Digital Platforms

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,

Stamford, Conn.-Senior executives in the insurance industry are becoming increasingly concerned about their exposure to patent trolls. This concern is highlighted by the recent $600-million dollar settlement (in the field of telecommunications) that Research in Motion, makers of BlackBerry mobile email devices, had to pay to patent holding company NTP, to avoid having the courts shut down the Blackberry email system.LOMA will focus on this topic by hosting a presentation entitled Patent Trolls in the Insurance Industry at the upcoming LOMA Financial Inforum 2006 to be held in Las Vegas May 21-24, 2006.

Newtown Square, Pa., SAP AG has published a book, titled Enterprise Services for Financial Services: Taking SOA to the Next Level, which reveals the growing importance that service-oriented architecture (SOA) and enterprise services will play in banking and insurance organizations as the financial services industry continues to transform.As financial services companies face shifts in customer behavior, consolidation and increasing regulatory requirements, the book outlines a road map to better cope with these pressures and help simplify technology adoption.

Redmond, Wash. - In an effort to reduce millions of dollars of integration pain on the part of insurance customers, Microsoft Corp. is releasing a new architecture to assist insurance companies in developing service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and deploying pre-integrated software applications around core insurance business processes.The Microsoft Insurance Value Chain (IVC) Architecture v1.0, which will be demonstrated at the ACORD/LOMA Insurance Forum in Las Vegas this month and completed by late June, is an industry-standards-based approach designed to enable workflow across multiple insurance applications--on or off the Microsoft platform. The architecture is the result of newly launched integration labs, held monthly on Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus.

New York - The Group of North American Insurance Enterprises (GNAIE) has launched its newly redesigned Web site, http://www.insuranceaccounting.org, to serve as a central source of news, research and analysis on the development of accounting standards for insurance companies."An important part of the GNAIE mission is to communicate effectively with insurers worldwide as well as the U.S. and international accounting standards community. The new Web site is a crucial component of that communications endeavor," says Richard Carbone, chairman of GNAIE, who is CFO of Prudential Financial Inc.

Boston - AIR Worldwide Corp. issued a white paper titled, "Understanding Climatological Influences on Hurricane Activity: The AIR Near-term Catalog." The paper reviews the current state of research on climatological impacts on hurricane activity and explains the approach used to create AIR's near-term sensitivity catalog, which quantifies the influence of sea surface temperature (SST) forecasts on insured losses for the next five years."Our analyses confirmed the correlation between elevated sea-surface temperatures and overall hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin," says Karen Clark, president and CEO of AIR Worldwide Corp. "However, there is considerable uncertainty in the expected magnitude and time horizon of potentially elevated risk along the coastline and, most importantly, the impact on regional insured losses."

Richmond Hill, Ont. - In an effort to help IT security professionals make smarter purchasing decisions, ITinfosecure has enhanced its no-cost, online community and resource center for researching and evaluating the latest security products and services.Located at http://www.itinfosecure.com/, the site features a new collection of up-to-date and unbiased profiles on more than 100 vendors and 300 products and services. In addition to its new look and feel, the site now offers users a comprehensive virtual resource center with an easy-to-use searchable catalog, with nearly 2,000 Webcasts, white papers, case studies and data sheets.

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 - The majority of European insurers believe that Solvency II will improve their companies' risk and capital management functions, and half have already enacted formal programs to address the proposed European Union (EU) directive, according to results of a survey released today by Bermuda-based technology services company Accenture.

Newark, Calif. - In response to a growing insurance industry need, Risk Management Solutions (RMS) completed of a probabilistic model for assessing the risk of influenza pandemics across multiple countries.Many published studies have already illustrated the effects of various pandemic scenarios, most commonly a repeat of the 1918 influenza pandemic that had a mortality level of 0.67% in the U.S. and even more severe effects in other countries. Analysis of the virology and epidemiological science shows that more severe pandemics are possible, and probabilistic estimation of virus characteristics incorporating the recent H5N1 suggests that there is a one in five chance of a pandemic that is more severe than that experienced in 1918.

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.

UNICA ACQUIRES SANE SOLUTIONSWaltham, Mass.-based Unica Corp. has acquired Sane Solutions, a supplier of Web analytics. This acquisition accelerates Unica's vision for delivering enterprise marketing management solutions that improve results across all channels and operations for brand, interactive and relationship marketing. Unica made the decision after looking at Sane Solution's open data architecture, ease of use and on-premise and hosted deployment options earned them a loyal customer base.

