At SAIF, our dedication to extraordinary service is embedded in our mission and our everyday work. As partners in that work, we deeply value your contributions and your expertise.

2024 will bring many improvements to our customer and agent experiences. In early 2024, we will be adding integrations to IVANS for agents, so you can utilize the service to download policy data, direct bill commission statements, and eDocs. We will also be updating our core claims system, which required the conversion of our entire claims history into the new system. At the heart of each of these projects is the desire to keep improving the way we serve you and our mutual customers.

At SAIF, part of our focus for the year will be to work and perform as one team, unleashing new opportunities for effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency in how we serve our customers and engage with you.

As SAIF-appointed agents, you are a vital part of that team. I would like to encourage you to continue to keep providing feedback and ideas, whether it’s through SAIF’s Director of Agency Program and Agent Experience, Kim Turner, your agency marketing specialist, or our executive leadership. Thank you for your continued partnership in serving Oregon’s employers.

New law amends paid time off to receive medical services

Oregon Senate Bill 418 removes the minimum four-hour period that a worker with an accepted disabling claim must be absent from work for compensable medical services before they may receive temporary disability benefits for the absence. The bill became effective January 1, 2024.

When SAIF is notified that a worker with an accepted disabling claim is required to leave work to receive medical services, SAIF will determine if temporary disability benefits are due for missed time from work. Temporary disability benefits are not payable if wages are paid by the employer for the period of absence.

SAIF has created a letter and a form to inform the worker and employer that the worker may still be eligible for temporary disability benefits if they miss time to receive medical services, and to gather information about the missed time. This letter and form will be sent after a disabling claim has been accepted and the worker has a regular work release and/or returns to modified work at full hours and wages.

Contact Matt Corpe (matcor@saif.com), senior claims director, with questions.

Read Senate Bill 418.

Digital payment platform update

Our online payment portal is getting an upgrade! Agents will soon have the ability to make payments for their policyholders on the portal.

Policyholders will also enjoy a refreshed site for making policy and NDR (nondisabling claim reimbursement) payments online, which will include a new look and many enhancements.

Some enhancements include:

The ability to use Apple pay and Google Pay for payments
A simplified process for making a payment while remaining in the online application
The use of multiple payment methods to make a payment, e.g., two credit cards or a credit card and a bank account
Stored payment methods are easily managed.
Payment history now displays all payments made on the account, not just online payments.
A feature to download payment information (list of previous/past payments) from the payment history

More information about the application—including FAQs—will be available on saif.com soon.

What you need to know about Oregon OSHA’s new penalty structure

The Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 592 in 2023, which increased the penalty structure and created triggers for comprehensive inspections. So, what does that mean for Oregon employers?

While it is true that the penalty structure has increased, the largest penalties are reserved for repeat and willful violations and for violations that led to a workplace death. First-instance penalties have gone up, but even a violation with the highest probability and the highest severity levels are capped at $16,138. Penalties for the first instance—other than serious ones—still begin at zero and top at $300.

Most employers do not receive repeat violations; they normally address corrections at the first instance, so those receiving repeat or willful violations are less common. A repeat and willful citation is even more rare, and Renee Stapleton, the Oregon OSHA Administrator, said they hadn’t had one in the last 10 years.

It's also important to remember that Oregon OSHA still provides penalty reductions on the first instance, and these include good faith of the employer, size of business (based on number of employees), injury history, and whether the violation was immediately corrected.

Still, the increases have created concerns for some employers who are concerned about negative impacts. SAIF’s safety and health consultants are here to assist with those concerns, including providing guidance on existing programs, help in identifying workplace hazards, and sharing resources designed to help businesses create and sustain programs that keep workers safe and healthy.

You can reach out to your assigned SAIF safety and health consultant, or contact SAIF’s safety services at safetyservices@saif.com, 877.242.5211, or 503.673.5311, and we’ll be happy to help. Oregon OSHA also has a consultation program to help businesses comply with safety and health rules.

Review the new penalty structure here.

Oregon OSHA definitions

First-instance violation | An employer’s first violation of a particular statute, regulation, rule, standard, or order
Repeat violation | An employer’s second or subsequent violation involving a substantially similar violation as the earlier one
Willful violation | A violation that is committed knowingly by an employer or supervisory employee who, having a free will or choice, intentionally or knowingly disobeys or recklessly disregards the requirements of a statute, regulation, rule, standard, or order.

3.C for OSC

The other states coverage policy available through SAIF’s partnership with Zurich is an “all other states” policy. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that the appropriate states are listed in both 3.A and 3.C on the declarations page when the policy is issued, at each renewal, and throughout the policy term.

Part 3 of the workers' comp policy identifies the states that the workers’ comp benefits apply to (3. A), and the states that are excluded (3.C).

States other than those listed in 3.C can be added to 3.A during the policy period if a policyholder begins operations in those states during that period. However, if during the policy period it is determined that operations began in a state not listed in 3.A prior to the effective date of the policy period, it could create a coverage gap or compliance concern in that state.

Additionally, if the policyholder has coverage with another carrier covering a state not listed in 3.C, we will need to add that state to part 3.C of the policy. Otherwise, this could create duplicate coverage, which is not allowed.

