower percentage of %5 overall you must be able to show a preexisting disability in the “opposite and corresponding” extremity or eye. Not all have a work injury affecting a left leg and a preexisting disability to the right leg; or a work injury to the left eye and a preexisting injury to the opposite eye. So we can sum up the two ways to meet threshold number one as 25% or better WPI or 4% or better to an eye, hand, arm, leg or foot with a preexisting disability

    to the “opposite and corresponding” eye, hand, arm, leg or foot.

  • Once you have evidence of a work injury causing disability of 25% or more WPI or 5% or more opposite and corresponding, we move onto the second threshold or hoop to jump through to qualify for SIBTF benefits. This second threshold requires that combined work injury and preexisting disability to add up to at least 70% or more disability. 70% overall disability is the minimum to obtain SIBTF benefits. The preexisting disability is calculated the same way your work injury disability is calculated using the AMA Guides to Impairment, 5th Edition. This is why the SIBTF case is within the expertise of the injured workers attorney, called an Applicant’s Attorney. Sadly most Applicant’s attorneys don’t take the time to learn the SIBTF or to even advise their clients they may have an SIBTF case since it is separate from the regular work comp case.

  • The same court that oversees your work injury case, the Workers Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) is where you file your SIBTF application for benefits. This court has jurisdiction over the SIBTF case and will approve your SIBTF settlement or can conduct a hearing to see if you meet the threshold requirements for SIBTF. The SIBTF Application for benefits can be obtained online at the DWC website. Or consult a workers compensation attorney for any work comp or SIBTF forms. The SIBTF application can be accessed here.

  • No you do not have to use the doctors that evaluate you for your work comp case. You can obtain new medical reporting from a doctor who understands SIBTF issues. In most cases you will need to get additional medical reporting apart from your work comp doctors reporting. The SIBTF pays the costs of these evaluations for you wether you qualify or not unless there are some unique issues that don’t apply in most cases.

  • I would like to be able to give you an exact figure but the value changes and goes up with every percent of disability you have above 70%. I can tell you that if you are 100% disabled in your SIBTF case, you get paid 66% of your earnings which is the same rate of pay when you received temporary disability (TO) from work comp while out of work and recovering from your work injury. However if you are between 70% and 99% there is a sliding scale of payments that increase as the disability increases. A workers compensation attorney who is experienced in SIBTF cases can provide an approximate value based on your disability levels and earnings

    information.

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