Customer experience

Boston - Fidelity Investments and WebMD Health Corp. are expanding their relationship to integrate WebMD's health care cost planning tools with the Fidelity HSASM, Fidelity's health savings account (HSA) product launched in December.

Hartford, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., headquartered in Hartford, Conn., has created a new office in the greater Chicago area dedicated solely to processing claims that arise out of catastrophic events.The new catastrophe office will function as part of The Hartford's existing property claim operations in Chicago, and will focus on significant losses that arise from either man-made or natural disasters.

Springfield, Mass. - Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Springfield, Mass., is taking podcasting to new levels by using it to provide its field sales force with company news, product information and marketing tips.

Chicago - Aon Consulting announced that Thomas Avery and Bruce Pixley joined the company's high-tech investigations unit of its IT risk consulting group, which is a part of its Financial Advisory and Litigation Consulting Services practice. Aon Consulting is a division of Aon Corp., a Chicago-based provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting,

Chicago - UniCare has launched a newly redesigned and improved secure member Web site designed to provide members and their families more streamlined access to personalized online health and benefit information.The changes make the site easier to navigate by requiring fewer clicks in order for members to access information specific to their health care needs, according to UniCare. The site now provides members easier access to personal online health information through single sign-on log-in capabilities. In addition, if members have misplaced or forgotten their username, they can request it online without having to call customer service support.

Okemos, Mich. - The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has turned to Sircon Corp. and partner Thomson Prometric to streamline the state's resident licensing process.Pennsylvania insurance law requires that all individuals applying for an initial resident insurance producer license must be fingerprinted in order to facilitate background checks, which are performed by submitting fingerprint images to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJISD) through the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP).

Denver - InsureMe, an online insurance resource for consumer and agents, has launched the InsureMe Insurance Blog, targeted at consumers with insurance-related questions.The blog, an online forum where authors post short articles and commentary, addresses top news in health, life, home and auto insurance, as well as state-specific issues and related topics facing consumers. The blog is interactive, which enables readers to post their questions and comments on each entry.

Cleveland - Members can do everything from determining deductibles to accessing claims information on the redesigned Web site of Consumers Life Insurance Co. at http://www.consumerslife.com/.Creating a Web presence that would help members better understand and use their health insurance benefits was a priority, according to Chris Hoffman, manager of Internet communications.

Hartford, Conn. - Aetna Global Benefits, the international business of Aetna, is offering a new feature for its members: payment of applicable wire transfer fees for international health care claim reimbursements. In the past, members who received their claims reimbursements through wire transfers were responsible for any transaction fees charged by their banks. AGB has the capability to issue these claims reimbursements in over 100 currencies."By covering these fees, which could be in excess of $25 (U.S.) per transaction, we feel that we significantly improve one of the ways that members currently receive claim reimbursements," says Martha Temple, head of Aetna Global Benefits (AGB). "This is part of our continued effort to provide high-quality, concierge-level services to our members around the world."

London - Guy Carpenter & Co. Inc., a global risk and reinsurance specialist and a part of the Marsh & McLennan Cos., is launching its Electronic Claims File (ECF) initiative for reinsurers in the London market after development, testing and implementation of a pilot project with select Lloyd's managing agents.As one of the largest reinsurance brokers to offer ECF, a key component of the broader London Market reform program, Guy Carpenter will be able to process and conduct many of its claims transactions in a completely paperless environment with its current trading partners.