We have over 71 courses approved for instruction in PA for insurance producers including Continuing Education and pre-licensing instruction for property/casualty and life/accident/health. In addition, a PHILLIPS ASSOCIATES course, SPARKS, is approved for CE credits in Maryland and Delaware as are a number of courses developed for the Independent Insurance Agents of Maryland (IIAM).

BASIC ANNUITIES (#108263) Four Hours
Life and annuity sales are vital to the success of many multi-lines insurance agencies. Many traditionally P/C agencies are unfamiliar with the basics of the annuity product itself. This course will walk them through the annuities and will address compliance rules (advertising, illustrations, and insurance salesperson versus financial planner). A working understanding of annuities also helps agencies meet the needs of an aging (and affluent) population.
 
FEDERAL INSURANCE LEGISLATION (#115413) Two Credits
The greatest consequence of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) may be a huge shift to a federally regulated health insurance system instead of state. Despite Federals taking center stage, there are also a myriad of state insurance issues to be addressed, both free-standing and dealing with the implementation of the new Federal law. This course will also help insurance agents understand PPACA’s provisions and will concentrate on its implementation impact to Pennsylvania employers and insurance producers.
 
COMMERCIAL INSURANCE FLASHPOINTS (# 108819) Three Hours
Commercial Insurance producers are confronted by many issues in understanding market dynamics in a volatile property casualty market. Some of these flash points center on Workers Compensation, Contractors’ Insurance and the use of Certificates of Insurance. Certificates of Insurance misuse also become an E&O concern. In addition to these tactical Commercial Insurance areas, there is also the backdrop of important Federal legislation that could dramatically alter the P/C market.
 
COMMUNICATING TO THE CUSTOMER’S STYLE (# 105303) One Hour
Who are your clients and how may you best appreciate their needs? That question is at the heart of many insurance relationships. This course presents an organizational development model to assist producers in determining how to relate to clients. Although this is not a sales course, it describes personality types. Knowing these types will give a context as to how communication might best be achieved.
 
CONSUMER DRIVEN HEALTH CARE (#107833) Two Hours
This course is designed to present an overview to insurance producers of Consumer-Driven Health Care focusing on Health Savings Accounts. Given both premium pressures small businesses face and a growing uninsured population, the Federal Government was prompted to act in creating Health Savings Accounts in the 2003 Medicare Reform Law. Actually, H SAs are built on existing concepts of a high deductible insurance program combined with an individual savings account. Some speculate that H SAs are the wave of the future while others hold that H SAs are the latest form of medically underwritten cherry-picking.
 
CONTRACTORS’ INSURANCE (#106485) Four Hours
This course provides insurance producers with an overview of contractors’ insurance. It presents information on types of insurance appropriate for contractors and subcontractors as well as optional coverage necessary to a particular risk. In addition, it examines areas of contractors’ insurance that are sometimes overlooked.
 
CREDIT SCORING (# 105568) One Hour
In insurance, credit scoring is called insurance scoring and is used to ascertain a person’s inclination to pay premiums and (by some) as a predictor of behavior. Does a good insurance score mean that someone is a better driver and should get a preferential rate? Insurance scoring has also become a political issue with accusations that the practice corrupts insurance underwriting and possibly injects class or race.
 
Crop Insurance Update (#108457) One Hour
This non-classroom course is designed to update insurance producers as to current programs and updates to Crop Insurance. Crop Insurance is a program designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and (with the newer AGR and AGR-Lite products) the Commonwealth’s Department of Agriculture. The course presents updates as to program types and evolution of the product. Insurance producers not specializing in this product need to have a basic understanding in order to assist their agricultural clients as to the product’s uses and limitations as well as protecting themselves from professional liability concerns.
 
ANNUAL PENNSYLVANIA CROP INSURANCE CONFERENCE 6-7 Hours
This course is designed to assist insurance producers with agricultural clients better understand Crop Insurance. Attendees will gain insight into utilization of the product itself as well as discussing new developments. It is the Annual Conference put on by the PA Agriculture Department, Cooperative Extension Service and others.
 
