The ACORD Standards Committee (www.acord.org) approved the formation of a newstandards program and steering committee for workers' compensationreporting.

Ellen Sonkin, vice president of the regulatory reportingdivision of Chartis Insurance will chair the group. In her currentrole at Chartis, she is responsible for all workers' compensationdata reporting, including financial calls, unit statisticalreporting, and policy and proof of coverage reporting. The group'sfocus will be on continuing the development of the new ACORDworkers' compensation reporting XML standard.

The single XML standard will be an alternative to multiple EDIstandards in use today. Efforts will focus solely on reporting andon ensuring that the ACORD XML Standard is synchronized with anychanges to the EDI standards.

While work has been going on for some time with the Workers'Compensation Insurance Organizations (WCIO) and International Association of IndustrialAccident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC), the formation of this officialsteering committee will provide a more formalized and expandedstructure to their activities. At present, both North Carolina andMassachusetts are piloting the notice of assignment XML messagealready developed by the group.

"Now that the committee has been approved, we plan to moveforward quickly and grow the group of experts involved," says AlanStitzer, program manager, ACORD. "Workers' comp reporting is aunique community and involves those working directly with statedata collection organizations. We're asking all of the members toreach out to those in their organizations that may not be involvedwith ACORD today, but who are workers’ comp professionals andencourage them to get involved."

For more information on the committee and participation, contactStitzer at [email protected].