BerwynDMF is a proprietary mortality data file developed by The Berwyn Group as a direct alternative to the Social Security Administration’s Limited Access Death Master File (LADMF). It delivers approximately 70% weekly U.S. death coverage, more than four times the LADMF’s current rate of less than 16%, in an identical file format that requires no workflow changes to adopt.
For organizations across insurance, healthcare, and financial services that depend on mortality data for payment integrity, fraud detection, and compliance, BerwynDMF represents a significant upgrade to the data file most have used for decades.
What is the LADMF and why does it need to be replaced?
The LADMF is a dataset published by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) containing records of U.S. deaths reported to the Social Security Administration. It has been the default mortality data source for the insurance, healthcare, and financial services industries for decades.
The problem: since federal legislation restricted access to the full Social Security Death Master File beginning in 2011, the LADMF’s coverage has declined sharply. Today, it captures less than 16% of U.S. deaths each week.
That means more than 8 in 10 deaths across your policyholder base, member population, or accountholder records are invisible to the file that most organizations depend on for:
- Payment integrity and overpayment prevention
- Life insurance and annuity claims processing
- Fraud detection and deceased identity management
- Unclaimed property compliance
Actuarial modeling and risk adjustment
What Is BerwynDMF?
BerwynDMF is a licensed mortality data file that serves as an alternative for the LADMF. Developed by The Berwyn Group, it draws from thousands of data sources including state vital statistics records, obituary data and proprietary databases to deliver a substantially more complete picture of U.S. mortality.
BerwynDMF is delivered via SFTP transmission on a weekly or monthly cadence. It is designed to be identical in layout to the LADMF—same columns, same character structure, same data elements—so organizations already ingesting the LADMF can adopt BerwynDMF without changing their existing processes.
How does BerwynDMF work?
BerwynDMF is delivered as a data extract file via SFTP on a weekly or monthly cadence. Here is how the process works:
- Berwyn provisions a secure SFTP environment and provides the client with credentials
- The client’s IT team connects to the SFTP using the provided credentials. No PII or internal data is sent to Berwyn
- The client retrieves the file on their chosen cadence (weekly or monthly)
- The client ingests the file using the exact same process used for the LADMF
- The client runs matching against their own internal records on their own infrastructure
For organizations already ingesting the LADMF, steps 4 and 5 require minimal modifications. The file delivers net-new death records added since the prior delivery, with full file refreshes available quarterly or annually.
Does BerwynDMF require sending member or policyholder data to Berwyn?
No. BerwynDMF operates as a one-way SFTP file delivery. Your organization never transmits member, policyholder, or accountholder data to receive it, eliminating a significant data governance concern for procurement, legal, and data security teams.
Does BerwynDMF include Social Security Numbers?
Yes, and it improves on the LADMF. The LADMF frequently omits Social Security Numbers from its records. BerwynDMF appends SSNs where they are missing, improving match rates against internal records.
Does BerwynDMF include source validation information?
Yes. Each record includes 20 validation code columns indicating which sources were used to confirm the death. This gives compliance and audit teams clear data provenance.
What file format does BerwynDMF use?
The same layout as the LADMF—same column order, data elements, and character structure—so organizations currently using the LADMF can adopt BerwynDMF with no changes to existing workflows or processes.
How Does BerwynDMF Compare to CertiDeath®?
The two are complementary products, not competing ones.
BerwynDMF is a continuous, automated mortality data feed delivering net-new death records on a weekly or monthly basis and integrates directly into existing automated workflows. It is the always-on layer of a mortality detection program.
CertiDeath® is Berwyn’s flagship human-validated death audit service. It achieves 98% death coverage with a false positive rate below 0.03%, designed for comprehensive full-book reviews requiring the highest possible accuracy.
When did BerwynDMF launch? BerwynDMF was publicly launched on May 12, 2026, with file delivery to clients beginning June 15, 2026.
The bottom line: Is BerwynDMF worth adopting?
For organizations currently relying on the LADMF, the case for BerwynDMF is straightforward: it delivers more than four times the weekly death coverage (approximately 70% vs. Less than 16%) with no workflow changes, no PII transmission, and no IT project required.
That 84% detection gap has real financial, compliance, and fraud consequences—BerwynDMF closes it.
