The Death Master File (DMF) data continues to decline each year. In 2023, the DMF only provided 16% of death records. This degradation has caused conducting death audits for pension plans a much more complex task.
Death audits now require the aggregation of thousands of data sources, primarily obituaries. Obituaries are a non-uniform data source as they do not all contain a consistent identifier (such as a social security number). This makes utilizing multiple pieces of personal identifiable information (PII) to identify participants necessary – such as first/middle/last name, SSN, date of birth, city and state.
Berwyn processes millions of records and has identified hundreds of thousands of deaths. As a result, Berwyn is in a unique position to accurately quantify the impact of missing participant PII on a death audit:
| Data | Missed Deaths |
|---|---|
| Missing Last Name | 100% |
| Missing First Name | 41% |
| Missing SSN | 32% |
| Missing DOB | 29% |
| Typo in Last Name | 18% |
| Typo in First Name | 7% |
| Typo in SSN | 21% |
Missing just one piece of information can lead to a high percentage of missing deaths. Depending on the number of participants, missing and inaccurate PII can impact overpayments up to millions of dollars. For example, a pension plan for Company ABC has 10,000 participants with 200 annual deaths (2% death rate) and a $10,000 annual pension payment to each participant. If data is missing or has typos, their overpayments can quickly add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars:
| Data | Missed Deaths | Overpayments |
|---|---|---|
| Missing Last Name | 100% | $2,000,000 |
| Missing First Name | 41% | $820,000 |
| Missing SSN | 32% | $640,000 |
| Missing DOB | 29% | $580,000 |
| Typo in Last Name | 18% | $360,000 |
| Typo in First Name | 7% | $140,000 |
| Typo in SSN | 21% | $420,000 |
Note the importance of complete and accurate PII as even a relatively small amount of incorrect data (e.g. if first name typos affected 7% of data) could have a six-figure impact on overpayments.
Thankfully, there is a solution available to help pension plans when it comes to missing and inaccurate PII. Berwyn offers the industry’s most comprehensive death audit solution: CertiDeath. Our CertiDeath audit solution combines artificial intelligence, integrated databases and human expertise. We analyze your data set for missing and inaccurate data and provide the necessary updates to ensure you don’t miss deaths and make overpayments because of missing participant information.
Find more information on CertiDeath here.
