Agent News
October 2015
Focusing on markets that Accident Fund knows the best helps your agency achieve profitability. Make sure you know which class codes are on top.
Arkansas
- 8868 College: Professional Employees & Clerical
- 4452 Plastics Mfg: Fabricated Products NOC
- 8111 Plumbers Supplies Dealer & Drivers
- 4299 Printing
Georgia
- 2402 Carpet or Rug Mfg NOC
- 0042 Landscape Gardening & Drivers
- 3632 Machine Shop NOC
- 8869 Professional Employees: School or College
- 8017 Store: Retail NOC
Illinois
- 8868 College: Professional Employees & Clerical
- 8835 Home Health, Public and Traveling-All Employees
Indiana
- 5221 Concrete or Cement Work-Floors, Driveways, Yards or Sidewalks-& Drivers
- 8835 Home Health, Public and Traveling-All Employees
Iowa
- 5645 Carpentry-Detached One or Two Family Dwellings
- 9052 Hotel: All Other Employees & Salespersons, Drivers
- 9058 Hotel: Restaurant Employees
- 3629 Precision Machined Parts Mfg NOC
- 8102 Seed Merchant
Kansas
- 8393 Automobile Body Repair
- 5221 Concrete or Cement Work-Floors, Driveways, Yards or Sidewalks-& Drivers
- 2112 Fruit Evaporating or Preserving
- 5537 Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
- 8033 Store: Meat, Grocery and Provision Stores Combined-Retail NOC
Maryland
- 9060 Club-Country, Golf, Fishing or Yacht-& Clerical
- 0917 Domestic Service Contractor-Inside
- 8835 Nursing-Home Health, Public and Traveling-All Employees
Michigan
- 8395 Automobile Repairs Facility
- 7380 Drivers, Chauffeurs & Their Helpers NOC-Commercial
- 5022 Masonry NOC
- 2790 Pattern Making NOC
- 3629 Precision Machined Parts Mfg NOC
Minnesota
- 8828 Home Health Care: All Other Employees
- 8835 Nursing-Home Health, Public and Traveling-All Employees
- 4206 Pulp Mfg-Ground Wood Process
- 8742 Salespersons, Collectors or Messengers -Outside
- 8864 Social Services Organization – All Employees & Salaried
Mississippi
- 4583 Fertilizer Mfg & Drivers
- 3040 Iron or Steel: Fabrication: Iron Works-Shop-Ornamental-& Drivers
- 9082 Restaurant NOC
- 9522 Upholstering
- 5445 Wallboard Installation within Buildings & Drivers
Missouri
- 2501 Clothing Manufacturing
- 5221 Concrete or Cement Work-Floors, Driveways, Yards or Sidewalks-& Drivers
- 5022 Masonry NOC
- 5474 Painting or Paperhanging NOC & Shop Operations, Drivers
- 3145 Screw Mfg
Nebraska
- 9015 Buildings-Operation-by Owner, Lessee, or Real Estate Management Firm: All Other Employees
- 8810 Clerical Office Employees NOC
- 7380 Drivers, Chauffeurs & Their Helpers NOC-Commercial
- 8018 Store: Wholesale NOC
- 5348 Tile, Stone, Mosaic or Terrazzo Work-Inside
North Carolina
- 5479 Insulation Work NOC & Drivers
- 8835 Nursing-Home Health, Public and Traveling-All Employees
- 7600 Telephone or Telegraph Co.: All Other Employees & Drivers
South Carolina
- 9060 Club-Country, Golf, Fishing or Yacht-& Clerical
- 0917 Domestic Service Contractor-Inside
- 8835 Nursing-Home Health, Public and Traveling-All Employees
South Dakota
- 8810 Clerical Office Employees NOC
- 8833 Hospital: Professional Employees
- 0042 Landscape Gardening & Drivers
- 9102 Park NOC-All Employees & Drivers
Tennessee
- 5190 Electrical Wiring-Within Buildings & Drivers
- 5537 Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
- 9052 Hotel: All Other Employees & Salespersons, Drivers
- 5183 Plumbing NOC & Drivers
- 8033 Store: Meat, Grocery and Provision Stores Combined-Retail NOC
Texas
- 5102 Door, Door Frame or Sash Erection-Metal or Metal Covered
- 3179 Electrical Apparatus Mfg NOC
- 5191 Office Machine Installation, Inspection, Adjustment or Repair
- 5183 Plumbing NOC & Drivers
- 4299 Printing
Virginia
- 9060 Country Club
- 5146 Furniture or Fixtures Installation-Portable-NOC
- 8835 Nursing-Home Health, Public and Traveling-All Employees
Wisconsin
- 9058 Hotel: Restaurant Employees
- 8869 Professional Employees: School or College
Please take note the upcoming rate changes in various states.
