Workers Comp Self Insurance Calendar – Important Dates To Remember

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Workers Comp Self-Insurance Calendar – Repetitiveness is Key

Last week, I wrote an article on the voluntary market policy calendars. I did not want to leave out self-insureds as I sometimes forget is 15% of the market needs to be considered more often in studies, articles, and even in my articles.   A Workers Comp self-insurance calendar may not be as complicated as the voluntary market.  You may want to check out the article from last week in the first link in this paragraph for more calendar ideas.

workers comp self insurance calendar
Public Use License – Maximopi

Some third-party administrators (TPAs) may supply a self-insurance calendar for their clients.  TPAs process the claims for self-insureds on a cost-per-claim basis.  One has to follow the claims more closely as the TPAs adjusters are spending money directly out of your insurance budget.

Online access needs to be a necessary component.  If you do not have access to your claims online, you will not be able to keep up with your claims – plain and simple.  The Allocated Adjustment Expenses (ALAE) that are not charged to voluntary market policies are charged to your workers’ comp budget.

Employers that have recently become self-insured sometimes receive a sticker shock when they become responsible for ALAE.   This third category of payouts must be analyzed as with the other two – Indemnity and Medical.  ALAE can be more costly than the other two categories.

Self-Insurance Calendar Dates

If you are having actuaries calculate your Loss Development Factor, they may have certain dates that are critical to your calendar.  If you are not having an LDF produced, that is something you should look into after you finish reading this article.

  • Pull your worker’s comp loss runs every two weeks.  Compare them to your previous loss runs to see which claims have experienced reserve increases over a certain amount.  Some self-insureds require the TPA to send them an email whenever a reserve increase is more than $X.   Check with your TPA to see if that is possible.
  • Check your TPA’s online current statuses at least monthly – they are usually in the reserve area of the online file.  If not included there, the current statuses will be in the claim notes.
  • Keep a subrogation diary to follow any claims that have third-party implications.  Check this article out on a subrogation diary.   Subrogation recoveries are pure monies refunded back into your insurance budget.   This critical area is sometimes missed on loss run reviews.
  • Before your actuary calculates your LDF, make sure that you have discussed any reserves that concern you with the claims adjusters two months before the LDF calculation.  Files with large reserves can take a few weeks to adjust up or down because of reserve authority. Reserves that are too low can harm your insurance program as much as ones that are too high.
  • Every six months have a review of your claims with the claims supervisor.  Zoom meetings will usually work.
  • If your TPA supplies safety inspections, meetings, and advice, use that service at least yearly.  Some TPAs charge an add-on fee for this service.  You will find that the fee is worth the service provided in most cases.

Conferences and Associations Important

One area that I recommend is going to your state’s self-insurance conference.   Every conference I have attended generated ideas and allowed me to further my business relationships with other like-minded individuals.   The three that I will mention now that we are post-covid (almost) are:

North Carolina Association of Self Insurers April 2022 – Our HQ state – I have spoken at this conference.

Self Insurers Association of America The big national conference – October 2022

PRIMA – Public Risk – For governmental organizations – they have a state chapter list – a great organization

If you are looking for your state’s self-insurance conference, the SIAA link will point you to the state associations.

This is general workers comp risk management advice.  You may have internal budgeting dates that are specific to your organization.  The ones that I listed are recommendations for your worker’s comp self-insurance calendar.

 ©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

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James J Moore - Workers Comp Expert

Raleigh, NC, United States

About The Author...

James founded a Workers’ Compensation consulting firm, J&L Risk Management Consultants, Inc. in 1996. J&L’s mission is to reduce our clients’ Workers Compensation premiums by using time-tested techniques. J&L’s claims, premium, reserve and Experience Mod reviews have saved employers over $9.8 million in earned premiums over the last three years. J&L has saved numerous companies from bankruptcy proceedings as a result of insurance overpayments.

James has over 27 years of experience in insurance claims, audit, and underwriting, specializing in Workers’ Compensation. He has supervised, and managed the administration of Workers’ Compensation claims, and underwriting in over 45 states. His professional experience includes being the Director of Risk Management for the North Carolina School Boards Association. He created a very successful Workers’ Compensation Injury Rehabilitation Unit for school personnel.

James’s educational background, which centered on computer technology, culminated in earning a Masters of Business Administration (MBA); an Associate in Claims designation (AIC); and an Associate in Risk Management designation (ARM). He is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and a licensed financial advisor. The NC Department of Insurance has certified him as an insurance instructor. He also possesses a Bachelors’ Degree in Actuarial Science.

LexisNexis has twice recognized his blog as one of the Top 25 Blogs on Workers’ Compensation. J&L has been listed in AM Best’s Preferred Providers Directory for Insurance Experts – Workers Compensation for over eight years. He recently won the prestigious Baucom Shine Lifetime Achievement Award for his volunteer contributions to the area of risk management and safety. James was recently named as an instructor for the prestigious Insurance Academy.

James is on the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the North Carolina Mid-State Safety Council. He has published two manuals on Workers’ Compensation and three different claims processing manuals. He has also written and has been quoted in numerous articles on reducing Workers’ Compensation costs for public and private employers. James publishes a weekly newsletter with 7,000 readers.

He currently possess press credentials and am invited to various national Workers Compensation conferences as a reporter.

James’s articles or interviews on Workers’ Compensation have appeared in the following publications or websites:

  • Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
  • Entrepreneur Magazine
  • Bloomberg Business News
  • WorkCompCentral.com
  • Claims Magazine
  • Risk & Insurance Magazine
  • Insurance Journal
  • Workers Compensation.com
  • LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites
  • Various trade publications

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