As the year comes to a close, many businesses focus on renewals, budgeting, and planning for the year ahead. One critical task that is often overlooked is preparing and organizing claim documentation before December 31. Year-end claims housekeeping can directly impact future premiums, reserve negotiations, experience modifiers, and underwriting outcomes for the next policy term.
A disciplined year-end claims checklist helps ensure accuracy, protects your position, and prevents small oversights from becoming costly issues.
Review All Open Claims
Before the year ends, review every open claim across all lines of coverage. This includes workers compensation, general liability, auto, property, cyber, and any specialty policies. Confirm the current status, open reserves, and next steps on each file.
Open claims with inflated or outdated reserves can negatively affect renewal pricing and experience mods. Understanding where each claim stands allows you to address discrepancies before underwriters evaluate your loss history.
Verify Claim Reserves
Reserves are one of the most important financial components of any claim. Year-end reserve figures often carry forward into renewal underwriting and actuarial reviews. If reserves no longer reflect the actual exposure, they should be questioned and addressed.
Request updated reserve explanations from carriers or adjusters and ensure documentation supports any requested changes. Even modest reserve adjustments can significantly affect future pricing and program structure.
Confirm Proper Classification of Claims
Misclassified claims can distort loss runs and create underwriting concerns. Review whether claims are correctly categorized by cause of loss, injury type, location, and policy line.
For workers compensation claims in particular, confirm that medical-only claims are not misclassified as lost-time claims and that subrogation opportunities are properly noted. Accurate classification ensures your loss data tells the correct story.
Gather Supporting Documentation
Before December 31, collect and organize all relevant claim documentation. This includes incident reports, photos, witness statements, medical reports, invoices, correspondence, and settlement records.
Having complete documentation readily available strengthens your position during audits, reserve discussions, and renewal negotiations. Missing records often lead to conservative assumptions by carriers, which can increase premiums.
Close What Can Be Closed
Many claims remain open simply due to administrative delays. Identify claims that are ready for closure and push for formal resolution before year-end when possible.
Closed claims remove uncertainty from loss runs and improve the overall presentation of your claims history. Even small claims lingering open can raise red flags during underwriting reviews.
Review Deductible and Self-Insured Payments
Confirm that all deductible payments, reimbursements, and self-insured retentions are accurately recorded. Discrepancies between carrier records and internal accounting can complicate audits and delay claim closures.
Ensuring alignment before year-end prevents surprises when financials are finalized and renewal data is compiled.
Identify Trends and Recurring Issues
Year-end is the ideal time to step back and analyze claims trends. Look for recurring causes of loss, injury patterns, locations with higher frequency, or operational weaknesses.
This insight allows you to implement corrective measures, improve safety protocols, and demonstrate proactive risk management to underwriters. Showing control over claims trends can positively influence renewal outcomes.
Prepare for Renewal Discussions
Claims data is one of the first items underwriters review during renewal. Having a clean, accurate, and well-documented claims file positions your business as a disciplined and well-managed risk.
Preparing summaries that explain large losses, corrective actions taken, and lessons learned helps frame the narrative and reduces assumptions that can lead to higher pricing.
How Skyscraper Insurance Supports You
At Skyscraper Insurance, we work closely with clients at year-end to review claims, challenge inaccurate reserves, organize documentation, and prepare clear renewal narratives. Our claims advocacy approach is designed to protect your long-term cost of risk, not just handle individual incidents.
Completing a year-end claims checklist ensures you enter the new year with clarity, control, and confidence in your insurance program.
