Retrospective Rating Program

What is the Retrospective Rating Program?
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) began the Retrospective Rating Program (retro) as a financial incentive program to assist Washington employers with reducing the cost of industrial insurance premiums. Enrollment in a retro group requires active participation on behalf of the employer in order to control costs. By keeping claim costs to a minimum, companies have the potential for a premium refund.

Refunds are awarded to companies that increase safety awareness, reduce workplace accidents and get more involved in minimizing the costs of claims that do occur. It also gives an employer the opportunity to pool the risk involved with workers' compensation in a group of like-minded, safety-conscious companies in similar industries.

Why join a retro group?
Approach Management Services manages retro groups for associations like SMART, Pacific Inland Tariff Bureau (PITB), Master Builders' GRIP Program, Washington State Lodging Association (WLA) and the NW Washington Medical Group Alliance (NWMGA). These retro groups consistently out-perform their competition for services and premium refunds and provide Washington employers with a variety of resources to lower premium payments up front.

Reduce premium payments
For more than 15 years, AMS has helped companies lower their experience factors by establishing a safer workplace and by managing claims with comprehensive, proactive and innovative services. By joining a retro group managed by AMS, your company will receive customized support, training and resources to help reduce the cost of workers' compensation.

The bottom line: by reducing your experience factor, you pay less workers' compensation premium to L&I.

Receive premium refunds
AMS follows stringent underwriting criteria when bringing companies on board the retro groups it manages. This process, in addition to the comprehensive services we provide, ensures consistent top-performing groups and enables top-level premium refunds every year.

AMS believes that the long-term success of retro groups depends, in part, on the strength and quality of relationships with our clients and partners. Our goal is to provide the best customer service in the risk management industry in order to maintain excellent refunds.

In the retro groups managed by AMS, premium refunds can be as high as 82 percent or greater. And, even in a "worst-case scenario" where a company's individual losses exceed the premium paid, it is still possible to receive a refund - not a penalty.

Please click on the following links for more information or contact Samantha Lipoma or Jennifer Johnson at
800.626.0846 or send an email to jjohnson@approachms.com.

Click here if you would like to receive a confidential and cost-free analysis that will show you the type of premium refunds your company can receive by becoming a retro participant.