Through the Zurich program we also are unable to write coverage in Oregon. As such Oregon will always be listed in 3.C on the policy along with the four monopolistic states: North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, and Wyoming. Insurance will need to be secured directly with those states.

If you are unsure as to what states you need to have listed in 3.A and 3.C of the policy documents, please reach out to the OSC workgroup at oscworkgroup@saif.com.

Safety and health services uses collaborative approach to improve customer experience

In our summer edition of CompQuotes you heard about two projects that SAIF’s safety and health services division is focused on: The strategic alignment of workflow (SAW), and the professional consulting series (PCS).

As a part of those projects, the safety and health division has been on a three-year journey to bring consistency and clarity to serving our policyholders. Included in that journey has been to update our follow-up correspondence format with policyholders. This correspondence will highlight clear and actionable recommendations in a more formalized structure.

When significant safety and health issues are identified, consultants work with the policyholder to create a plan and a timeline to address the issue. The goal in updating the correspondence is to make it clear to you and the policyholder what needs to be addressed. Consultants will continue to check in with the policyholder to support successful recommendation implementation.

Learn more and see examples of our updated formats.

Investing in return-to-work pays off

images/AgentGuide/CompQuotes/2024/Reimbursement_icon_250x244.png Did you know that Oregon has unique and creative programs with financial incentives that help employers bring injured employees back to work? One of these is the Employer-at-Injury Program, or EAIP.

EAIP benefits support employers when offering light duty or modified work to their injured workers. Light-duty work enhances the worker’s connection with their employer, their rate of recovery may improve, and disability resulting from the incident may be reduced.

For employers, the program can help minimize significant costs in claims and can lead to reductions in premiums. Returning employees to work minimizes indirect costs, too, such as rehiring, overtime, and retraining expenses.

If your employers are already bringing injured workers back to work, please contact the insurer to see if they are eligible to receive wage subsidy assistance to reimburse a portion of their return-to-work costs. If they aren’t, SAIF RTW consultants can help.

Access to the program requires the employer’s consent and is voluntary. All Oregon insurers are required to be active participants in providing re-employment assistance. SAIF exceeds that by having dedicated RTW staff that includes EAIP experts.

By encouraging your employers to actively participate in EAIP you can help them save money on workers’ comp. For more information contact any SAIF RTW consultant; Rob Wallace, EAIP supervisor at 503.373.8307; or Jenny Bates, RTW services manager at 503.373.3710.

Dedicated email inbox for Certificates of Insurance sent to SAIF

As an agency best practice, we understand that many of our agent partners send us certificates generated from their agency management systems. Back in 2011, SAIF created a dedicated email address for agents to use when sending copies of certificates of insurance to SAIF.

A lot of staffing changes have occurred at both SAIF and our agency partners since 2011, so we want to remind everyone of this dedicated inbox. Please use the certificates@saif.com email address instead of sending it to the service center, your underwriter, or underwriting assistant (they simply forward these emails to this dedicated inbox).

Also, as a reminder, we do not actively review these certificates and we delete them after one year. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kim Turner (kimtur@saif.com), director of agency program and agent experience.

Claim reviews

images/AgentGuide/CompQuotes/2024/Email_to_person_454x407.png Getting out and meeting our customers is important in building relationships and we enjoy doing it. Now that we are getting out in the field more, we have developed guidelines to assist our employees when it comes to scheduling and preparing for a claims review.

And we’ve added another way you as the agent can request a claim review. You may continue to request them as you do now, directly through the assigned adjuster or their supervisor, or you can email claimsreview@saif.com and provide us with as much information as you can when requesting a claim review for a policyholder. Your email will be routed to the aligned adjuster and supervisor who will reach out and begin the scheduling process. This provides you a single point of contact if you prefer that option.

We’re asking for at least 30 days advance notice for a claim review; we’ll do our best to have status reports to you, in one submission, no later than five business days ahead of the review. If there are any questions or concerns, we’ll reach out to the agent of record to discuss.

As always, we appreciate your partnership. Should you have any questions or wish to provide feedback, please submit them through claimsreview@saif.com.

News in brief

Update on IVANS download

SAIF is currently awaiting confirmation from IVANS on the mapping certification process with agency management system integration partners. We expect testing to begin later this month, with live implementation for our agents later this quarter. We’ll send a detailed communication about the IVANS implementation key contacts for our agency partners as soon as certification is finalized and download implementation dates are confirmed. If you have questions, please contact Kim Turner (kimtur@saif.com).

New claim system is a “go”

A SAIF team has been working hard to prepare for the implementation of our new claim system, scheduled for February 19.

To support this, we’ll be taking our systems offline for maintenance the evening of February 16 through February 19. In addition, our online “File a claim” feature for policyholders will be unavailable starting February 6. We are asking that policyholders submit claims during this time by fax, email, or mail (saif.com/filing).

We’ll post more information about system downtimes on saif.com near the launch date.

2024 Workers’ Comp Seminar

The annual Workers’ Comp Seminar for agents will be held at SAIF’s Salem office on April 11, 2024. Registration information will be emailed out in February.

Agent trainings

Don't forget to check our agent training page for upcoming in-person trainings and online webinars. Many qualify for continuing education credit.