If it has an email address of you insurance company then I would answer it, otherwise I would file it away (I keep everything :-)).
If it is important the insurance company will send you regular mail.
Thanks for your reply. As a matter of course I did contact my insurance company and they advised me that if there is any documentation that requires a short reply time of 3 days it is not from them.
This is so bizarre. I’d love to hear PRIVATELY form anyone who is getting these “claim lab” emails and especially if you have enrolled in the program. You can message me privately on here or contact me through the law firm. Any conversation with me outside of this forum is private and confidential.
David Brannen
Disability Lawyer with Resolute Legal
The response posted above is based on the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with a lawyer, fully explain your situation, and allow the lawyer enough time to research the applicable law and facts required to give an adequate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service only, a full one-on-one discussion with a lawyer should be done before taking any any action. The information posted on this forum is available to the viewing public and is not intended to create a lawyer client relationship with any person. If you want one-on-one advice, please click here to request a free consultation or call toll free 1-877-917-7050 to speak with a member with our disability claim support team.
I just got one again, almost exactly 1 year later. I’m not sure what to do about it. They did tell me that from now on, I would only need to fill out a questionnaire once a year and not have to do regular updates anymore. I’m wondering if this is the yearly update they were referring to.
How many years have you been on LTD with Sun life. Im at 7 years and have never received an email on this thus far
SunLife posted that it’s a trial on a subset of their claims. It sounds like it’s limited in both the number of people and the type of disability claim.
More details here The Claim Lab: A New Feasibility Study For Disability Management | Workplace Benefits And Retirement Services
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Yes, what Caro said. Only some people are getting this. Yay for me lol
There’s more info on the claim lab website than there was last year. https://www.claimlab.org/
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I am on LTD and also received email for yearly updates from Claim Lab and was given 5 days to fill the online questionnaire.
I contacted Insurance company and they indicated that this new way they will be doing yearly Member updates and it is NOT optional. It is required in order to determine further eligibility to receive benefits.
I have received written (email) confirmation from Insurer that digital form questionnaire is required and physical Form is discontinued ( I was unable to locate it on their website).
Not sure what to do.
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Do a search on this site for “Claim Lab”.
I searched this site already and understood that some people think that this Online questionnaire can be simply ignored and email from Claim Lab can be deleted because it is not from Insurance company directly - I questioned Insurance company (SunLife ) about validity, about privacy and other important questions - only to find out that it is required to fill it, that it is a process going forward and privacy is protected. I have email from them highlighting all these points. No other options were given to me but to fill the questionnaire. If I do not fill the Online Questionnaire, benefits can be terminated.
Some other people were allowed to use physical form for yearly updates, but I was not allowed.
At this point I am not sure that ignoring Claim Lab Questionnaire is a right thing to do, just saying.
So the email is from the Claim Lab and not Sunlife?
I’m not a lawyer but I wouldn’t ignore after Sunlife has confirmed the Claim Lab is acting on their behalf.
I think it is like them sending you to their own doctor, rehab company.
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I don’t think anyone thinks it can be ignored. At least not ftom what I’ve seen.
I was told BY Sunlife to ignore it the first year i got the email. That was because my file was moving to long duration at that same time, and i had already just provided updates to my case manager. Therefore in my case specifically and only that first year, i was instructed by SunLife to ignore it.
I agree that no one should simply ignore it because yes, as a follow up post of mine about the same topic when i got the email again the following year, ignoring could have your claim closed and benefits cut.
In my personal case, i managed to come to an agreement with SunLife and I personally did not have to respond to the email this year, nor will i have to going forward.
However that is due to details of my own personal situation and is a result of an agreement with sunlife - i did not simply decide to ignore without taking any steps to get SunLife’s ok.
I thought it was clear but its possible my explanation was confusing so i hope this clarifies. 
i just filled out the plan member update digitally from an email recevied from the sunlifecanada.disability@claimlab.org.
It was very similar to the annual plan member update form I use to receive annually from Sunlife in the mail.
I used to get a confirmation letter from Sunlife so I’ll wait and see if I get that.
I just got mine. 
I had hoped they forgot about me.
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Is it similar to the paper version ?
I thought there were less questions and it was easier.
How long did it take you to complete the form
I did part of it one day and part of it the next.
I don’t know how long I took overall, maybe 20 minutes (I am really slow).
A healthy person could probably do it is 5 minutes.
I have been on ltd for 2.5 years now. Last interaction with Sunlife was when I was approved for any occupation last December. Was supposed to have a new claims manager be in touch but have never heard from anyone. Now an email with 5 days to fill out some member update questionnaire that replaces the paper form I or my physician has completed in the past. It makes me very uneasy and I’m wondering how I might go about advocating for a paper form or something else. It seems as if there’s some AI algorithm at play and that never bodes well in my opinion.
Thanks in advance for any information
You will not get another claims manager. Once you’re approved for any occupation, you don’t have a dedicated SunLife agent. Your file goes to a department I believe is called the “Payments department”.
There’s a general email you can use to contact them but it’s never the same person responding and it can sometimes take weeks. I’d give you the email i use however there’s the city their office is located in there so it’s possible it may not be the same office that has your file.
I believe this info should be in the letter you received when you were approved for any occupation. You can also reach them by phone - same as email, it won’t be the same person everytime.
So, no, you won’t be assigned a new claims manager. All they will require from now on is an update once a year.
If they haven’t done so already, they’ll probably contact you soonish and ask you to apply for CPP or QPP benefits.
As for the claim lab, i will message you with some info however I don’t know if you’ll be able to get out of doing the update this way since they’ve discontinued the paper form.
Also, these updates don’t require your doctor’s assistance like they did before the change of definition. This update is not like thebones you’ve done in the past. You simply answer a few questions but it doesn’t get into detail. I’m assuming its the same for the claim lab version although i have not used that one so its possible there are some differences but based on the comments above, it seems to be pretty much the same.