You have assumed the responsibilities of another third party administrator. While auditing the files you discover that there are missing indemnity files. You should:

• A. Contact the information and assistance office and ask for assistance
• B. Contact Self Insurance plans and ask for assistance
• C. Contact the administrative director and request an audit
• D. Contact the prior administrator and inform the employer

Answer: (D)

When you take over as the new third-party administrator, the priority is to restore a complete and accurate claim file for continuity and compliance. Indemnity files contain the evidence of wage loss, benefit calculations, and payments, so if they’re missing, the first step is to go back to the person who originally managed the records—the former administrator. They’re the most likely source to locate or reproduce the missing documents and help you tie together the claim history.

At the same time, you should inform the employer about the missing files. Keeping the employer in the loop ensures transparency, supports fiduciary responsibilities, and signals that you’re actively addressing a potential gap in the record-keeping that could affect benefits or audits.

Other agencies or actions aren’t the right first move for this issue, since they won’t directly recover the missing indemnity materials, and initiating another audit wouldn’t resolve the missing-record problem.