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A wise insurance executive-perhaps a chief information officer-once stated: "The strategies that worked for us in the past are the same ones that will cause us to fail in the future. That's because those strategies are only competitive for awhile."Carl Ascenzo, chief information officer for Boston-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, didn't deliver this proclamation, but he easily could have. Over the years, in a career spent at Aetna Health Plan and PriceWater-houseCoopers before coming to BCBSMA, Ascenzo has seen things that were seemingly built to last fall by the wayside.

Barbara Piehler represents a new breed of corporate CIO, one that no longer requires extensive information technology experience. In the insurance industry, this trend has been reinforced recently through the appointment of several CIOs who have built their reputations on the business side of the industry.But, while many of these executives eventually blended IT with business competency prior to taking over as CIO, Piehler, who is senior vice president, information systems, and CIO for Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., had only accumulated about a year of information systems' experience by the time she assumed the CIO position in October 2002.

Recurring payments offer the insurance industry a simple, yet extremely powerful, customer service solution that has the potential to yield hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings, improve cash flow, increase productivity and provide a competitive advantage.Also known as automatic bill payment and direct payment, recurring payments enable customers to authorize companies to automatically charge the amount owed on a payment card on a regular basis. Payments may be collected monthly, quarterly, or at whatever interval the consumer and the service provider establish.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Through aggressive health care fraud investigations and coordination among other states' Blue Cross plans, the Blue Cross Special Investigations Unit (SIU) stopped payment on $8.7 million of suspect claims last year, reducing the impact of fraud on premiums in Minnesota.

MADISON, Wis. -- BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, a leading health insurance provider that also administers federal health insurance programs, has addressed its evolving document communication needs by designating two Esker Software solutions as enterprise standards. Esker DeliveryWare Platform and Esker Fax respectively provide BlueCross BlueShield with intelligent multi-channel e-document delivery and automated fax.

Nationwide Financial, Columbus, Ohio, is offering an online marketing tool to help investment professionals grow their businesses and support the long-term investment needs of their clients. Investment Selector is an online quarterly report that recommends investment options and percentage allocations for The BEST of AMERICA variable products. Investment Selector uses research and evaluation methods developed by Morningstar Associates LLC, a registered investment advisor and a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar Inc. Investment Selector targets the investments that fulfill five allocation models developed through a collaboration with Ibbotson Associates.

The majority of insurance companies already maintain a rigorous corporate governance model to protect the financial interests of their policyholders and shareholders. So why does the Sarbanes-Oxley act have the industry aflutter? New research from TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass.-based research and consulting firm, finds insurers are realizing that the law can serve as a catalyst for long- term financial systems architecture strategy and process improvements."The globalization of insurance and the current complex regulatory environment necessitate a systematic, integrated approach to risk management," says Cindy Saccocia, senior analyst in the Insurance practice at TowerGroup and author of the report, titled "Sarbanes-Oxley and Insurance: Requirements, Hype, and Opportunity."

Atlanta-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia has launched the Clear Claim Connection, an online product and service for its network providers. This product, created by McKesson Corp., enables BCBSGa to share with network providers the auditing rules and clinical rationale which exist in the claims billing and auditing code system used by BCBSGa.John Watts, president and chief executive officer of BCBSGa, says, "This important service will enable network physicians and their office staffs to review our payment methodology online. By providing this service, we hope to make our reimbursement policies more readily accessible and reduce misunderstandings among providers, members and BCBSGa."

Prudential Financial Inc., Newark, N.J., has introduced an automatic, online licensing application for brokers seeking appointment to sell the company’s insurance and annuity products. The electronic data collection tool, called Online Confidential Data Sheet (CDS), was developed by BISYS Education and Licensing Services for Prudential.The Online CDS streamlines the traditional, paper-based appointment process and greatly improves brokers’ speed to market.

Risk Management Solutions Inc. (RMS), a Newark, Calif.-based provider of products and services for catastrophe risk management, has released the findings of an in-depth study that provides workers compensation, life, and health insurers with key benchmarks for the potential risk of human casualties from catastrophic events.Among other findings, the study demonstrates that while many in the insurance industry view the World Trade Center attack as a worst-case event, there are numerous natural and man-made events that could cause significantly higher casualties and associated insured losses.