Core States
The following core states have a pending rate change. New rates are not yet available in eLink; however, some renewing policies may be viewable in the renewal index. Please refrain from releasing quotes and renewals for these states until rates are updated.
State | Effective Date |
Illinois | 01/01/16 |
Indiana | 01/01/16 |
Iowa | 01/01/16 |
Kansas | 01/01/16 |
Tennessee | 03/01/16 |
Maryland
Effective Jan. 1, 2016, Accident Fund will adopt NCCI’s loss costs in Maryland, resulting in an overall loss cost decrease of -4.8% across the Accident Fund Book. The change will vary by class. New rates became available in our eLink system on Oct. 5, 2015.
Minnesota
Effective Jan. 1, 2016, Accident Fund will adopt the mandatory Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Insurers Association pure premiums, which reflect an overall increase of 2.0% from Jan. 1, 2015 (individual risks will vary). New rates became available in our e-business system on Oct. 12.
Accommodation States
State | NCCI/Bureau Impact |
Effective Date |
Kentucky | -3.4% | 10/01/15 |
New Mexico | -6.2% | 01/01/16 |
West Virginia | -12.1% | 11/01/15 |
Please be sure to discuss pricing options for all new business and renewals with your business development consultant
The Agency Hall of Fame is recognition for those agencies that write the most new business each month. The acknowledgment, given to top agencies in each state, allows us to show appreciation to our agent partners for their efforts.
Arkansas
- Bancorpsouth Insurance Services, Inc., Little Rock
- Cashion Co. Inc., Little Rock
Georgia
- Johnson & Bryan, Inc., Atlanta
- Starr – Mathews Agency, Inc., Dalton
Illinois
- Hausman Kunkel, Inc., Roselle
- McHenry Insurance Services Inc., McHenry
Indiana
- Gregory & Appel Insurance Agency, Indianapolis
- McGowan Insurance Group, Inc., Indianapolis
Iowa
- Accel Group, LLC, Waverly
- Holmes, Murphy and Associates, LCC, West Des Moines
Kansas
- Creative Planning Risk Svcs, Leawood
- Insurance Center, Inc., El Dorado
Maryland
- B. J. Mattheiss Insurance, Inc., Baltimore
- Consolidated Insurance Center, Inc., Owings Mills
Michigan
- Oakland Companies, Clarkston
- The Larkin Group, Traverse City
Minnesota
- J. A. Price Agency, Inc., Eden Prairie
- Mahowald Insurance Agency, LLP, Saint Cloud
Mississippi
- Arthur J. Gallagher Rms, Inc. Ms, Ridgeland
- Bottrell Insurance, Jackson
Missouri
- G. M. Peters Agency, Liberty
- Risk Innovations LLC, Lees Summit
Nebraska
- Quinn Insurance Inc., Omaha
- UNICO Group, Inc., Lincoln
North Carolina
- Cranford Agency, Inc., Asheboro
- ECM Solutions, Charlotte
South Carolina
- Hub International Southeast, Charleston
- Scheetz Hogan Freeman & Phillips, Greenville
South Dakota
- Howalt McDowell Ins, a Marsh & McLennan Agcy LLC Co, Sioux Falls
- The Insurance Connection, Sioux Falls
Tennessee
- Brown & Brown of Tennessee, Inc., Nashville
- Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance, LLC, Memphis
Texas
- Bigham Kliewer Chapman & Watts Ins Agcy, Killeen
- Swingle Collins & Associates, Dallas
Virginia
- Sheehan Insurance Group, Inc., Haymarket
- Tabb Brockenbrough & Ragland, Richmond
Wisconsin
- Diversified Insurance Solutions, Brookfield
- Johnson Insurance Services, Inc., Racine
Legislative Update is a brief synopsis of relevant legislative activity currently taking place in Accident Fund core and accommodation states. For more details or further documentation on any of these legislative activities, contact your business development consultant.
