It’s not about what we do, but why we do it! Workers compensation insurance is really a simple product. But it’s a simple product with many complicated parts. And it’s when those parts don’t fit together the right way that you may need help and it’s when you need help with a workers compensation premium or audit problem that an independent workers compensation consultant can assist your business.
Most employers who buy a workers compensation policy will buy it from an insurance agent that they have some familiarity with. They may buy a policy from the agent who provides their homeowners or personal auto insurance or maybe from a commercial lines insurance agent or maybe even from an online source. The focus of most delivery systems is that of sales. You should remember the primary focus of an insurance agents job is to sell a policy. You’ll find a broad cross section of knowledge out there among insurance agents. Some agents are extremely knowledgeable about the workers compensation process, some are not. You’ll also find some insurance company personnel are extremely knowledgeable while others are not. And, unfortunately, some employers make assumptions, without knowledge, that ultimately cost them additional premium. You may want to check out this post on “How to Chose a Workers Compensation Agent” for some pointers!
Mistakes and errors on workers compensation policies occur for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s the folks who set up policies that make a mistake in doing so or an insurance company who issues a policy, a payroll assignment or code mistake, a mistake with experience rating or an error that’s only discovered at audit, mistakes do exist. Be sure to check out this list of the top ten workers compensation audit mistakes. Regardless the reason a mistake occurs, a workers compensation consultant will be able to help you sort out the where, why, when and what to do.
Here’s a short list of how a workers comp consultant may help your business:
- Verify that proper classification codes are used on your policy;
- Verify proper payroll assignment within correct class codes;
- Verify correct ownership or entity issues are applied to your policy;
- Assist you with the when and why regarding filing audit disputes;
- Assist you with research into specific premium problems you may be experiencing;
- Verify claim data for loss sensitive policies;
- Assist with understanding projections of your experience modification rate or E-Mod;
- Provide an independent opinion as to the effectiveness of your workers compensation program;
- Provide audit reviews for accuracy;
- And, of course, there is more…
Hope this gives you some insight as to how a work comp consultant may be able to help your business! Oh, by the way, that’s what we do (sorry about the commercial!) So if you think you have a problem with your workers comp program or need help with a workers comp issue just give us a call or drop us an email!
Thanks!
