​​Agency Performance

IIABA’s Best Practices Tools  are available to improve your agency’s performance. The Best Practices initiative evolved by asking top rated agencies how they got where they are. IIABA provides a complete family of Best Practices tools, workshops, and services to help your agency reach its full potential. Best Practices can help you understand the past, analyze the present and formulate a strategy for the future. To obtain the resources you need, scan the list below and click on a topic.

Do Not Call & Do No Fax Regulations

The new “Do Not Call” rules published by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) apply to independent insurance agents and brokers. The effective date for the rules prohibiting unsolicited fax advertisements is Aug. 25 and the effective date for the rules creating a national Do Not Call list and prohibiting telemarketing calls to residential and personal cell phone numbers on that list is Oct. 1. IIABA developed a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) paper on the unsolicited fax advertisement rules and a FAQ on the telemarketing rules, each of which cover specific information on the application of the new rules to independent agents and brokers, and include sample forms/policies. Click on the following links to download the documents: Do Not Fax and Do Not Call.

Some key aspects of each rule are:

Do Not Fax

• requires prior written consent to send unsolicited commercial faxes as of Aug. 25;
• applies to all fax solicitations from anyone (including insurance agencies and brokerage firms and insurance companies) promoting products or services for which a fee is charged;
• applies to quotes, applications for insurance, and descriptions of coverage offered for sale;
• applies even if there is an established business relationship with the recipient; and does not apply to informational faxes (such as information about an existing policy);

Do Not Call

• requires that no telemarketing calls be made on and after Oct. 1 to any residential phone number on the national Do Not Call list;
• applies to insurance agencies and brokerage firms, insurance companies and trade associations;
• exempts from the rules telemarketing calls to people with whom there is an established business relationship (such as people who are currently or have been clients within the past 18 months, or who have called for information or an application within the last 3 months);
• applies to calls to referrals from people with whom there is an established business relationship;
• and provides a safe harbor for telemarketers who establish and implement certain policies. 

For more information, contact Amy Hendricks at (800) 221-7917(800) 221-7917 or amy.hendricks@iiaba.net.

HIPPA Privacy Regs for Health Care​

A final revised rule on the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (Privacy Rule) was published in 2002.  Agents/brokers that offer health care insurance products to clients or have access to individually identifiable health information about employees of clients are required to comply with the Privacy Rule.  The Big I has published documents to help you comply with them: LINK HERE 

Compliance with the Privacy Rule was required by April 14, 2003, unless the plan is a small plan (because it has annual receipts of $5 million or less), in which case the deadline for compliance is April 14, 2004.

As noted in the Executive Summary, there is a completely separate set of “electronic code set requirements” with which all employer benefit plans and any agent/broker/third party administrator that processes claims or participates in the plan enrollment process needed to comply by October 16, 2002, unless: 1) a one year extension was requested by October 15, 2002 (the process for which is detailed in the Memorandum in Appendix 2 at page 43; or 2) the plan is a small plan (because it has annual receipts of $5 million or less), in which case it receives an automatic one-year extension. Contact Marianne Caulfield at (703) 706-5386(703) 706-5386 or marianne.caulfield@iiaba.net if you have any questions.

Patriot (anti-money laundering) Act

In response to the 9/11 attacks, Congress passed the PATRIOT Act, a bill to stop money laundering by terrorists. The USA-PATRIOT Act of 2001, gives law enforcement greater tools to aggressively find those who have and would terrorize Americans.   The act requires financial institutions to establish internal policies, procedures, and controls; the designation of a compliance officer; an ongoing employee training program; and  an independent audit function to test the programs.

Earlier this year, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) sent out a letter notifying companies and agents that they are impacted by this legislation.  IIABA immediately began a series of meetings with the U.S. Treasury and Congressional leaders and were able to exclude P & C agents and insurers from the act.