Insurance continues to be more expensive and frustrating for our member firms. Our goal is to provide concepts and resources that provide greater control and understanding of your insurance expense. It is important to start by discussing expectations of your insurance relationship. We reached out to an insurance industry expert who provided some simple tips you can adopt to driver greater results with your risk management program:
- Maintain all your insurance policies in an electronic format. Your policies are legal contracts, and it is important to have these in your possession. This will provide easy access for you to share with your professional partners in the event of a complex claim and/or dispute. For example, we witnessed many firms reviewing their policies for business interruption coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Request that your broker provides loss runs on a quarterly basis. Frequent reviews will drive enhanced claims management and can provide opportunities for learning with safety meetings. Claim reserves and claim settlements are key discussion points that should be addressed well before your renewal.
- Request a copy of your annual workers compensation experience report from your broker. You can sign up online through either NCCI or your state’s governing compensation bureau. Your advisor should audit this report for accuracy of reporting by the carrier. This report provides insight on what is impacting your workers compensation premium.
- If you have DOT vehicles, you should pull your SAFER report monthly for current reported data. This report provides a lot of data that can impact your fleet management and safety decisions.
These action items will provide you more data points on how your experience is impacting your pricing. This enhanced focus should provide additional action items within your company that will drive operational improvement. Additionally, it should yield greater transparency between you, your insurance carrier(s), and your insurance advisor.