CROP INSURANCE PROGRAM CHANGES (#104060) Two Hours
This course expands on the one-credit Crop Insurance Update (#108457) focusing on changes in the program and legislative/regulatory changes.
 
CURRENT LEGISLATIVE & REGULATORY ISSUES (# 103186) Four Hours
Insurance producers face a multitude of public policy issues. This course is designed to update producers on contemporary developments in the legislative and regulatory environments.
 
DIRECTORS & OFFICERS (#105924) Four Hours
Directors and Officers Insurance remains a hardy professional liability perennial. Almost every insurance producer has business clients with possible D&O exposure. Thanks to Federal changes, non-profits are also presented with heightened concern.
 
DISASTER MITIGATION (# 105569) Four Hours
This course assists insurance professionals understand the dynamics of disaster. Disaster mitigation is a combination of anticipating disaster damage, and then mapping backwards to identify factors that anticipate and minimize the harm BEFORE the disaster occurs. Participants will walk through a process to help them advise their business and personal lines clients as well as appreciating the fact that disaster planning is a process rather than a static set of prevention and mitigation techniques. This class is highly interactive since everyone’s experience with disaster planning.
 
DISASTER MITIGATION OVERVIEW (#105926) One Hour
This course presents some basics for the insurance producer to assist him/her in developing strategies for both personal and commercial clients in how they can reduce the chance of an occurrence and how they can recover quickly after a disaster. Not forgotten is information on how the insurance agency can sustain itself during and after a disaster so that it can continue to be of service to clients.

E&O Analysis
In addition to going over E&O fundamentals (document, document, document!), it also walks insurance producers what is contained within an insurance agent’s liability insurance contract.
 
E&O Assessment (#106483) One Hour
Errors & Omissions is as much a mind set as it is a set of policies and procedures. This course will walk the insurance producer through the transaction asking where E&O pitfalls might occur and what remedies might be appropriate. The outcome will provide an insurance producer with tools necessary to conduct his or her own assessment.
 
E&O IN-DEPTH (#104104) Four Hours
Errors and Omissions training is a necessity for insurance producers because of the vulnerability faced in the profession. This liability is fueled by consumer expectations and by their functional insurance literacy that prevents them from grasping basic elements of risk management. This course walks producers through the stages of the insurance transaction emphasizing procedures as well as cultivating a mindset among principals and CSRs alike to think E&O.
 
ENDORSEMENTS & EXCLUSIONS (#105925) Four Hours
Endorsements & Exclusions are in everyone’s toolbox but the types and uses of E&E are not always appreciated in standardized insurance packages. This course will remind insurance producers as to the variety and structure of numbers of endorsements (add-ons) and exclusions on the property/casualty side. Included will be discussion on problematic areas such as mold exclusion and other tort issues as well as risking E&O by not recommending particular endorsements and exclusions.
 
Environmental Liability (# 106176) Two Hours
Environmental concerns impact many facets of life and business operations. Smog in air, polluted waterways, and the threat of toxic materials discharged or abandoned on a property are just a few examples of potential hazards to human health and the environment. This course will identify environmental loss exposures and summarize environmental insurance products available to protect and safeguard the financial resources of commercial operations. This program will highlight the importance of critical underwriting components through discussion of claims scenarios and interactive class exercise.
 
ETHICS (#106662) Four Hours
Ethics is the cornerstone of consumer expectations when they utilize an insurance producer. This stems in part because of trust and that they may be functionally illiterate as to how insurance and risk management work. This course is a thoughtful conversation about marketing in today’s market climate presenting ethical situations for discussion. It ties ethics into mandated (regulated) trade practices and reviews the provisions of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act, the Producer Licensing Law, and other legislative and regulatory rules for insurance producers. Errors and Omissions training is an important aspect of this course. This course walks producers through the stages of the insurance transaction emphasizing procedures as well as cultivating a mindset among principals and CSRs alike to think Ethics and E&O.
 
