Reminder: DWC Annual Reports of Inventory (ARI) Are Due April 1, 2022

Last week the DWC Audit Unit issued a reminder that the deadline for workers’ compensation claims administrators to file their Annual Report of Inventory (ARI, DWC Form 851) for claims reported during calendar year 2021 is Friday, April 1.   

Per the state’s electronic data reporting regulation [CCR 9702 (i)(3), www.dir.ca.gov/t8/9702.html] the DWC can waive the obligation to submit the ARI if the Administrative Director determines that the claim administrator has demonstrated the capability to submit complete, valid, and accurate data via the Workers’ Compensation Information System (WCIS).  However, the DWC Audit Unit Manager recently informed the Institute that the last waiver issued was in 2013 and that very few claim administrators currently have a waiver.  Thus, per CCR §10104, most insurer, TPA, and self-administered, self-insured employer and JPA adjusting locations in the state must still complete the ARI form indicating the number of claims at that location for the preceding calendar year, and submit it to the DWC Audit Unit.  The inventory must be filed even if the adjusting location had no claims reported to it in the prior year, and regardless of whether it received an inventory form from the DWC.  Failure to submit the report by April 1 may result in penalties of up to $500 per adjusting location.

Any claims administrators who still have a valid ARI waiver must file an “Annual Report of Adjusting Locations” providing the state with a list of all of their adjusting locations that were operating as of December 31, 2021.  The Audit Unit Manager notes that prior to 2019 claims operations with waivers used a separate form (DWC Form 857) to provide this information, but the Division merged Form 851 and Form 857 in 2019, incorporating changes that include the addition of the company’s current contact information for complaints.  The complaint contact information was added after the Audit Unit changed its complaint process to match the process used by the Department of Insurance, and it must be provided by all claim administrators, including those with an ARI waiver who otherwise only need to complete the top portion of the DWC 851 form.   

Any revisions to the information reported in the ARI or Annual Report of Adjusting Locations must be made within 45 days of the effective date of the change. 

The DIR web page with details, instructions and the inventory form (Form DWC-851, Rev. 11-21), is posted here. 

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