Comp Quotes | Winter 2023
Workers’ comp news for SAIF’s agents
Comp Quotes articles
In this issue:
saifQuote upgrades are live
We released an upgrade for saifQuote at the end of October. It increased the opportunity for agents to receive no-touch quotes and provide a same-day turnaround time for more quotes.
Additional changes:
- Removed questions that agents told us were no longer applicable or impactful to the application process
- Updated the remaining questions with language that’s easier to interpret
- Added an element for Waiver of Subrogation requests
We appreciate all the feedback you provided – which prompted us to build this upgrade. We’ll continue to look for additional items to improve your interaction with our systems.
Presumption exposures and pricing
SAIF’s current pricing philosophy for presumption exposure is to price for, and attempt to contain, presumption claim costs. Some regional policies with firefighter or PTSD presumption risk received pricing changes at their last renewal.
Presumption claim cost and frequency continue to rise. In keeping with our presumption pricing philosophy, it may be necessary to adjust premium in the future. Notice will be provided to the agent as soon as possible if the underwriter needs to make pricing changes on the renewal policy.
If you have questions, please discuss them with your underwriter.
Billing improvements are live
Billing and invoicing improvements went live on December 18, 2022! We heard from many agents and policyholders about how to help define solutions and we are thrilled to deliver these improvements.
In addition to a new invoice, we will no longer issue an “intent to cancel” notice in the middle of a policy term due to missing payroll reports. During a policy term, SAIF will present a premium projection charge on the invoice if payroll reports are overdue.
Policies with unpaid invoices will start a delinquency path, as they do today, with issuance of notice of cancellation.
Below is an example of a delinquency timeline for an unpaid invoice:
- January 1: SAIF issues an invoice with an amount due on January 25.
- January 26: The customer did not pay the invoice, so SAIF starts a delinquency path.
- February 3: The invoice remains unpaid, so SAIF issues an intent to cancel letter.
- February 14: SAIF sends a reminder notice.
- February 28: The policy is cancelled.
Two new saif.com pages for you and employers can be found at saif.com/invoice and saif.com/payrollreport to help provide additional guidance or descriptions as needed.
Please contact your underwriter, the service center, or your agency marketing representative if you have questions.
The ease and convenience of online Safety in Motion® courses
Safety in Motion® online (eSIM®) courses are an easy and convenient way to learn about practical field ergonomics and proper body mechanics. By improving your physical technique, you can reduce unnecessary stress on the body and prevent soft-tissue injuries.
Policyholders can find eSIM® is on the SAIF website. When they access the link, they’ll be asked to provide information to gain access. Once that request has been approved or declined, they’ll receive an email with further instructions; approved policyholders will be sent a link to access the course.
Safety in Motion® is always delivered best live and in person by either a consultant or a certified policyholder trainer. Using eLearning like this often makes sense for the business, for example:
Policyholders with fewer employees- Policyholders with an itinerant workforce
- Policyholders with high turnover
- Policyholders that have multiple locations or where just a few employees are located elsewhere in Oregon
- Policyholders that may not have a certified SIM® trainer and want to provide a refresher training after in-person training
This training is free to SAIF policyholders; however, the link to the training shouldn’t be shared outside their organization.
How COVID is still impacting workers’ comp
Due to the COVID pandemic, business models have changed to incorporate remote work, PPE, and social distancing. New employees are filling the void created by more experienced workers leaving the workforce or moving to different jobs. Employees in some industries are working longer hours due to a shortage of labor. These factors increase the risks within workplaces and the health and safety of Oregon workers and, therefore, are considered in our policy pricing.
NCCI is treating all COVID disease claims as catastrophe related. Therefore, these claims aren’t included in ratemaking or experience rating. We’ve incurred over $42 million in COVID claim costs; we’ll likely make gradual pricing changes to minimize the impact of increased costs on our policyholders, including the cost of COVID claims.
To keep coverage affordable, underwriters will take a thoughtful approach to pricing policies with significant direct exposure to COVID. When it’s present, underwriters need to know what measures are being taken to protect workers.
Here are a few questions the underwriter might ask about a policy with COVID claims:
- How much direct contact do employees have with potentially infected people (including co-workers) and what is the degree of control over those interactions?
- How has the business model been altered to protect workers and customers from becoming infected?
- Has the policyholder completed an Exposure Risk Assessment?
- Are plans/protocols in place for what to do when a worker is infected, shows symptoms of, or has possibly been exposed to COVID?
- Are guidelines and protocols being enforced?
COVID claims are also being considered in group discount (OGSERP) calculations. We review policies with significant COVID exposures or claims to make sure they are a good fit for the group. Most COVID claims are classified as disabling and therefore will not be eligible for reimbursement as a nondisabling claim.
The pandemic also impacted experience rating modifications (ER mods).The experience rating formula is designed to motivate employers to maintain a safe and healthy workplace by using prior experience as an indicator of future claims. During the pandemic, some employers temporarily changed how they operated (i.e., remote work). Corresponding changes in exposure may lead to artificially low experience modification factors in future renewals. The impact may disproportionately affect certain industries, such as education – where virtual learning dramatically reduced the exposures a teacher would typically face. Our underwriters consider the adequacy of the ER mod factor when pricing policies.
We anticipate you may have questions, and encourage you to reach out to your underwriter early in the renewal cycle to discuss policies that may have significant direct exposure to COVID.
The impact of removing “involuntary servitude” from the state constitution
We’ve received questions about the potential impacts of Ballot Measure 112 on SAIF workers’ comp policies. (The measure removes “involuntary servitude” as punishment for a crime from the Oregon Constitution). We’ve reviewed the potential impacts and believe there will likely be no changes related to workers’ comp.
This educational summary addresses whether adults in county custody are considered subject workers.1 The analysis below would be the same for cities with adults in custody who perform services before or after being sentenced.
For people in the custody of a county awaiting trial | If they voluntarily perform services without receiving remuneration, then they are not likely subject workers due to the lack of remuneration. (Note: For the purposes of the workers’ comp system, remuneration is not limited to money; it can include any benefit received in exchange for performing a service.)
For people sentenced by a court or legal authority to serve a sentence in a county jail or community service | These people likely fall within the definition of “adult in custody” under the law. If they perform services, with or without remuneration, it is unlikely that they would be considered subject workers because the law excludes “adults in custody” from the definition of a worker for the purposes of ORS chapter 656.
A county may choose to provide workers’ comp coverage for adults in custody under the law, regardless of whether they receive remuneration for providing services. For counties that do this, chapter 656 would be the exclusive remedy of an adult in custody (or their beneficiary) for injuries compensable under chapter 656.
1 This information is provided for educational purposes only. This general guideline should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice. Subjectivity of a particular individual worker is based on the applicable laws applied to the unique factual circumstances of that worker and may vary from this general educational guideline.
Changes to our online registration process coming this year
In an effort to improve online account security and the general user experience, we are working on updates to SAIF’s customer account registration process. With a technology release scheduled for the first quarter, SAIF employees will be able to invite policyholders to create a profile and join the account via email.
In 2022, we gave many policyholders the option to receive email and text notifications about important policy updates. This is in addition to the paper notifications they already receive. We anticipate more policies will have these options as we continue our work to improve the registration and account management experience.