Federal
Ten Democratic lawmakers, including presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, are urging the U.S. secretary of labor to come up with a plan to ensure that state workers’ compensation programs are properly caring for injured workers. In the letter, the Democratic lawmakers said they “would welcome a report” from the Labor Department on how it would “reinstitute oversight” of state programs. In a statement, the Labor Department said it would review the letter and “work with stakeholders to find real solutions,” but did not commit to any specific action. AFHI intends to monitor this situation closely moving forward.
State
Michigan
The Michigan Workers’ Compensation Health Care Advisory Committee met in October. Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) received considerable discussion and debate. Michigan Workers’ Compensation Director Mark Long clearly communicated EBM is a priority and moving forward he will pursue.
Tennessee
AFHI Tennessee Local Counsel and Government Affairs representative attended the Oct. 8 Forum hosted by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workplace Development titled, “the Future of Workers’ Compensation.” While much of the conversation focused on implementation of the 2013 Reform Act and whether there should be additional improvements, the issue of opt-out legislation arose at the end of the presentation. AFHI opposes opt-out and remains engaged in the Tennessee industry opposition effort being lead by the Insurors of Tennessee. We anticipate increased Tennessee legislative debate come January.
North Carolina
The governor has signed House Bill 97 into law, directing the state Industrial Commission to conduct a study on implementing a workers’ compensation drug formulary. A report on the study’s findings is due on April 1, 2016. The law specifies that the study should look at workers’ compensation claims filed by state employees, but additional wording in the bill has raised hope among some that the commission will expand the study’s scope to include all employees in the state, not just those who work for the state government.
California
Governor Jerry Brown recently signed Assembly Bill 1124, requiring the expedited adoption of a workers’ compensation drug formulary by July 1, 2017. The Legislature adjourned 2015 regular session on Sept. 11, 2015.
Illinois
Illinois legislators have returned to session this week with the budget impasse no closer to being resolved, meaning no movement on the governor’s plan to reform the state workers’ compensation system. AFHI remains engaged and continues to monitor this situation closely.
Information Sources – American Insurance Association, Insurance Institute of Michigan, MIRS, Workcompcentral, Illinois Chamber of Commerce
Disclaimer of Liability
This document is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This information is subject to change. Every effort is made to provide accurate and complete information in Accident Fund Holding’s Legislative Update. However, Accident Fund Holdings makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of the Update and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this newsletter.
All content within the Legislative Update is the property of Accident Fund Holdings, Inc., unless otherwise stated. All rights are reserved. No part of the Update may be reproduced, transmitted or copied in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Accident Fund Holdings.
When drivers get behind the wheel, they take responsibility for maintaining control of 2-ton machines that can easily cover a distance of more than 80 feet in one second. Operation of a vehicle must be taken seriously. With that in mind, Accident Fund has created a Transportation Safety campaign that covers a wide variety of safety topics pertaining to driver safety, including:
- Motor vehicle safety
- Defensive driving
- Three-points of contact
- Avoiding struck-by accidents
- Construction zone safety
- Landing gear
- Loading and unloading
The campaign site contains marketing pieces, links to helpful resources, transportation safety articles and more. Be sure to encourage your Accident Fund customers to visit our Transportation Safety site today for lots of useful safety information and tips. Additional safety tools and resources can be found in theToolbox on our website.