Anti-money laundering (AML) Compliance Prog-ram: Hopefully, this term is not new to you, because the deadline for 31 CFR 103.137 compliance is May 2, 2006.This regulation, which is part of the USA PATRIOT Act, was developed to better protect a class of financial institutions from potential abuse by criminals and terrorists, which will in turn enhance protection of the U.S. financial system, according to the Federal Register.

You have heard, and probably have even used, the phrase: "Time is of the essence." No one knows that better than insurers answering requests from customers who want their information now. Hence, the real-time phenomenon in the industry.After discovering customer data wasn't easily accessible, executives at Sioux Falls-based South Dakota State Medical Holding Co. Inc. (Dakotacare) decided the company needed a business intelligence tool to retrieve claims data from its database of 140 million records.

SEEC UNVEILS ENTERPRISE WORKSPACE AND PROOF OF VALUE FOR SOASEEC Inc., a Pittsburgh-based provider of business component software for the insurance and financial services industry, has unveiled its Enterprise Workspace Suite, an integrated set of Web-based services-oriented business applications (SOBAs) for life/annuities and property & casualty carriers. The SEEC Enterprise Workspace Suite comprises four customizable applications, or "workspaces," that integrate data and logic from business-critical systems. Those workspaces include a producer/agent workspace, agency workspace, a policy workspace and a customer self-service workspace. The company also is offering prospective customers a license-free, no-risk opportunity to try its business component software. With this proof of value program, SEEC will customize, integrate and deliver two SOA components from the SEEC Advantage Library at a customer's site inless than 30 days.

NEXT PHASE OF SEGMENTATION: CAT RISK SCORESChicago-based Aon Re Inc. has studied the results of companies that have implemented more sophisticated customer segmentation strategies over the past few years, and the results show improved financial results in the non-catastrophe personal lines property business. The next phase in personal lines property will include improvements to customer-level segmentation on catastrophe risk, according to Aon Re. The ability to pair the catastrophe scores at the policy and location level with insurance, credit and other core multivariates will enable insurers to improve the quality of pricing for all of the risks insured within the policy, the company claims.

LIFE POLICY ADMINISTRATIONSecurian Financial Group Inc., a St. Paul, Minn.-based provider of financial products, selected the AdminServer Policy Administration System from AdminServer Inc., Chester, Pa. The system will be implemented as a common platform for the rapid development, launch and efficient administration of Securian's new life insurance products. The implementation also includes IllustrationServer, which uses AdminServer's Common Calculation Architecture. This will provide Securian a processing model with a common set of business rules between policy illustration and policy processing.

New York - In an effort to improve the quality, availability and performance of its Web-based Policy Express policy issuance system, Hastings Mutual Insurance, a regional insurance company serving the Midwest, has deployed AppSight Application Problem Resolution System from Identify Software. Policy Express is a vital business application that is accessed by nearly 850 Hastings agents each day as they quote and write customers' policies. Ninety percent of all new homeowners and personal automobile policies that Hastings issues are processed though Policy Express."We were initially looking for a performance management solution to improve our service levels by detecting application performance problems before they become a productivity issue for our agent community," says Bob Eshelbrenner, CIO of Hastings Mutual Insurance. "With AppSight, we can not only identify our applications' performance problems faster, we also gain the visibility to rapidly determine the root cause, leading to a much faster resolution, which is the end-game after all."

Overland Park, Kan. - Brooke Franchise Corp., a subsidiary of Brooke Corp., is acquiring all property/casualty retail customer accounts from InsWeb Insurance Services. These auto and homeowners policies were written through InsWeb's Web site. Most of the acquired accounts are located in geographical areas where Brooke franchises are located and Brooke Franchise plans to sell these accounts to existing franchisees who want to generate additional revenues.Brooke Franchise also acquired from InsWeb a significant amount of account information that provides cross-selling and other opportunities to Brooke franchisees. This marketing information will be analyzed by Brooke's advertising center and distributed to local franchisees in a manner that protects customer privacy.

New York - The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has launched a new proprietary Web-based system designed to help financial representatives use the Internet to enable their clients to instantly gauge their financial health.Using the system, financial representatives and their clients can coordinate accounts from a menu of more than 3,000 financial institutions, access copies of legal and financial documents from anywhere in the world, and get an up- to-date snapshot of their financial well-being through a "Living Balance Sheet."

