> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.benefitflow.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Where does BenefitFlow's data come from?

BenefitFlow aggregates data from multiple public and proprietary sources to give you a complete picture of every employer and broker.

| **Dataset**                     | **Source**                                          | **Update Frequency** |
| :------------------------------ | :-------------------------------------------------- | :------------------- |
| Employee Benefits               | Form 5500 — U.S. Department of Labor                | Daily                |
| Contacts                        | Public profiles, third-party data partners          | Every 2 weeks        |
| Producer Licensing              | State Departments of Insurance (DOI)                | Monthly              |
| Employer Sentiment              | Employee review platforms                           | Weekly               |
| Retirement Plans                | Form 5500 — U.S. Department of Labor                | Daily                |
| Workers' Compensation           | State WC databases, NCCI, carrier filings           | Quarterly            |
| P\&C Broker & Carrier           | State-level filings and industry databases          | Quarterly            |
| Experience Modification (X-Mod) | NCCI, state insurance regulators                    | Regularly            |
| OSHA                            | U.S. Department of Labor                            | Weekly               |
| DOT                             | FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) | Weekly               |
| Broker & Carrier Entities       | Proprietary (BenefitFlow)                           | Continuous           |

***

## Form 5500

An annual report that every employer in the U.S. is required to file with the Department of Labor. This filing includes several valuable data points, including:

1. The various benefits offered by employers
2. The benefits brokers that employers partner with
3. The insurance carriers that employers pay premiums to

<Card title="Who is exempt from filing a Form 5500?" icon="circle-question" href="/knowledge-base/employer-search-troubleshooting" horizontal={true} />

## Contacts

We have a proprietary 3-step process to generate the contact info in BenefitFlow:

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Our web crawlers comb public web profiles and company websites on a bi-weekly basis to maintain a list of the Benefits Producers, Account Managers, and Vendor Specialists that are currently employed at each brokerage.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    We partner with leading contact data vendors to enrich that list with emails and phone numbers for those individuals.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    We independently verify email addresses using a third-party deliverability service to ensure they're active and won't bounce.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Workers' Compensation

BenefitFlow pulls workers' compensation coverage data — including carrier, broker, policy term, and renewal dates — from **state-level WC databases, NCCI (National Council on Compensation Insurance), and carrier filings**. This data is refreshed **quarterly** as new filings and rate updates are published.

## Experience Modification (X-Mod)

Experience modification (X-Mod) scores, which measure an employer's safety record relative to industry peers, are sourced from **NCCI and state insurance regulators**. X-Mod data is updated **regularly** as new scores are published.

## OSHA

Workplace safety data — including inspections, violations, and penalties — is sourced directly from the **U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA records**. BenefitFlow surfaces a rolling 12-month history so you can quickly assess an employer's safety profile.

OSHA data is refreshed **weekly**.

## DOT

For employers with commercial fleets, BenefitFlow pulls inspection, violation, crash, and fleet-size data from the **FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration)**.

DOT data is refreshed **weekly**.

## Producer Licensing

BenefitFlow enriches broker contacts with licensing and carrier appointment data from **State Departments of Insurance (DOI)** across 40 states. This powers the [VerifyPro](/knowledge-base/verifypro) feature and includes:

1. License types (Health, Life, Property, Casualty)
2. National Producer Number (NPN)
3. Carrier appointments — which carriers a producer is authorized to place

Producer licensing data is refreshed **monthly**.

## Employer Sentiment

BenefitFlow aggregates employee-submitted benefits reviews from **public review platforms** to generate a Benefits Rating (0–5) for each employer. This score reflects how employees perceive the quality of their employer's benefits program.

Employer sentiment data is refreshed **weekly**.

## Retirement Plans

Retirement plan data — including 401(k), defined benefit, and 403(b) plans — is sourced from **Form 5500 retirement plan filings** filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. BenefitFlow surfaces plan assets, participation rates, contribution breakdowns, service providers, compliance flags, and historical trends.

Retirement data is refreshed **daily** as new filings are processed.

## P\&C Broker & Carrier

BenefitFlow identifies the broker and carrier handling an employer's property & casualty insurance, along with the P\&C renewal date. This data complements the benefits-side broker relationship and is surfaced alongside Workers' Comp, OSHA, and DOT data in the P\&C Intelligence Module.

P\&C data is refreshed **quarterly**.

## Broker & Carrier Entity Data

BenefitFlow maintains a **proprietary entity graph** that normalizes broker and carrier names across filings and data sources. This means variations like "Marsh USA," "Marsh & McLennan," and "Marsh LLC" are resolved to a single canonical entity, so search and reporting are accurate.

Entity data is cleaned and deduplicated **continuously**.