As a self-insured administrator how long do you have to maintain the claims file?

As a self-insured administrator how long do you have to maintain the claims file?

• A. 5 years from the DOI and 1 year thereafter.
• B. 5 years from the DOI and 1 year from date of last payment of benefits.
• C. 5 years from the DOI or the date on which the last provision of compensation benefits occurred, whichever is later.
• D. 2 years from the date of the last payment of compensation.

Answer: (D)

The key idea is how long you must keep a workers’ compensation claims file after the claim is no longer paying benefits. For a self-insured administrator, the standard minimum retention is two years from the date of the last payment of compensation. This provides a window long enough to address any late adjustments, reopenings, or audits related to the claim, but it isn’t an indefinite retention. If benefits have ceased, you start the two-year clock from the last payment date and then archive the file per your policy, while still complying with any other legal or regulatory requirements. This is a specific retention rule for the claims file; other retention timelines (like five years from a DOI or from the date of last provision of benefits) apply to different records or contexts, but two years from the last payment is the standard for the claims file in this setting.

The key idea is how long you must keep a workers’ compensation claims file after the claim is no longer paying benefits. For a self-insured administrator, the standard minimum retention is two years from the date of the last payment of compensation. This provides a window long enough to address any late adjustments, reopenings, or audits related to the claim, but it isn’t an indefinite retention. If benefits have ceased, you start the two-year clock from the last payment date and then archive the file per your policy, while still complying with any other legal or regulatory requirements. This is a specific retention rule for the claims file; other retention timelines (like five years from a DOI or from the date of last provision of benefits) apply to different records or contexts, but two years from the last payment is the standard for the claims file in this setting.