NEW YORK--The Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America is making an effort to demystify the financial planning process and educate visitors on the role that Guardian's products and financial representatives play in an overall financial planning strategy. The company is doing it with a new Web site, located at www.GuardianLife.com. The new site replaces Guardian's existing Web address at www.glic.com.

In recognition of the HIPAA security rule pre-anniversary deadline that passed this month, Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit URAC released a report examining the state of preparedness in the health care industry in complying with the security rule.

Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Financial is using Web technology to make it easier for investment professionals to manage the client review process with a new tool called the Interactive Client Review (ICR).Nationwide's ICR tool simplifies the client review process by providing one-stop, real-time access to client portfolios online. Detailed information is presented in a concise and secure format for investment professionals to access from any remote location. The ICR tool can also provide investment professionals with a quick, easy view of their clients' quarterly statements online. Through its instantly accessible electronic format, ICR aims to help investment professionals manage their clients' accounts in half the time.

HARTFORD, Conn.-- Do automatic teller machines need specialized insurance? They sure do. Recognizing that midsize banks, credit unions, investment firms and insurance companies have a range of specialized insurance needs -- from property coverage for ATMs, foreclosed buildings and repossessed automobiles, to professional liability coverage for banks, investment advisors and insurance carriers--The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. now offers a tailored package of coverages to address the specific exposures they are most likely to face.

New York-based MetLife has introduced a new online Individual Disability Income (IDI) Broker Portal designed to simplify the policy application and case management process for brokers by providing access to real-time information.Through the IDI Broker Portal, MetAccessIDI.com, brokers can immediately obtain underwriting case status, underwriting requirements and client policy information, including policy status and payment history. In addition, required applications and forms can be downloaded through a link from the site. The portal also features a private message board providing brokers with a convenient channel for communicating with MetLife IDI Underwriters regarding their cases.

Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp. and John Hancock Financial Services Inc., Boston, including its Canadian subsidiary, The Maritime Life Assurance Co., completed their merger after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals. John Hancock is now a subsidiary of Manulife Financial.John Hancock stock will cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange at the close of markets today, April 28, 2004. The approximately 675,000 John Hancock common shareholders are entitled to receive 1.1853 Manulife common shares for each John Hancock common share. John Hancock shareholders overwhelmingly approved the combination on February 24, 2004, with more than 95 per cent of the votes cast favouring the adoption of the merger agreement.

Homeowners rates that include a severe thunderstorm component based on sophisticated catastrophe modeling have been included as part of a rating plan subject to approval by state regulators in Florida.Florida Farm Bureau's 2003 Homeowners rate filing included a ground-breaking actuarial approach, which develops a distinct base rate for both hurricane and severe thunderstorm perils using hurricane and severe thunderstorm models from AIR Worldwide Corp. (AIR), a subsidiary of Jersey City, N.J.-based ISO. The models were also used extensively in the redefinition of territory lines and development of territory rating factors separately for each catastrophic peril.

AccessAllstate.com, the financial services Web site deployed by Allstate Financial, a business unit of The Allstate Corp., Nortbrook, Ill., is now available to Allstate Financial Institution Divisions' partners. The Web site had previously only been available to financial advisors or Allstate agents who were registered to sell Allstate or Lincoln Benefit Life Company products."AccessAllstate.com is a fantastic tool that helps Allstate effectively streamline how producers do business with us," says Joe Tomalavage, director, Allstate Financial Technology, Allstate Financial. "Now our financial institution partners are able to quickly access client information, obtain real-time policy values, download forms, order marketing materials online, review product and fund information, access sales and marketing ideas 24-hours a day from one central location."

Each year, more insurers appear to be increasing their budgets in implementing sophisticated fraud detection systems; however, the majority of these investments are centered around post-payment fraud detection rather than detecting fraud prior to claims being paid.

Employees of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. who are members of the Alliance@IBM, CWA Local 1701, have a sharp message for management to deliver at IBM's annual meeting today. Alliance members are passing out leaflets to shareholders as they arrive and address the meeting on key shareholder proposals. Following the meeting, they are joining members of the Programmers Guild, Jobs with Justice and other union supporters in a rally opposing the offshoring of American jobs by U.S. high tech companies