Farmington, Conn.-InsurBanc, a federal savings bank organized in 2001 specifically to serve independent insurance agents, brokers and their clients, is focusing its efforts to offer competitive personal banking products such as checking accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement accounts, credit and debit cards and online banking."Now that more and more agents have placed their trust in us and realize our commitment to helping them succeed and plan for their business futures, they are also looking to us for competitive personal products," says David W. Tralka, president and CEO of InsurBanc.

Toronto - IT Governance 2006, a symposium designed to equip financial services and other organizations with the knowledge needed to identify and implement a sound IT governance framework, including the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT), will be held August 6-8 in Orlando.

Chapin, S.C. - With roots in the insurance industry, General Information Services Inc. (GIS) claims to be one of the two original providers of nationwide background investigations.

Toronto - One of the country's largest providers of health, dental, group, life, disability and long-term care benefits, Aetna Inc. has selected CiRBA's data center intelligence (DCI) solution to capture and better understand the attributes and dynamics of the company's data center assets and resources"Aetna is expanding its business through acquisition and organic growth at an accelerated rate, with revenues increasing to over $22.5 billion in 2005," says Patti Schlosser, head of server & storage services, of Aetna Information Services. "Supporting an employee base of 28,000, Aetna's business segments demand increased flexibility, performance and reliability from its IT resources. With the growth of our business, the size, diversity and complexity of our IT infrastructure have dramatically increased, requiring us to have a firm grip on the management of the technologies and processes within that environment. We view CiRBA's Data Center Intelligence (DCI) as a solution that will immediately address Aetna's configuration management and compliance reporting requirements."

Baltimore - With last year's record catastrophe losses of $58 billion still fresh in listeners' minds, AIR Worldwide President and CEO Karen Clark warns property/casualty claims professionals that they face "a 5% chance we'll have losses greater than Hurricane Katrina in 2006."In her keynote remarks at the 2006 PCS Catastrophe Conference, Clark also predicted catastrophe losses "will double about every 10 years due to increases in the numbers and values of properties at risk."

Des Moines, Iowa - Recognizing the value of saving time and money with online access to disability claim information, The Principal Financial Group is offering enhanced employer reporting capabilities for long-term and short-term disability. A new report design will give employers daily access to information such as claim status and trend data."When we started seeing a need from a few customers for this type of reporting, we realized this reporting model would benefit all of our group disability customers," says Cindy Ford, claims director, the Principal Financial Group. "Our goal is to provide employers not only with the information necessary to understand their current employee claims, but also with a trend reporting program that might help reduce claims going forward and enable employees to continue working."

Honolulu - St. Paul Travelers has released a new and enhanced dashboard for e-CARMA, the customer portal to its risk management information system.Launched at the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. (RIMS) conference, e-CARMA is available for demonstration. Customers can view a choice of three distinct dashboards that are available directly from e-CARMA's home page. These dashboards automatically organize and visually present actionable information (red flags), performance trends, and claim outcome and metric drill-down analysis.

San Francisco--The Phoenix Companies Inc., a Hartford, Conn.-based provider of life insurance, annuity and asset management products, is using San Francisco-based salesforce.com Inc.'s AppExchange platform to customize, create, deploy and manage a number of business critical applications.Phoenix recently sought to replace the software that managed its relationships with independent agents who sell life insurance policies. The company evaluated several leading customer relationship management (CRM) products, including vertical financial services solutions, and decided that salesforce.com's automation offered the flexibility, user-friendliness, connectivity and customization ability to meet its business needs. With AppExchange platform, Phoenix was able to build and deploy custom applications to support its life insurance division's sales, marketing, finance and human resources organizations.

Fairfield, Ohio - The Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. has launched real-time issuance of policies and endorsements for several commercial lines of business through its agency interface system, P.A.R.I.S. Express. In addition, the company has enhanced its download capabilities by offering download, through its PARIS Connect technology, for commercial auto, businessowners, workers' compensation, general liability, property, package, and its new artisan contractors preferred package to the independent agents who sell its products.In providing these enhancements to its automated systems, Ohio Casualty is aiming to deliver on its promise to its agents: "to handle it efficiently, handle it once," when it comes to overall policy processing for business policyholders.

