ClearCert Carrier Membership

ClearCert offers a common-sense, cost effective solution to managing mandatory training. Call our membership center (1-800-653-3122 x3) or e-mail info@clearcert.com to schedule a conference call or receive an online tour of the ClearCert system.

Carrier-Validated Training is Not the Same as Continuing Education

Recent state and federal regulations make the insurance carrier – not the state department of insurance – accountable for producer training compliance of LTCI and annuity training. This means that the insurance carrier must decide which courses are acceptable and whether producers are in compliance. Additional differences further complicate the process.

• Although courses may be eligible for CE credit when taken by resident producers, it many not be required.
• Although the NAIC recommends course content, states do not implement the content outline consistently.
• State approval processes vary widely and may not guarantee that a course fully meets all applicable requirements in all states.
• Only a handful of states have product experts involved in the course review process.
• Online listings of approved courses are often difficult to find; may not be up to date; and may not list courses that were previously approved but are no longer offered.

ClearCert facilitates an ongoing dialogue between our Carrier Members in order to distill and publish the industry's authoritative state-by-state training requirements and Certified Courses from the perspective of carriers.

How can producers be aware of – but not confused by – mandatory training requirements that apply in the states in which they represent?

• LTCI - Thirty-four states have implemented mandatory training under the 2006 NAIC Model Act's guidelines, requiring  producers to complete initial and follow-up training courses in order to earn qualification for representing long-term care insurance; each state has implemented these requirements with important - and often confusing - differences
• Annuities - As of January 1st, 2011 only three states have implemented the Suitability in Annuities requirement; there are major differences between each of these states 

Solution: ClearCert's Training Information Clearinghouse - ClearCert maintains the industry’s most comprehensive, authoritative resource for use by producers in researching carrier-validated training requirements, including rules on reciprocity and lists of courses pre-certified for carrier acceptance.

Producers may submit business in a different state than the state in which training was completed. How can a carrier be sure the producer is qualified to represent long-term care insurance in the state where business was written?

• Most states offer reciprocal credit for courses taken in another state, but guidelines vary dramatically
• Some states require that a course be taken in the producer’s resident state
• Some states require that the producer’s resident state have the same training requirement in place for a course completion to be valid
• Some states provide partial reciprocal credit but require additional state-specific training

Solution: ClearCert’s Completion Look-up and Reciprocity Tracker – This online, rules-based automates the process of validating training completions and producer qualification status in every carrier-validated training state – no matter where training was taken!

• Calculates qualified (reciprocal) status based on all training completions through ClearCert Network Providers (both general NAIC and state-specific)
• If applicable, hows the date on which the producer’s qualified status will expire in every state (the date by which a follow-up course must be taken)
• Coming in 2011 - Representation of producer compliance with annuity product training (brokers will be able to verify training for producers across the range of represented carriers in a single look-up)

How can a carrier be sure its producers take compliant courses?

• CE approval does not guarantee that a course is certified for its intended use and offers no documentation of approved status or content fitness to the carrier
• Because of differences in state approval processes, a course approved for use in one state may not be acceptable to another state

Solution: ClearCert's Content Certified State-by-State Course Listings - ClearCert conducts the industry's only third-party certification review of carrier-validated training courses. After validating that courses have received the required approval, ClearCert reviews course content based upon standardized "NAIC" (general) and state-specific review checklists (where required) to ensure that  courses fully meet all regulatory requirements and archives this documentation for carrier use. Courses that successful complete this process are "ClearCert Certified" for instant acceptance by participating carriers.