Ethics 101 (# 105923) One Hour
Understanding an ethical sense of the insurance marketplace has become obscure in today’s hard market climate, where competitive pressures sometimes force insurance producers into making the wrong decisions. This course reminds producers of various statutes that prohibit certain types of marketing behavior and walks them through a number of situations where they must determine the ethical (and legal) course to follow.
 
ETHICS AND THE PRODUCER COMP ISSUE(#108266) Two Hours
This course is designed to highlight ethical issues in the insurance marketplace with particular emphasis on the producer compensation disclosure issue raised at the national level by New York Attorney General Spitzer, NAIC and NCOIL. Although this course may be given in lecture format with one presenter, it also utilizes a panel format. Perspectives include company, regulator, and producer points of view. The focus will be on national and Pennsylvania regulatory implications of allegations of bid-rigging, contingent commissions, and the general area of compensation disclosure as they relate to the ethical issues involved.
 
FEDERAL INSURANCE ISSUES (# 105018) One Hour
Despite the guarantee by the 1940s-Era McCarren Ferguson Act that reserved insurance regulation as the states’ responsibility, there has been a shift towards more and more Federal involvement in insurance oversight. The purpose of this course is to list some of the more prominent areas of insurance where the Federal government has become more of an overseer than traditionally has been the case.
 
FINANCIAL PLANNING PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES (#104545) One Hour
Financial Planners face a number of state regulatory issues. Many of those who do financial planning through life insurance and annuities place themselves at risk of being non-compliant with Act 154 (Life Insurance Sales and Marketing Law). The matter of annuity suitability is again an interest area of the NAIC. Use of “seminars” has also received scrutiny. Federal tax issues are also with us regardless of who controls the legislative or executive branches of government.

Flood Insurance
This course is designed to familiarize insurance producers with essentials re Flood Insurance and the NFIP program. It is compliant with the NFIP recommended outline for class content.
 
Future of Group Health Market (#107434) One Hour
Almost 60 percent of Pennsylvanians receive health insurance coverage versus five percent who have individual health policies. This class looks at pressures on the dominant group model, both from cost pressures and from the government because of what is perceived by some as contributing to ‘crowd out’ where a public sector program replaces the private sector insurance plan. Addressed will be a new market direction, Consumer-Directed Health plans, that utilize high deductible employer plans and emphasize rational consumer purchasing of health care.
 
Health Information (HIPAA) Privacy (#104773) One Hour
Insurance producers have certain responsibilities under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 as dictated by Federal and state regulations. This class outlines the elements of HIPAA regarding what medical information is covered, how the consumer/customer “opt-in” works and what must be in a Business Associate agreement.
 
HEALTH INSURANCE PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES (#103190) Four Hours
Massive changes are in the works for health insurance. Employers, insurers, insurance agents, and consumers all have a stake in knowing what changes may occur and what it will mean to their practice, their business, their status as an insurance user. A big question is whether federal legislation is a comprehensive reform or a government takeover of a huge part of the U.S. economy. This class will tell you what reform is and what it means.
 
HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS (#107001) Four Hours
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were enacted by the 2003 passage of a major Federal Medicare Reform law. As a newer health insurance product, HSAs embody the positive aspects of flexible spending accounts and medical IRAs, or Medical Savings Accounts. This course will highlight how the product works. In addition, Recent legislative changes and Treasury Department guidance will be discussed as well as market penetration and relevant state law.
 
Insurance Compliance Issues (# 106893) Four Hours
What are some of the current areas receiving scrutiny by Insurance Department regulators and enforcement officials that affect how insurance is being distributed in the field? This course focuses on compliance with insurance laws and regulations and highlights areas of particular interest based on enforcement cases and valued input from Department officials. Class discussion will dictate the amount of time spent on any particular topic
 
INSURANCE E&O AND ETHICS (#103192) Two Hours
This course attempts to demonstrate the connection between Ethics and Errors & Omissions by demonstrating the changing public expectations on insurance producers and how that challenges producers even more than ever before. The class also points to common gaps in agency and staff thinking about their own E&O exposure. Discussion will include the latest public policy thinking regarding complete disclosure of insurance producer compensation brought about by New York Attorney General Elliott Spitzer against large-scale brokers and companies.
 