New York - In the April 2006 online edition of Marketplace Realities and Risk Management Solutions, Willis Group Holdings describes events in the natural catastrophe (Nat Cat) segment of the property marketplace as "nothing less than tumultuous." Directly affected are "clients with assets and operations in areas exposed to the Nat Cat perils of wind, flood and earthquake and to the peril of terrorism."With the beginning of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season fast approaching, "Terms and conditions offered by insurers and reinsurers have deteriorated rapidly and precipitously." The bar has been raised "for program design and marketing strategies for programs renewing in the near term, while prompting comprehensive studies of long-term business plans and risk-funding arrangements."

Sun Prairie, Wis. - Agents across General Casualty's Midwestern and Northeastern operating territory can now quote, submit and bind business auto coverage through the company's Web site.This new capability is designed to complement the company's existing online quoting/submission systems for its commercial marketplace (BOP), contractors and workers' compensation products, making it possible to submit an entire account via the Internet.

Washington, D.C. - Microsoft Corp. has launched a technology framework for the health plan industry, called "Knowledge Driven Health Plans." The announcement came as Microsoft participated in the third annual World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C.As health plans face mounting pressure to respond to the rising costs of healthcare, growing member and provider expectations, intense competition, regulation, and the inefficiencies of a fragmented care-delivery ecosystem, Microsoft's Knowledge Driven Health Plans solutions framework is designed to deliver a technology platform that enables seamless business transformation. Microsoft and its industry partners are working together to provide health plans with integrated solutions designed to improve collaboration and access to information, thereby empowering people to make business and healthcare decisions that are based on the best evidence available.

Newark, Calif. – A new 2006 analysis from Risk Management Solutions (RMS) reveals that a Mw7.9 earthquake on the northern section of the San Andreas Fault today would result in at least $260 billion of damages to residential and commercial exposures, of which $50 billion to $80 billion would be covered by property and workers' compensation insurers. In contrast to the 1906 event, where 80% of the losses were caused by fire, less than 15% of the estimated total insured property losses are expected to be fire-related in 2006.The study analyzes the impacts of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire based on the 2006 population and property exposures of the San Francisco Bay Area. The property and workers 'compensation losses estimated in the RMS report include residential and commercial property and contents losses, as well as direct business interruption and additional living expenses due to ground shaking. In the RMS scenario, strong ground shaking affects 19 Bay Area counties, with an estimated building inventory value of approximately $2 trillion for residential, commercial, and industrial properties.

Oakland, Calif. - Canadian-based Commonwealth Insurance Co. will use an enterprise platform and XML interface technology from EQECAT Inc., Oakland, Calif., to create an integrated catastrophe management system, the companies report. EQECAT is a provider of analysis tools and methodologies that quantify insurers' and major corporations' exposure to natural and man-made catastrophic risk.

Warwick, R.I.--InsureMyTrip.com, a worldwide on-line travel insurance aggregator, has expanded operations into Canada, providing a new resource for the Canadian travel consumer. InsureMyTrip.ca allows consumers to analyze, rate, compare and purchase travel insurance from Canada's top travel insurers, all on one site.

Mayfield Heights, Ohio - The Progressive Group of Insurance Cos.' national catastrophe response team (NCRT) stands at the ready to handle increased claims volume resulting from weather-related events including hurricanes, tornadoes, hailstorms and floods.The company has opened its first permanent catastrophe response center in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, claiming it is even better positioned to deliver 24/7 claims service when people need fast, accurate claims resolution most.

Waltham, Mass. - Effective procedures are critical to business success. That's the finding from nearly 700 U.S. business professionals recently surveyed by Information Mapping Inc. (IMI).Findings show 90% of those surveyed report that documented procedures are either 'extremely important' or 'very important' in meeting their company's objectives. The results also show, for those surveyed:

Boston - Financial institutions that make online retirement tools readily available can increase consumer retirement account participation and action. That's the conclusion of a study conducted by Compete, Inc., a market research firm, with MSN and Media Contacts.The study, titled " Consumer Adoption of Online Retirement Planning Tools," was initiated to understand how consumers use online retirement tools at leading financial sites to develop and execute their wealth accumulation strategy. It revealed that every month an average of 180,000 consumers use online retirement tools, and consumers who are aware of the availability of online retirement tools and use them, are more likely to take action, according to Mike Bailey, managing director, financial services practice, Compete Inc. "Retirement sites need to seize this opportunity to leverage tools that develop relationships with consumers who will evolve into active customers with higher value accounts."

