SAIF will be conducting a survey of our appointed agents. This will be your opportunity to share opinions and provide feedback to help us improve our services and better meet your needs.

The survey will be conducted by SAIF with the same software used to conduct policyholder experience surveys. It will be available online and should take no more than 10 to 15 minutes to complete. All individual responses will be kept strictly confidential.

You’ll receive an email from feedback@surveys.saif.com the week of October 16 with more information, including a link to the survey. Your input is extremely important to us and will make a difference.

If you do not receive the email, please check your junk and/or clutter email folders. If you do not find it or if you have questions about the survey, please contact Lyn Zielinski-Mills.

Thanks in advance for participating in this project.

Ag and construction safety seminars starting in October

It's that time of year already: the season of safety. Both our agriculture and construction safety seminars begin in October. They aren't only free, they're convenient—we bring our safety experts to you in cities around the state.

This year's ag topics are:

Fields to freeways 2.0
Hot work/Welding safety: control measures, precautions, and PPE
Anatomy of a comprehensive consultation
Dealing with serious injuries and fatalities on the farm

This year’s construction topics are:

Prepare for an injury-free workday
Respond to incidents and analysis

Payroll inflation factor

images/AgentGuide/CompQuotes/2023/Payroll_inflation_305x246.png Effective January 1, 2024, voluntary and assigned risk policies will be renewed with a 5% payroll inflation factor, which is unchanged from the prior year. The inflation factor increases payroll to account for expected wage and employment growth and is based on historical average payroll growth for SAIF policyholders and Oregon economic data.

Our agency partners play a critical role in ensuring that we have accurate payroll estimates so premium can be calculated and charged correctly on our installment billing plans. If you provide us with estimated payroll figures, we will use that information and override the inflation factor. This will also stop re-estimates based on audited payroll received after the policy term begins.

IVANS download capability with SAIF coming in 2024

Work is currently underway with IVANS to make download capability available to SAIF-appointed agents. A SAIF team will continue to work through the remainder of 2023 on building the necessary integration so that agents who elect to opt into IVANS download services can do so for their policy data, direct bill commission statements, and eDocs. This project uses feedback we have gathered from agents and user testing, with a targeted implementation date of early 2024.

A separate FAQ will be distributed to our agents closer to our go-live date. If you have questions or would like to provide feedback about IVANS download with SAIF, please contact our Director of Agency Distribution and Agent Experience, Kim Turner, at kimtur@saif.com or 503.373.8192.

ERM-14 form process improvement and training dates

images/AgentGuide/CompQuotes/2023/UW_ERM14Form-1_Page_1.jpg The ERM-14 form is more than just ownership, combinability, and entity changes—those are just some of the situations that would require an ERM-14 to be sent to The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). To ensure that the insured is properly covered, we strive to process these changes promptly.

Effective November 1, 2023, we will directly notify the policyholder by letter to help avoid delayed ERM-14 forms and resulting retroactive impact. This change will not remove the agent from the process as the agent will be copied on the correspondence. We hope the change will make it easier for both the agent and the policyholder.

ERM-14 delays significantly impact a policyholder as the combinability and experience ratings can apply retroactively. These impacts can be seen in higher/lower premiums and removal/addition of entities, as well as coverage for new owners. For this reason, it is important that we receive ERM-14s promptly to keep the insured in compliance with the insurance contract as well as to avoid any perceived evasion of experience.

We are always looking at ways to improve our processes and educate our agents on very important items for an insured, including the ERM-14 form. With this in mind, we invite you to join us for an in-person agent training 10:00am-11:00am on Wednesday, November 8th, at SAIF’s Lake Oswego office. This training will provide one law continuing education credit for Oregon agents. Register here and view other agent training opportunities at saif.com/trainings.

The training will outline SAIF’s new process and provide education regarding when the ERM-14 form is required and how various circumstances can impact a policyholder.

Unable to attend the in-person training? You can register for a live webinar being held from 9-10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 15.