INSURANCE FRAUD (#105567) One Hour
Insurance Fraud is Big Business in the United States, amounting to a multi-billion dollar drain on the insurance industry and insurance policyholders. This course will emphasize the importance of understanding how insurance fraud occurs and how the industry and law enforcement are trying to combat it.

INSURANCE FRAUD (#104061) Four Hours 
Insurance Fraud is Big Business in the United States, amounting to a multi-billion dollar drain on the insurance industry and insurance policyholders. This course will emphasize the importance of understanding how insurance fraud occurs and how the industry and law enforcement are trying to combat it. In particular, the efforts of the Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority and its company Best Practices study will be examined.

Insurance Privacy (# ) Four Hours 
‘What’s In Your Wallet?’ is the phrase used by advertisers on TV to get your attention. What’s In Your Wallet also points to large numbers of questions about privacy. In the insurance world, it is the privacy of your customers that is the issue as well as the various rules with which insurance agencies and financial institutions (including insurers) must comply. Although privacy is not new, the new Federal Trade Commission ‘Red Flag Rule’ is. The class also discusses E&O and consumer privacy issues.

INSURANCE PRIVACY ASSESSMENT (#109502) One Hour
A privacy assessment walks the insurance producer through the process of devising their own internal privacy and information security concerns.

INSURANCE PRIVACY COMPLIANCE (#103191) Four Hours
On March 1,2005, the third Privacy Rule took effect in PA, giving enforcement teeth to the compliance and penalty sides of financial privacy and HIPAA for those agencies without a written internal privacy protection plan that even extends to guaranteeing that third parties such as IT and storage systems also have privacy policies. This course will also detail the Insurance Department’s study of insurance agencies re their privacy non-compliance and the results are alarming! This course might be important for your Privacy Compliance Officer to attend. You mean you don’t have one? Oh-oh…
 
INSURANCE PRODUCER PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES (#103189) Four Hours
Insurance is regulated but where does this oversight come from? This course educates as to the legislative and regulatory environments affecting the insurance industry and discusses a myriad of laws and proposals that impact on all segments of the industry. Although examples will illustrate P/C as well as L/A/H, the discussion will be directed by class participation and interest. This class contains relevant information regarding all major lines of insurance.
 
INSURERS OF LAST RESORT (#109501) Two Hours
This course will familiarize insurance producers on insurers of last resort, those insurance options when there is no other option in the standard market. Discussion will depend on region and class interest but possible areas of focus are Crop Insurance, Mine Subsidence Insurance, Flood Insurance, as well as SWIF, JUA, and Assigned Risk.
 
LAWSUIT TRAUMAS: PROTECTING YOURSELF (#104933) Four Hours
No one is immune from litigation because of the nature of today’s litigious society. Insurance producers are especially vulnerable because of the trust the public places in them and because of consumers’ functional lack of insurance understanding. This course combines a run down of major insurance laws spelling out legal responsibilities and infuses them with practical suggestions to consider in trying to shield from accusations of professional negligence.
 
Legal Pitfalls in Doing Good Deeds (#104544) Four Hours
Legal Pitfalls is a Mock Trial focusing on an insurance producer E&O scenario. It is highly participatory so that the students will have a sense as to who the players are in an E&O legal case and what their positions would be. Stressed is the importance of documentation in order to avoid a professional liability situation.
 
LIFE & HEALTH ISSUES (# 105570) One Hour
The core of many life and health insurance issues is how it will be regulated and by whom. In addition, there are the hardy perennials of taxation of life insurance and how health insurance will be provided in another struggle between the private sector distribution system versus governmental programs that may supplant or distort the market.
 
Life Insurance Refresher (#108264) Four Hours
This class is designed to be particularly useful to insurance producers who are predominantly P/C but must practice in a multi-line environment. It presents information on concepts within life insurance, types of life/annuity products and addresses compliance rules. This course would also help prepare a current producer who needs to add the life and annuities line of authority to their existing powers.
 
