2022 Workers’ Compensation Financial Data Calls: What You Should Know

The 2022 reporting season is underway for workers’ compensation financial data calls to the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) and independent state workers’ compensation rating bureaus. This is a very busy season for reporting analysts and data quality staff who will need to aggregate, validate, and submit all the policy and claims financial detail for the year countrywide.

While there are very few changes in the calls and data capture this year, it remains important to keep tabs on updates from the bureaus. For instance:

• The New Jersey rating bureau has issued a data call to collect COVID-19 pandemic data.
• The California rating bureau is requiring the reporting of premium detail by month instead of year, starting with 1^st Quarter, 2022.
• Other rating bureaus have updated their front-end and back-end processes. For instance, NCCI updated its system interface slightly, and the NCCI template for uploading data into the financial call system has also been modified.

These are not significant changes but could affect your workflow and timing.

Companies should use the financial call reporting season as an opportunity to closely review their data collection, aggregation, and submission processes for weaknesses and to make updates accordingly.

Closer scrutiny

The rating bureaus have been implementing more edits and cross-reporting reconciliations in recent years and are therefore catching more data reporting inconsistencies. The risk of incomplete or incorrect data has always been an issue for carriers—deadlines are strict and penalties for late reporting can be substantial. With even greater scrutiny from the rating bureaus, carriers are under even more pressure to ensure accurate, on-time reporting.

Statistical and financial data analysis and reporting are non-revenue-generating tasks that can consume precious bandwidth. Timely, accurate reporting draws time and attention from staff whose focus is generally directed toward high-value tasks. As a result, many carriers opt to partner with reporting specialists like Perr&Knight. Delegating reporting to insurance data services experts alleviates the stress and seasonal time crunch of accurate data preparation and submission.

Common reporting problems

During decades of providing insurance data services for workers’ compensation carriers across the nation, we have seen companies run into issues that can complicate reporting and compromise accuracy. Here are some of the most common pitfalls companies experience:

• Calculating designated statistical reporting (DSR) premium levels—specifically, applying rating modifications and loss-cost multipliers correctly—can be challenging. Different policy types, rating bureaus, and loss-cost adoptions can create different methods of calculation. Lack of experience with this calculation can result in incorrect DSR premium level reporting.
• Difficulty understanding how deductible programs work. Some portions of deductible policies are not reported to the bureau. For example, large deductible policies and claims must be excluded from most calls, whereas small deductible policies are generally included.  Pay close attention to whether premiums and claims are reportable net of the deductible versus gross of the deductible when reporting. Plenty of carriers get tripped up here.
• Issues related to comparisons between financial data and policy/claims data. Disconnects between unit statistical reporting (detailed audited premiums and claims reporting) and financial data calls will cause problems. Companies must uncover discrepancies and clear up edits in financial-to-statistical data reports before submission or risk penalties.

A head-start on accuracy

Working with experienced third-party support teams for reporting also ensures the cleanliness of data before submission to the rating bureaus. Before the Perr&Knight teams even submit data to bureaus, we aggregate all the required information and perform reconciliations to a company’s NAIC Annual Statement. If there is a difference, we work with our clients to resolve the error or create a detailed explanation for the bureau.

Offloading reporting to the experts at Perr&Knight protects against inaccuracy by ensuring all state-specific updates and requirements are taken into consideration. Our financial call reporting specialists make sure all the bases are covered.

The 2022 financial data calls show reporting is becoming more robust as it is further digitized. Data is under closer scrutiny and edits are stricter than ever. For many companies, working with a third-party insurance data services partner is the most efficient, cost-effective solution to ensure data accuracy and receive added support for this essential and resource-consuming task.

Offload this year’s NCCI data call to the reporting specialists at Perr&Knight. Contact us today to learn how we help.