For additional questions, please contact your underwriter or SAIF’s service center.

Employment release changes

House Bill 3471, which took effect on July 27, is a new provision regarding employment releases. It prohibits employers from negotiating and entering into settlements that resolve a workers’ comp claim and are contingent upon the worker signing an agreement that bars the worker from seeking further employment, re-employment, or reinstatement with an employer (i.e., a global settlement).

There are exceptions. If, prior to any offer, the worker provides the employer with written confirmation of the worker’s willingness to enter into such an agreement relating to their employment and the offer affirmatively states that the agreement is contingent on a release, then the employer can negotiate and enter into a global settlement. In addition, this law does not apply if the settlement offer affirmatively states that settlement of the workers’ comp claim is not conditional on a release also being signed by the worker.

Violations could result in a civil action, a fine, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees.

Employers should consult their labor counsel about the impact of this new provision in relation to their ability to enter into an employment release associated with a workers’ comp settlement.

If you have questions, please contact your agency marketing specialist.

Caremark closing its doors

Caremark Comp/Managed Healthcare Northwest will end operations effective December 1, 2023. They will remain staffed through the end of November to assist with medical management for currently enrolled claims.

New enrollments into CMC have been discontinued and Majoris is now accepting enrollment of these new claims.

Majoris’ capacity to absorb the claims currently enrolled in CMC is extremely limited. SAIF has developed criteria to identify claims that would benefit most from a transfer to Majoris. We are working hard to manage the claims that are currently enrolled in CMC to ensure as seamless a transition as possible.

CSI project gets new launch date

The CSI team has been working hard, focusing on user acceptance testing (UAT) and validation of our systems and data.

A large part of our work on the CSI project has been converting over our entire claims history to the new system. This is a significant undertaking and, while our team has been working diligently to complete this process, it has proven to be more challenging and time-consuming than we had planned.

We’ve reviewed our options and determined the new date for the launch will be February 19, 2024. Making this decision is not something we take lightly, but we feel it’s the right thing to do.

This work is critical to ensure the system and processes are working accurately and as intended, which will allow us to continue to provide the great service and support SAIF is known for.

saifQuote changes: document submissions, email addresses, and 2024 proposed effective dates

Document submissions

It’s no longer possible to upload documents to saifQuote during the submission process. If you need to provide documents regarding submissions, email them to saifsubmissions@saif.com. It is important that you include the proposal number in the email so it can be directed appropriately.

Email addresses

As the world moves toward more digital communications, SAIF wants to make sure we can communicate important policy updates effectively to our mutual customers.

That’s why saifQuote now requires the policyholder email address, as of September 27. This change will enable us to provide better service to policyholders in partnership with our appointed agents.

SAIF will only use this information to service policies and gather policyholder feedback to improve our services. We will not share or distribute the information, in accordance with our privacy policy.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact your agency marketing specialist.

Submissions with 2024 proposed effective dates

SAIF's January 1, 2024, rates will be available in early November. Until that time, we cannot release quotes for proposed effective dates January 1, 2024, or later.

SaifQuote allows you to enter applications for your clients. Broker clearance runs after you complete "Step 6-Rating," at which point you should see a submission number assigned if there weren't any blocks in the system. If you pass step six successfully, you are considered the broker of record for that submission. If you don't pass it, saifQuote shows you an error message providing further direction.

If you get through the final step, you'll get a message that your submission cannot be processed and to call the service center. You are welcome to call, but the rates are not yet loaded, and the system won't be able to issue a quote. Instead, we ask that you complete as much as you can in saifQuote and save the application when you reach the final step.

As soon as our rate filing has been approved by DCBS, we will communicate to all of our agents. We will then go in and submit any complete applications that are being held at the final step. If you do not want the submissions to be submitted by SAIF when rates are loaded, please do not go as far as the final step.

News in brief

Save the date for the 2024 Workers’ Comp Seminar

The annual workers’ comp seminar will be held at SAIF’s Salem office on April 11, 2024. Registration information will be emailed out in February.