Standardized Forms Can Increase LTC Insurance Sales

The ACORD Long Term Care Working Forms Group has several individuals participating from all aspects of the LTC insurance industry, including the top LTC carriers, vendors and distributors.

Carriers have supported this project by appointing individuals from their compliance, new business, information technology and claims departments to ensure the group addresses their branding and marketing needs. The group holds teleconferences twice a month to analyze different aspects of the business, with the goal of developing and adopting uniform documents. It also meets face-to-face as needed.

The group’s first order of business was to develop a list of potential forms that would be important in setting the bar for standardization. From that list, it then prioritized the documents in order of necessity.

In the short time since its inception, the group created a standard electronic fund transfer and credit card payment form. It is also preparing to release standardized policy delivery receipt and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act forms. After these are adopted, the group will work with ACORD to get them filed with each state for approval, on behalf of the carriers that choose to adopt them. LTC insurance agents would then be able to use one form for any state and any carrier. That will simplify paperwork and eliminate much of the confusion the agent may have experienced before the forms were standardized.

To date, the 800-pound gorilla in the room that everyone wants to tackle, but has lacked the commitment to do so, is the actual LTC insurance application itself. This is a huge project to undertake. However, if the industry were truly dedicated to its goal of streamlining the sales process, it would accept that this is the one item desperately needed. Adopting a universal form ultimately could have an enormous impact on LTC insurance sales.

The future of standardization

Many carriers are either working on or have already completed some type of LTC insurance electronic application to ease the sales process and reduce the number of applications that come in “not in good order.” Data exchanges are happening all over the country in many industries, including LTC insurance. It is not feasible to think that each distribution partner, insurance carrier or vendor can remain unique in the way it sends and receives such data.

When feeding data from one application to another, the information eventually will need to be mapped to a paper layout. As a result, the entire LTC insurance filing process comes back to the need for a standard application alongside a set of electronic data standards–both built to complement each other. Data is knowledge, and knowledge provides the LTC insurance industry as a whole an opportunity for greater success.

Visionary carriers have dedicated resources to the ACORD Long-Term Care Working Forms Group. I also encourage others in the LTC insurance industry to become part of this vision and help work toward standardizing solutions that can have positive outcomes for all. The Long Term Care Forms Working Group hopes to make the industry as a whole more aware of its work, address all unanswered questions, and move forward with this highly valuable, long-overdue project.

Sandra Latham is the chairman of the ACORD Long Term Care Working Forms Group. She is also chief administrative officer and a partner in LTCI Partners LLC, Libertyville, Ill. She can via email at