Changing your third-party administrator (TPA) is a significant decision. It affects your claims, your employees, your data, and the people responsible for keeping your program on track. Even when service falls short with your current TPA, concerns about the transition can make staying put feel easier.
The starting point is understanding where your current program is falling short and what a new partner would need to do differently.
Recognize the signs
A single service issue may call for a conversation. Recurring problems deserve a closer look. Common reasons to evaluate your TPA include:
- Results that consistently miss expectations. Rising claim costs, infrequent closures or elevated litigation rates warrant a discussion about what is driving performance and how it will improve.
- Service that creates more work for your team. Unreturned calls, late or inaccurate reports, and a lack of urgency can leave risk managers chasing information instead of managing their programs.
- Frequent staff turnover. Repeated changes in claims personnel can disrupt relationships and make it difficult to maintain a team that understands your organization.
- Technology or data concerns. Outdated processes, unreliable information, and concerns about data security can limit your ability to understand and manage risk.
- A program that has outgrown its support. Organizational growth, increasing claim volume, or changing service needs may require capabilities your current TPA cannot provide.
These concerns help define what to ask your current administrator and what to look for in a potential replacement.
Look beyond the promise of better service
Evaluating a new TPA means looking closely at how it will support your program, both during the transition and afterward.
Who will lead the conversion? How will claims data be reviewed for accuracy? How will injured workers know whom to contact, and what steps will help prevent disruptions to their care? Will you have input into staffing and vendor selection?
Ask prospective partners to explain their process and provide relevant references or case studies. Their answers should demonstrate an understanding of your industry, your operations, and the challenges that prompted you to consider a change.
Experience matters. So does understanding your program.
Athens Administrators has managed hundreds of claims program conversions. That experience has taught us that risk managers often share similar concerns, but each program requires its own approach.
We begin by understanding your requirements, systems and processes. A dedicated Implementation Team serves as your key contact, supported by regular meetings that clarify progress, responsibilities, and next steps.
Our teams review and validate claims data, addressing inconsistencies, errors, and duplicate entries during the conversion process. We involve clients in decisions about claims staffing, ancillary service providers, and employee communications. We also review historical results together to identify opportunities for improvement and establish objectives.
Understanding your program means learning how your organization operates, the exposures it faces, and what your team needs from the partnership. Those details shape both the transition and the ongoing service.
Start with a conversation
You do not need to have a transition date in mind to begin evaluating your options. Start by identifying what needs to improve and asking how a prospective partner would address it.
If you are considering a change, Athens Administrators can help you understand what a transition would involve and how we would approach your program’s needs. Connect with our team at sales@athensadmin.com.