The Social Security Administration (SSA) appears to have reversed a substantial and unprecedented addition of records to the Death Master File (DMF), highlighting the importance of expert interpretation in managing and understanding government datasets. Looking Back: DMF Experienced Significant Increase in April 2025 In early April 2025, the DMF saw [continue reading]
Protecting Tomorrow's Privacy, Today At The Berwyn Group, we handle some of your most sensitive information – birth dates and personal identifiers that retain their value and sensitivity for decades. As custodians of this data, we constantly evaluate emerging threats to your privacy and security. One such threat has quietly [continue reading]
The Clue During a death validation review, our team encountered an obituary featuring a photo of the decedent on a Harley-Davidson. While the death record itself was plausible, we needed additional confirmation to confidently tie it to the correct individual—especially given multiple similar name matches. The Trail The photo led [continue reading]
Background At The Berwyn Group, we often encounter near-identical records that challenge even the most sophisticated death audit processes. One recurring challenge is distinguishing between twins who share not only birthdates, but also strikingly similar names and life histories. Recently, our team encountered several such cases where death records initially [continue reading]
In 2024 alone, over 20,000 BeneSearch reports were completed – resulting in saving homes from foreclosure and providing life-saving medical benefits. In a recent webinar, we took a closer look into identifying and finding beneficiaries and discussed: Why locating beneficiaries is a complicated process. How BeneSearch dives deep to [continue reading]
On May 13, 2025 industry leaders came together to discuss strategies for navigating today’s pension risk transfer (PRT) landscape. Together, they shared insights on current regulatory frameworks, the role of data integrity in successful transactions, and market opportunities to achieve long-term pension security. Webinar panelists included: Travis Jones, Senior [continue reading]
At first glance death audit service providers seem similar, but there are crucial differences that can significantly impact the integrity of your data, the longevity of your plan, and the delivery of life-saving benefits to participants and their families. Choosing the wrong provider doesn’t just risk inefficiencies—it can directly [continue reading]
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Limited Access Death Master File (DMF) has undergone significant changes over the past month. These developments highlight the continued degradation of the DMF’s data quality. Once a reliable source, the DMF now reflects only 16% of actual decedents – a sharp decline over the past 14 [continue reading]
Insurance professionals are all too familiar with the investigations and lawsuits targeting the industry. State insurance departments and other regulators have intensified their audits of insurers to ensure proper identification of deceased policyholders and timely benefit disbursement. Non-compliance with both RSAs (Regulatory Settlement Agreements) and GRAs (Global Regulatory Agreements) can [continue reading]
The Berwyn Group isn’t just participating in the death audit industry’s evolution – we are leading it. We are thrilled to release a new death audit solution that redefines the way organizations identify decedents with CertiDeath® Paragon™. During a March 2025 webinar, we discussed how CertiDeath Paragon significantly reduces [continue reading]