Jersey City, N.J. - ISO has identified a six-point strategy where technology now exists for the effective management of claims through improved visibility of the claims handling process, establishing best practices and a more accurate assessment of injuries and recovery implications.Statistics from the Insurance Research Council (IRC) have shown that claims cost inflation has risen at an average of around 7% every year since 1997, with the average bodily injury claim cost rising from $4,804 in 1997 to $6,711 in 2002.

Baltimore - Carriers considering new agents pay close attention to how much experience, data and information the agent provides in its pitch, says a major provider of commercial insurance, reinsurance and risk management services.

Pittsburgh - Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield will offer members additional information on hospital quality information and treatment options online through its member Web site. As consumer-driven products shift decision-making responsibility to consumers, insurers are providing more information to help members make health care decisions."Highmark continues to provide additional resources to help our members make informed decisions that give them a greater hand in their health," says Kim Bellard, Highmark's vice president of e-marketing and CRM. "Our goal is to give members clear, accurate information about their health care options --choice of providers, costs and treatment options."

Tampa, Fla. - CGI Group Inc. has signed of a seven-year agreement valued at between $45 million and $75 million to provide Universal Insurance of North America, Sarasota, Florida, with policy and accounting business process services (BPS).CGI will process Universal's personal lines (book of business) including homeowners, dwelling-fire, auto, and umbrella in Texas and Florida. CGI will continue to support Universal's business processing needs as they expand their services into new markets.

Simsbury, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has named Mark Esposito as chief information officer for its individual life division.Esposito, who is also vice president and director of business technology, will lead the division's project management office and technology initiatives. He will be a member of the senior planning group, which helps Executive Vice President Michael Kalen, director of individual life, set direction for the division.

New York - The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences have nominated the Best Insurance Sites in The Tenth Annual Webby Awards. The nominees are:Westfield Insurance: http://www.westfieldinsurance.com

New York - The property/casualty insurance industry will report an increase in its capital base and an overall profitable performance in 2005, enabling it to meet the insurance needs of the growing U.S. economy, according to preliminary financial results compiled by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). Insurers achieved these results despite catastrophe losses totaling a record $57.7 billion before reinsurance recoveries, according to ISO's Property Claims Services unit."A financially strong, stable and secure insurance industry benefits consumers and communities devastated by disaster," says Dr. Robert Hartwig, senior vice president and chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). "U.S. insurers entered 2005 well capitalized and well prepared for major catastrophic losses, having implemented effective risk management strategies which helped insurers better manage losses and control costs. Additionally, insurers' investments benefited from higher interest rates and--like other American industries--a resurgent economy in 2005. Last year's financial performance is also a testament to the efficiency of the global market for sharing and spreading risk, principally through the use of reinsurance, which is insurance purchased by insurance companies. That being said, the $43.2 billion earned by property/casualty insurers in 2005 translates into a 10.1% return on surplus or net worth, well below the 14.9% return on equity earned by the Fortune 500 group of companies."

San Francisco - GuardianEdge Technologies Inc. has released a white paper examining the information security objectives set forth in the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's Information Security Booklet (FFIEC Handbook) and how enterprise encryption technology can assist financial institutions in complying with the data protection requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.Nearly 26,000 banks, credit unions and other depository financial institutions must adhere to strict federal guidelines for protecting privacy of and tracking access to customer information, or risk criminal and civil penalties.

Newark, N.J. - Horizon Blue Cross Blue of New Jersey and WebMD Health Corp. have teamed up to provide Horizon BCBSNJ's members a new service called My Health Manager. The new online service is a personalized, interactive health application that provides Horizon BCBSNJ members with tools and health information resources they need to better assess, track, and manage their health."Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey members now have access to reliable health information in the privacy of their own home whenever they need it through My Health Manager," says William J. Marino, president and CEO of Horizon BCBSNJ. "Working with WebMD, we are making health care easier by putting at our members' fingertips a powerful new tool and tremendous health resources."

Washington - At a hearing before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, Joseph Smith, senior vice president and chief information officer of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, urged Congress to adopt a realistic timetable for a major shift in medical coding, moving systems from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Smith testified at the hearing, which focused on health care information technology, on behalf of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA).The bill Smith referenced, HR 4157, the Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2005, calls for the major conversion of diagnostic and procedural codes that providers and insurers must use by 2009. Systems would change from ICD-9 diagnosis codes, which include 13,000 codes, to ICD-10, which includes over 120,000 possible codes.