WC Advisors speak up on behalf of client, and speech pathologist group sees over $30,000 in returned premiums

INSURED

This employer is a privately owned practice of speech-language pathologists, servicing various medical and academic settings. The company employs upwards of 30 people.

SITUATION

The company was experiencing abnormally high premiums due to a SCOPES (rating bureau’s manual of business classifications) Manual classification code rate of 2.90, which seemed extremely high for such a low-risk occupation.

ASSESSMENT

CWCAs assessed the situation and by undertaking an audit, discovered that all employees were classified in class code 8835, “Home, Public & Traveling Healthcare.” This drove up the premiums considerably.

SOLUTION

After conducting an extensive overview of what the company did, when they did it, where they did it, and what the risk was, it was agreed by all parties that the company was misclassified. The CWCAs were able to re-classify the company to class code 8832, defined as “Physician & Clerical,” since the insured provides the same services in its offices as the traveling team does off-site. The new classification of 8832 reduced the rate of risk from 2.90 to .32.

RESULT

The reclassification resulted in a return premium to the policyholder of $30,701. From July 1, 2007 to June 22, 2008, the original premium paid was $18,519. After reclassifying the risk and disputing the audit, the final premium was $2,260, a return to the company of $16,259. From June 22, 2008 to June 22, 2009, the original premium paid was $17,216. After reclassifying the risk and disputing the audit, the final premium is $2,774, a return to the company of $14,442. And from June 22, 2009 to June 22, 2010, the total premium, as a result of the proper classification was $1,513. Had the policy not been reclassified, the insured would still be paying approximately $15,000 annually in Workers’ Compensation premium.