What eCase shows you
eCase is the Board’s electronic case-file system. Everything the Board has received or generated on a claim is stored there as a list of documents, each with a date, a document type, and a sender. When you open a file, you are looking at the same record set the Board, the carrier, and any representative can see.
The list is chronological, which means the newest activity sits at the top by default. A long-running claim can accumulate medical reports, forms, hearing notices, and decisions, so the first task in reading eCase is recognizing that you are looking at an index, not a single document.
How the document list is organized
Each row in the list has a few fields worth reading carefully. The date is the date the Board associated with the document, which is usually receipt date rather than the date a doctor signed a report. The document type is a short label describing the category. The sender or source tells you whether the item came from the claimant, the carrier, a medical provider, or the Board itself.
Because the list is sortable and filterable, the same file can look very different depending on how it is arranged. Sorting by document type groups all the medical reports together; sorting by date follows the case as it unfolded. Neither view changes what is in the file, only how you walk through it.
Common document codes and what they signal
Many entries are labeled with form codes. The C-3 is the employee claim, which is filed with the Board online, by mail, by email, or in person. Medical billing now arrives on the federal CMS-1500, which replaced the older C-4 billing forms in 2022, with electronic submission mandatory since August 1, 2025. The C-4.3, the doctor’s report of maximum medical improvement and permanent impairment, is still a current form and is submitted alongside the CMS-1500, so you will still see it in the list.
Other codes point to specific activity. An MG-2 is a treatment request routed through OnBoard, the Board’s online portal, covering prior authorization and variances from the Medical Treatment Guidelines. A C-8.1 reflects a dispute over a bill or treatment. An RB-89 is a request for Board review. Seeing one of these in the list tells you that category of activity occurred; the document itself spells out the detail.
When you cannot decode a label from the list alone, opening the document usually clears it up, because the form’s full title appears on its first page.
Finding the right version of a record
A single medical provider may appear several times across the file, once for each report submitted. If you are trying to read ‘the latest note,’ filter to that provider and read down to the most recent date. An older report is not wrong; it is simply a snapshot from an earlier point.
Decisions and Board notices appear as their own entries, separate from the medical and billing documents. If you are looking for what the Board concluded rather than what a doctor wrote, those entries are the ones to open. Keeping the two streams distinct, medical records on one side and Board-issued documents on the other, makes a crowded file much easier to read.
Reading dates and status without over-reading them
The dates in eCase are receipt-and-processing dates. They tell you when the Board logged something, which is useful for sequence but is not the same as a deadline or an event date. A document logged today may describe an exam from weeks ago.
Likewise, the absence of a document is not, by itself, a conclusion about your claim. Records are added as they are received and processed, so a file is a living index. Reading eCase well means treating it as a record of what has been filed, and resisting the urge to infer outcomes the documents do not state.
Getting access to your own file
Injured workers can view their own eCase file through the Workers’ Compensation Board after verifying their identity and matching it to the case number. A representative, if you have one, and the insurance carrier can see the same record set — which is why the file is the common reference point everyone in the case works from. If you cannot find a document you expected, it may simply not have been filed and processed yet, rather than removed.
What the file does not tell you
eCase is a record of what has been filed, not a summary of where your claim stands. It shows that a decision was issued or a report received, but it does not interpret those documents or predict what comes next. To understand the substance, you still have to open the documents themselves — the Notices of Decision and the medical reports. Treat the list as a table of contents, and the documents as the text.
Quick reference: document codes you will see
- C-3 — the employee’s claim for compensation.
- CMS-1500 — the medical billing form (replaced the old C-4 billing forms in 2022).
- C-4.3 — the doctor’s report of permanent impairment / maximum medical improvement.
- EC-4NARR — a narrative medical report.
- MG-2 — a treatment authorization request or variance, routed through OnBoard.
- C-8.1 — a notice of objection to a bill or to treatment.
- RB-89 — an application for Board review (an appeal of a decision).
- Notice of Decision — the Board’s written ruling on the case.
A quick way to navigate the file
- Confirm the case number and parties match your claim.
- Decide what you are looking for — a medical report, a bill, or a Board decision — and filter to that type.
- Sort by date to follow the sequence, or by document type to group like items.
- For “the latest” of anything, filter to the source and read down to the most recent date.
- Open the document itself when a list label is unclear — the full title is on page one.
Read this way, eCase becomes a navigable index rather than an overwhelming pile. This guide explains how the file is organized and what the labels mean; it is general information about New York workers’ compensation records, not legal advice, and it cannot interpret what a particular document means for your claim. For questions that affect your case, check with the Workers’ Compensation Board or a qualified attorney.