Taking over 2 plans for the same sponsor - are the fees required to provide information warranted?

Hi

My apologies if this subject was discussed before.

Taking over 2 plans for the same sponsor and requested the past 3 years of information as well as documents etc, the standard information which are all available in PDF format. Sponsor cannot locate them all.

Sponsor contacted the prior TPA and asked for the information. In return they asked for a payment to provide the information that already belongs to the sponsor and was paid for in the past.

Sponsor is very unhappy about the amounts and wants to complain to an institution about this.

Is this a common practice i.e. ask for money to provide the information already belonging to the sponsor? I have dealt with this many times and unless it was some very specific calculation etc, it is usually customary to provide the information without any money.

Is there a customary amount?

Your comments are appreciated.

Regards,

It depends on the situation, but they are probably within their rights to require "reasonable compensation" if they have to reproduce a product they already delivered.  

We don't usually charge, but I've found that clients rarely keep, or know where, anything is we send them.  If it gets ridiculous, then yes, we charge.  But your client should have everything without going to the TPA.  Next time maybe they will save everything.  They are definitely within their rights to reasonable charge, especially since the plan is no longer with them.

13 hours ago, Jakyasar said:

Sponsor cannot locate them all.

13 hours ago, Jakyasar said:

they asked for a payment

13 hours ago, Jakyasar said:

Sponsor is very unhappy about the amounts and wants to complain to an institution about this.

We rarely charge unless we need to go into the paper archives for stuff, but this sounds like the type of PITA client I would charge unless I have a good working relationship with the new TPA.

How much is the old TPA asking for?

21 hours ago, Jakyasar said:

Hi

My apologies if this subject was discussed before.

Taking over 2 plans for the same sponsor and requested the past 3 years of information as well as documents etc, the standard information which are all available in PDF format. Sponsor cannot locate them all.

Sponsor contacted the prior TPA and asked for the information. In return they asked for a payment to provide the information that already belongs to the sponsor and was paid for in the past.

Sponsor is very unhappy about the amounts and wants to complain to an institution about this.

Is this a common practice i.e. ask for money to provide the information already belonging to the sponsor? I have dealt with this many times and unless it was some very specific calculation etc, it is usually customary to provide the information without any money.

Is there a customary amount?

Your comments are appreciated.

Regards,

We provide copies of EVERYTHING to the client so there is nothing they should need from us if they leave us.  Therefore, when someone leaves, we send them a letter signing them off but also telling them they have everything  but if they should need anything, we have a "document assembly fee" of $250.  It's amazing how when you tell them it's going to cost them something, they find the missing info.  But if not, we await the check BEFORE we do anything.  The information we have does NOT belong the employer, in contrast to your statement.  It belongs to us; we get copies of everything, but nothing we have BELONGS to the client.  When we takeover a client, we copy all of their old documents and reports and return all the originals to them.

You need to recognize that the information does not belong to the employer (you say that a couple of times in the posting, which is why I repeat my comment).

Hope this helps.

7 hours ago, RatherBeGolfing said:

How much is the old TPA asking for?

Just my opinion: I suggest NO ONE answer this question on this Board.  

If the sponsor is upset about being charged a fee, the first question is "what does the service agreement say?".  Charging a small fee is generally considered reasonable (i'm not defining "small"), assuming permitted by the service agreement.  The corollary issue might be the amount of the requested fee.  If so, the sponsor might wish to "take a survey" by calling a few TPA's (or the new TPA can do so) to ask about this fee/process in general, just for a market-based comparison.  Lastly, the sponsor might find the fee is negotiable.  Suggest an alternative amount?

10 minutes ago, david rigby said:

The corollary issue might be the amount of the requested fee.

Or "The coronary issue might be the amount of the requested fee.

2 hours ago, david rigby said:

Just my opinion: I suggest NO ONE answer this question on this Board.  

Fair enough.  A better way to ask the question might be whether the client would object to any fee being charged, which is what it sounds like.

Thank you all for your comments

Pretty routine to have such a fee in the Service Agreement and I agree that that should be the first place to look.   The plan sponsor did not "already pay" for the TPA to accumulate and copy documents.  If the sponsor already paid, then surely they have the documents and don't need to bother the terminated TPA for another set!