LIQUIDATIONS & COMPANY REHABILITATION (#106692) One Hour
In today’s insurance market, insurance producers must be ever more mindful of company solvency considerations and what they must do if one of their carriers runs into financial difficulty. This course describes Pennsylvania’s regulatory system for handing such situations.
 
LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE OVERVIEW (#103725) One Hour
Concise forum of four credit Long-Term Care Insurance course (#103188)
 
LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES (#103188) Four Hours
Pennsylvania is the second oldest state in the Nation. This means that older aged care has become a political and social issue. The long-term care insurance market has grown but so has criticism. The course explains core policy elements, consumer safeguards on the sale of LTC insurance, and reviews compliance requirements. It also charts the growth in this market and describes the newest incarnation of LTC insurance, Long-Term Care Partnerships that permit people to access Medicaid but shelter assets so as to purchase a private sector policy.
 
MANAGED CARE BASICS (# 103187) Four Hours
Given the changes that have swept over health care and the health insurance market, it is important to make sure that one has an understanding on managed care and how it functions in today’s insurance market. Just as managed care was seen as an answer to one health cost spiral, many have asked if managed care savings have run their course and, if so, what’s next?
 
MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT INSURANCE (#108266) Two Hours
Medicare and Medicare Supplement Insurance are complex and not well understood by insurance producers. This information is especially important given the aging of PA’s population and national attention focused on Medicare reform. This course focuses on understanding the Medicare Supplement product as well as providing background on the Medicare program itself. Expect a great deal of conversation on the new Part D prescription drug benefit.
 
PRE-LICENSING INSTRUCTION 24 Hours
Available in both L/A/H (# 105137) and P/C (#105135) concentrations, the 24-hour course is taught in a classroom setting although it may be spread out over 2-3 weeks instead of taking up most of the week. Internet Pre-Licensing is also available although we maintain that classroom instruction prepares one better to take the exam.
 
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY (#107899) Three Hours
Professional Liability is a fact of life in today’s society. This course presents information on a key number of particular professions and the legal risks faced by each. Although concentrating on Employment Practices Liability and Directors and Officers liability Insurance (D&O), the course also addresses how a number of other products are structured. It also addresses the use of “packaging” professional liability to have reinforcing coverage for a more comprehensive approach and an alternative to simple Contingent Business Income Insurance.
 
PROPERTY CASUALTY HOT BUTTONS (#105777) Two Hours (Official name P/C Policy Issues)
This course is designed to bring producers up to speed on a number of contemporary issues affecting the property casualty side of the industry. Emphasis is on public policy and the legislative/regulatory environment. In addition to stated topics such as insurance (credit) scoring, cancellation law, Worker’s Compensation proposals dealing with subcontractors, discussion will dictate much of the emphasis placed on topics within the course.
 
P/C POLICY CANCELLATIONS AND TERMINATIONS (#105019) One Hour
The class serves as a refresher for Property/Casualty insurance producers in three areas of cancellation or non-renewal of P/C policies in homeowners, personal auto, and commercial.
 
SPARKS EDUCATIONAL CLINIC (#111392) Four Hours
This year’s SPARKS Clinics has a theme of professional liability (E&O) for insurance producers. Recognizing that there is no fool-proof way to protect oneself and one’s agency from lawsuit because of our litigious society, there are ways to reduce the risk and anticipate where problems may come. There is material here for both the seasoned insurance professional as well as newer CSRs who may need reminders of what to do and not do. There is also focus on a particular market, Contractors’ Insurance, and a presentation on field underwriting, i.e. inspections still being a critical tool in a soft market.  NOTE: Delaware, Maryland and southeast PA Clinics will have a session on Ethics in order to help meet Delaware’s ethics CE requirement.
 
Tort Reform (#108818) Two Hours
The Insurance Industry is heavily involved in legal situations because of the nature of insurance, joint and several liability, class action lawsuits, and the general litigious nature of our society. This course explains a number of leading tort issues such as asbestos, Katrina claims, and mold and presents information on the extent to which lawsuits have had a contributing effect to insurance premiums.
 