In an effort to make it easier for agents to do business with us, we’ve recently partnered with Appulate to provide a new data bridge for uploading business – at no cost to our agents.
Appulate Uplink™ is a simple and comprehensive ACORD XML data bridge that allows agents to upload policy information from their agency management system and push the data directly to Accident Fund. Uplink™ works with any agency management system on the market and converts ACORD forms from the agency management system into ACORD XML that can populate our online rating system – eLink.
We’re glad to provide this efficient new way of doing business to all of our agencies. After all, easier submissions equate to time and money saved as well as increased revenue and incentives.
If you have questions about Uplink, contact your business development consultant. For instructions on how to install the Uplink Virtual Print Driver, click here.
To appreciate the success of Risk Management Services (RMS) – Accident Fund Holdings’ (AFHI) Enterprise approach to providing a comprehensive workers’ compensation product created specifically for retrospective and large deductible buyers, it helps to understand the opportunity that was recognized more than a year ago.
Looking at the AFHI brands’ books of business, it was clear the focus was on guaranteed cost. It was also clear there was an opportunity to expand our service offering to our agency base. Using sister-brand United Heartland’s high-touch service model as a guide, it was determined AFHI could provide a loss-sensitive product that would supplement the outstanding guaranteed cost product our customers had grown to expect. We knew that the workers’ compensation marketplace was basically split three ways:
- 55% of all premium was written on guaranteed cost plans.
- 10% was either self-insured or in a captive arrangement.
- 35% was either on a deductible or retrospectively rated program. It is this 35% of the marketplace that RMS is focused on.
When the vision for RMS was explained to our Agency Councils, the message was clear: If you can do this without losing focus on your core product and core service values, we’re on board. So what has RMS delivered?
- Given customers who are willing to take on more risk a complete package that bundles all services, eliminates back-end charges and reduces overall insurance costs.
- Delivered proactive claim and medical management services that reduce overall cost of risk.
- Provided loss control experts who focus on loss drivers and how to prevent losses from happening in the first place.
- Offered Client Relation Consultants as a single point of contact for customers to coordinate all aspects of their work comp programs.
As a result, RMS activity has remained strong throughout 2015. Here are some examples of the accounts written by the RMS team:
- A group of long-term care facilities
- Industrial laundry service provider for hospitals and long-term care facilities
- Grocery store chain
- Frozen food manufacturer
- A large group of dental offices located throughout the United States
- A manufacturer of paving stones, retaining walls and hardscape products.
The reach of our Enterprise – supplemented through the Accident Fund, CompWest Insurance, Third Coast Underwriters and UH brands – has played a key part in helping the RMS team build connections and develop relationships with the agents that control loss-sensitive account opportunities that otherwise may have been overlooked.
Moving into 2016, RMS Director Tim Greifenkamp has clear goals. “We want to continue to refine the business that RMS pursues to become more strategic with agents and brokers who are willing to partner with us. It really is a chance for accounts, who are willing to have some skin in the game, to reduce their overall insurance costs,” he said.
If you have loss-sensitive accounts that would be well-served by RMS, email [email protected] today.
When an injury occurs, our goal is to make the claim reporting and handling process as easy and efficient as possible for our policyholders. Because we’re committed to providing quick resolution, we offer an electronic First Notice of Loss reporting form on our secure policyholder website. Utilizing this form provides ease for our customers by automatically uploading their company information and accelerates the claims process by notifying the claims examiner immediately.
We encourage you to inform your Accident Fund customers of this functionality so they know the most expedient way to report a claim should an accident or injury occur. If they don’t know how to log into our secure policyholder site, this flyer provides instructions or they can call the Help Desk at 866-206-5851.