IVANS GIVES PROVIDERS HIGH-SPEED CLAIMS PROCESSING
IVANS Inc., a provider of Medicare connectivity solutions and services, introduced a new high-speed, multi-user Internet solution for healthcare providers processing Medicare transactions, called LIME.
LIME is designed to save providers time and money through its elimination of manual searches, and by streamlining the claims workflow process so claims are paid faster and more accurately than other connectivity solutions.
IVANS' LIME is a fully managed solution that enables healthcare providers the ability to take advantage of faster, more cost-effective Internet-based connectivity to send their Medicare transactions. In addition to its speed, LIME is part of a highly secure network that is approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and is fully compliant with and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
LIME can enable a provider with up to 25 concurrent users to establish a secure connection for processing multiple Medicare transactions simultaneously over the Internet with the necessary Medicare contractor from their facility.
NEW DATA SETS AVAILABLE FOR RISK DATA SUITE
Pitney Bowes MapInfo, a Toronto-based global provider of location intelligence, introduced new data sets for the Risk Data Suite, a source of risk-related weather and other natural hazard information. Among the new data sets offered is a Wildfire Bundle, currently with information and exposure grids for California, which can be used to assess the proximity of property and assets to areas of potential wildfire risk.
The comprehensive Risk Data Suite weather peril and natural disaster database consists of bundles with high-definition data and aggregate exposure grids. New bundles added to the Risk Data Suite include:
Wildfire Bundle consists of data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The bundle depicts potential risk to wildfires based on historical data on both wild land and developed, urban zones.
Fire Station Bundle contains information about each local fire station and department in the United States, including contact information, county served, type of department and number of stations.
Shoreline Bundle includes data captured from 270 National Ocean Service (NOS) Navigation Charts, and spans more than 80,000 nautical miles used to determine distance to coast calculations for all coastal states on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.
ISO EXPANDS PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS OFFERINGS
With the launch of the environmental module of ISO Risk Analyzer Personal Auto, Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO), Jersey City, N.J., expands its offering of analytic decision-support tools in the personal auto insurance line.
ISO Risk Analyzer Personal Auto is a predictive model designed to help insurers classify, segment and price personal auto risks. The analytic tool examines more than 1,200 indicators, and predicts expected losses at the policy level by major coverage.
The environmental module of the model examines the interactive effects of the traffic environment, including the number and types of businesses in an area, traffic density, driving patterns and public transportation usage; the natural environment, such as the weather and topographical characteristics of an area; and other factors, such as claim frequency and severity trends by state.
The environmental module is one of several ISO Risk Analyzer Personal Auto modules that insurers will be able to use individually or together, depending on their analytic objectives.
EMC UNVEILS SaaS, FIRST ENTERPRISE OFFERING
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, Mass., is set to launch a hosted backup and recovery service based on technology gained from its acquisition of Berkeley Data Systems in September 2007. The MozyEnterprise, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product, is the first offering in EMC’s new Fortress line of hosted software. MozyEnterprise will provide subscription-based online backup and recovery services for remote PCs and remote Windows server environments, says the company.
MozyEnterprise automates secure online backup and recovery over the Internet for consistent and reliable off-site data protection for remote desktops, laptops and branch office servers.
It is the first EMC SaaS application to be built on EMC Fortress, a secure, hardened enterprise-class platform for SaaS delivery.
WIRELESS CLAIMS APPLICATIONS
AT&T’s wireless solutions for insurance are designed to increase claims adjustor efficiency by providing flexibility and reduction of claims cycle time. Wireless connections enable real-time updates from adjusters working in the field, and the ability for claim handlers in the office to receive and approve repair estimates more quickly and reduce transcription errors. The AT&T solutions also are designed to reduce an insurers’ loss adjustment expenses by minimizing the time policyholders rent cars and incur other expenses.
CLEAR PATH TO DECISION MAKING
Insurers evaluating their “buy vs. build” options can use methodology services developed and offered by Edgewater Technology, Wakefield, Mass., that includes requirements gathering, request of information, request for proposal, commercial off-the-shelf marketplace assessment vendor negotiation and implementation.
Edgewater Technology’s system selection methodology provides market assessment of the commercially available components that fit a specific technology and business.
