HR teams are busy. Between planning recruitment strategies, engaging employees and preparing for OE (all while managing their typical day-to-day work) running a dependent verification audit just doesn’t seem feasible for most HR leaders. That’s why we sat down with PlanSource’s own Brantley Saunders and Darren Lucas to discuss how dependent verification tools can relieve HR admin burden and save employers money at the same time. Read on to find out what Brantley and Darren had to say about the two different kinds of audits, common dependent verification misconceptions and how AI/ML technology can help.

Eligibility verification is the process of making sure your company is only covering dependents that are actually eligible to be covered by your plans. For the most part, employees aren’t intentionally trying to cover ineligible dependents, but it does happen. On average, 6% of dependents are found ineligible. Not only does this cost employers money, but employees may also be at risk of unintentionally committing insurance fraud. So, it’s important for employers to make sure they’re covering the right people via dependent verification audits.

In the benefits industry there are two different types of audits: full and ongoing. The full audit, also called initial audit or one-time audit, is where the entire covered workforce is audited to verify the relationship of every dependent who is currently being covered by your insurance plans. This is typically done every 3-4 years and while it’s useful for taking a look at your company’s dependents as a whole, it doesn’t necessarily prevent new ineligibilities from occurring.

That’s where ongoing verification comes in as it prevents ineligible dependents from being added to coverage in the first place. In this type of audit, coverage is pending for newly added dependents until they are verified via documentation requirements. This proactively prevents risk and unnecessary premiums and claims; however, it does require constant monitoring and document review for ineligible dependents.

If you’re wondering which audit is right for you, the answer is both. The best dependent verification strategies kick off with a full audit and include ongoing verification after with routine full audits every 3-4 years. By doing this, employers can ensure future efficiency and accuracy, prevent unnecessary costs and continue to reduce risk moving forward.

However, both initial full and ongoing audits are time consuming and tedious for HR teams which is likely why 44% of the attendees reported they don’t currently do it. While a full audit is a large undertaking, it only occurs every 3-4 years and there is a defined start and end to the project. One of the drawbacks of performing ongoing verification is that it requires constant documentation monitoring and depending on how many new dependents are being added on a weekly basis, may require someone solely dedicated to running your eligibility process.

As a solution, we’ve developed a unique ongoing verification tool, DependentIQ, to automate this process. DependentIQ uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to recognize required documents, instantly detect and validate the key information and verify the relationship in real time. This removes the headache of manual admin work and frees up HR so they can focus on more pressing strategies such as retention and recruitment.

Watch our on-demand webinar to learn what else DependentIQ can do in Darren’s product demo. Additionally, to learn more about the different types of dependent verification audits, read our recent blog post Ongoing vs. One-Time Dependent Eligibility Audit Verification: Which Way is Right for You?