Comp Quotes

Policy and billing system conversion is off and running

We’ve begun conversion of the September 1 renewal policies from our old policy and billing system to our new system, Guidewire. As a reminder, additional information about what this means to you can be found in the Guidewire edition of Comp Quotes and the Guidewire FAQs for agents.

Letters containing key reminders will be mailed to all our active policyholders to let them know we will convert their policy over to Guidewire at the next renewal date, and they may receive invoices for the expiring and renewal term. The letters will be mailed in batches, depending on renewal date.

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From the Capitol | a legislative update

The most critical items this session were the preservation of SAIF's capital and the strengthening of Oregon’s unique collaborative approach to workers’ comp, which brings labor and business together to vet workers’ comp legislation through the Management Labor Advisory Committee (MLAC). Interest groups that tried to bypass the MLAC process were unsuccessful until they heeded legislative direction to take their issues to MLAC. SAIF is a major contributor to MLAC through expert testimony and by providing data on the impacts of legislative changes.

As we reported earlier, SAIF has been the catalyst in forming a coalition of business and labor groups that has held meetings with key and new legislators to educate them on workers' comp. The well-received meetings provided a brief history of the workers’ comp system and emphasized the importance of the vetting of legislation by MLAC.

SAIF capital at the Capitol

There were proposals to take a portion of SAIF's capital base to help reduce the unfunded liability of the state PERS retirement system. Some of these proposals were quite aggressive and created considerable concern on the part of SAIF staff, our board, and key stakeholders.

These proposals were not successful. SAIF’s capital remains in place.

Throughout the legislative process, countless agents, business associations, employers, and employees let their voices be heard on this issue. Even though this session is over, there is always the chance that new proposals to take SAIF’s capital could arise in the future.

Workers’ comp bills of interest that passed

• HB 3003 (SAIF bill) | Allows a self-insured employer, who purchases workers’ comp insurance that includes tail coverage for claims incurred while self-insured, to request approval from DCBS for the return of its deposit. If you have a self-insured who may be interested in working with SAIF and transferring tail coverage as well, please start the submission process early as it can take some time to review the claims.
• SB 507/HB 2418 | Creates a rebuttable presumption that stress and PTSD diagnosis of law enforcement, firefighters, corrections officers, youth authority officers, and 911 dispatchers were caused by work.
• HB 2788 | Restores the requirement that the Workers Benefit Fund (WBF) have a 12-month reserve.
• HB 5011 | The DCBS budget includes funds to begin planning to modernize the Workers’ Comp Division computer system.
• HB 2087 | Increases the aggregate fine limit for insurer violations from $40,000 a year to $180,000 annually, keeping a $2,000 per-violation cap.

Bills that failed

• HB 3022 | Would have made major changes to the 1990 workers’ comp reforms, including eliminating consideration of many pre-existing conditions; changes were ultimately limited to diagnostics and ceases denials. MLAC has scheduled further discussion of the issues, including those from a recent Oregon Supreme Court decision, at a subcommittee meeting in September.
• HB 2413 | Would have greatly expanded eligibility to vocational assistance benefits.
• HB 2424 | Would have bypassed the MCO process and allowed the referral by an injured worker attending physician to a nonmember chiropractor.

The next regular session of the legislature will begin on February 1, 2020. This will be a “short” session, limited to 35 days.

For more on any of these bills, please contact David Barenberg, 503.373.8132.

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Group plan criteria and membership

You’ve just received our July 1 group discount numbers, so this is a good time to remind everyone how to request a group quote, and what we need from our agents when a quote is accepted.

Sixty days prior to renewal, our system reviews our service center policies for group eligibility and sends you and the policyholder a “You may qualify for a group” letter. The letter indicates the eligible group(s) and asks them to contact their agent or SAIF for a quote. It’s a perfect opportunity to speak with your customer about the potential benefits of an association membership, which could include a discount on their workers’ comp through SAIF.

Regional accounts do not get a letter, and we do look to you to have discussions with your underwriter for group proposals. (Read the group eligibility criteria.) Once you have a group quote from either the SAIF service center or your underwriter, the group enrollment form must be signed and returned to us prior to their renewal date or we won’t be able to add the discount to the policy.

The first line of the form states:
“The undersigned business hereby certifies it meets the endorsing association’s membership criteria, is a member in good standing of the endorsing association, and elects to enroll as a participant in the organization’s Oregon Group Supplemental Experience Rating Plan (“Plan”).”

Please make sure your customer is a member of the association. If they aren’t, they must join prior to their renewal. It’s part of the sale, so we look to the agent to make sure this happens. If the customer fails to join, we have to remove them from the group, causing confusion and changes to their premium.

If you have questions, please contact Pat Morrill, agency and group program coordinator, or Lyn Zielinski-Mills, marketing manager.

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Criteria for other states coverage

SAIF's other states coverage (OSC) program allows SAIF-insured Oregon employers with operations in other states to apply for coverage outside of Oregon through our partnership with Zurich Insurance.

Since we’re authorized only to write workers’ comp insurance in Oregon, we partner with Zurich and USIS to make this coverage available in any nonmonopolistic state. Our OSC program and partnership with Zurich is now in its ninth year of operation and continues to provide an important tool that many of our appointed agents find very useful.

To submit business for our OSC program, send us a completed ACORD application and supporting documents. Please submit all service center accounts to oscworkgroup@saif.com and regional accounts to your normally assigned underwriter. We can not accept OSC submissions through saifQuote.

Employers must meet at least one of the following conditions:

1. The employer’s payroll for its Oregon workers equals at least 50 percent of the employer’s payroll for all workers, or
2. The employer is incorporated in the state of Oregon, or
3. The employer is headquartered in the state of Oregon.

Note that they only have to meet one of the above criteria, not all three, in order to be eligible.

SAIF-appointed agents with appropriate nonresident insurance license(s) will receive a separate commission equal to six percent of remitted premium for new and renewal business on all policies, except for those issued in Minnesota.

If you have questions regarding SAIF’s OSC program, please contact Brian Fast, OSC program manager, at 503.373.8374.

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The SAIF Learning Center platform is changing

We’re anticipating that by year-end we will have transitioned our SAIF Learning Center from the current FirstNet Learning platform to NEOGOV. Policyholders will see a new login page with the NEOGOV logo.

Policyholders in the current (FirstNet) platform will not need to do anything—they will be transitioned over to the new platform. SAIF will communicate directly with these policyholders to let them know the change is coming and what they can expect to see. Webinars and user guides will be available for reference.

Check out this page for more information related to the platform change or the SAIF Learning Center.

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Underwriting Series trainings put on hold for 2019

As you probably heard, our new policy and billing system (Guidewire) is rolling out for both new business (February 2019) and renewals (September 2019). This has been a very labor-intensive process that includes training, testing, and implementation of a complex system.

Our underwriting department staff are involved in all aspects of this project, and that has limited our ability to provide some external trainings. As a result, we won’t be able to offer the Underwriting Series in 2019. Once our new system is up and running, we’ll refocus on the series to make it even more useful and accessible in the future.

We’re interested in hearing your feedback on how the Underwriting Series can be streamlined or otherwise improved. Please send your comments and ideas to Brian Murphy.