TORT REFORM ISSUES (#109503) Four Hours
This course is designed to familiarize insurance producers with a number of insurance issues relating to litigation or the threat of litigation as they relate to insurance cost. Understanding the dynamics of Tort Issues will further the producer’s understanding of the larger forces shaping the industry today. Some of the covered areas will include efforts at Medical Malpractice reform, Joint and Several Liability legal doctrine, and Asbestos Liability.
.
UNDERSTANDING HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS (# 105922) One Hour
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were enacted by the 2003 passage of a major Federal Medicare Reform law. As a new health insurance product, HSAs embody the positive aspects of flexible spending accounts and medical IRAs, or Medical Savings Accounts. This course will highlight similarities and differences and describe how the new product works.
 
UNDERSTANDING AGENCY TERMINATION LAW (#105921) One Hour
Property Casualty insurance agencies are sometimes faced with an insurance company’s decision to terminate the Agency Appointment. This course reviews provisions of the law as to case law, “reasonable rehabilitation” and other responsibilities of both insurers and agencies.
 
UNDERSTANDING THE JOINT UNDERWRITING AUTHORITY (# 106481) One Hour
With the collapse of the Medical Malpractice market came the need for insurance producers to become familiar with the insurer of last resort for this market. The Joint Underwriting Authority (JUA) is commanding an important role in assisting health care providers in meeting their statutory requirements under the law.
 
UNDERSTANDING THE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CRISIS (#104546) One Hour
This course explains the evolution of Medical Malpractice as a public policy issue and details the struggle between doctors who maintain that a physician shortage is the result of the need for tort reform and trial lawyers who maintain that the “crisis” is overstated. Recent laws and doctor subsidies will also be discussed.
 
UNDERSTANDING THE PRODUCER LICENSING LAW (#104102) One Hour
Act 147 contains major changes in the way PA producers are licensed and regulated designed to streamline inter-state sales of insurance and to promote consistency in licensing between the states. Just two of the changes involve compensation and legal responsibilities in Book Transfers etc.
 
UNDERSTANDING THE PRODUCER LICENSING LAW  
No CE credits/Written document
This is the Teacher’s script used by instructors in explaining the licensing Law to insurance producers.
 
UNDERSTANDING SURPLUS LINES(#105575) One Hour
The Surplus or Excess and Surplus Lines are a little understood part of P/C insurance, having its own rules, taxes, and licensing requirements. This class should NOT be considered as a substitute for going to the PA Surplus Lines Association (www.pasla.org) for information relevant to the rules under which this type of insurance operates.
 
UNDERSTANDING THE UNINSURED (#107831) One Hour
is central to the national debate on health care. The figure of 46 million is often used to describe the problem of the uninsured but it is a mistake to use that number without seeing what it consists of…different groups with different issues. Young and healthy people, the medically uninsurable, the long-term and short-term uninsured are all uninsured but why? More important, what can be done to address specific needs without undertaking a massive overhaul of health care that may bring its own unanticipated consequences by throwing the proverbial baby out with the wash water.
 
WORKERS COMPENSATION IN A HARD MARKET (#105163) Four Hours (Also known as WC in Today’s Market)
Worker’s Compensation, as is most all of the insurance industry, being affected by the current hard market. After the low premium days of the late 1990s through 2000, the market is dominated by stricter underwriting, tighter adherence to traditional risk management, and fewer incentives, discounts (the 5% safety committee discount notwithstanding). This course is designed to present insurance producers with enhanced product knowledge so that they will be better able to adapt to the needs of their business clients.
 
WORKERS COMP TACTICS IN A HARD MARKET (#106484) One Hour
Worker’s Compensation, as is most all of the insurance industry, is affected by the current hard market. After the low premium days of the late 1990s through 2000, the market is dominated by stricter underwriting, tighter adherence to traditional risk management, and fewer incentives, discounts (the 5% safety committee discount notwithstanding). This course is designed to present insurance producers with enhanced product knowledge so that they will be better able to adapt to the needs of their business clients.