Core systems

Thanks in large part to health information technology, small businesses in Arizona’s Maricopa and Pinal counties are about to be pitched on an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) insurance plan called Aetna Whole Health, a collaborative effort by Aetna and Banner Health Network. Experts say that the ACO model of care shifts the focus of payment from a fee-for-service model to a focus on tying payments to quality metrics and decreased costs of patient care.

In a new report, Forrester Research Inc. identified edge IPK, the provider of edgeConnect, an insurance user experience platform (UXP) designed to provide the optimal user experience to any insurance user, through any device, browser, and language, as a vendor to watch.

The International Insurance Society (IIS) announced the three industry leaders who will be recognized at the society’s 48th Annual Seminar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 17-20, 2012.

Needs analyses and face-to-face contact greatly improve the odds of closing life insurance sales, according to a new study from LIMRA.

The introduction of telematic technologies will help improve overall road safety, new data from U.K.-based The Co-operative Insurance shows.

AgentsofAmerica.org (AoA) reports that it will publish a 26-chapter e-book on risk management in early 2012. The “E&O Loss Control & Risk Management Program for Insurance Agents and Brokers” represents a collaborative effort by more than 25 top E&O insurance attorneys and experts from across the country, notes AoA, and includes an appendix on best practices.

Yodil Inc., a provider of business intelligence, data analytics and management reporting to the insurance industry, has developed OneSource for Affirmative Insurance Holdings Inc., a writer of non-standard auto coverage. According to Yodil, OneSource is now in live production and interfaces with Affirmative's multiple systems to rate, quote and sell auto, home and ancillary products.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded CGI Federal Inc. (CGI), a wholly-owned U.S. operating subsidiary of CGI Group Inc., a $8.9 million, two-year contract to develop and implement the CMS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight's Rate and Benefits Information System (RBIS). CGI Group is an information technology and business process services firm.

The retail theft claims insurers expect to pay out this holiday weekend may take a back seat to those presented by clients with commercial package policies that include business interruption. CNBC reports that demonstrators are taking the Occupy Wall Street movement to retailers with an organized effort called “Stop Black Friday.”

The Department of Health and Human Services has rolled out an enhanced version of a public Web site, mandated under the Accountable Care Act, to aid small businesses and consumers in comparing and purchasing health care coverage.

Torus, a specialty insurer, has implemented Guidewire Software’s ClaimCenter, a claims management system.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners voted to exclude broker commissions from calculations of medical loss ratio required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Dan Colarusso, VP, CIO of Cypress Insurance Group, talks with INN about his company's decision to replace its multiple existing technology systems currently used for policy, underwriting, rating, billing, and management of its distribution channel with a SaaS solution offered by MajescoMastek.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its first rebuke to an insurer under the federal rate review provision of the Affordable Care Act.

According to a new study from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), the extra weight hybrid vehicles carry around because of their battery makes them safer. In fact, the study found that the odds of being injured in a crash are 25 percent lower for people in hybrids, when compared to conventional fuel models.

With the insurance industry seemingly starved for some good news about itself, it can take solace knowing that more than 4,000 insurance company volunteers were willing to provide time and labor to various nonprofit groups across the nation last week.

In the wake of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, insurers and bankers feuded over directors and officers' liability policies. At issue: whether D&O policies covered claims brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation against a failed bank's officers. Years of messy litigation failed to settle the question conclusively, and insurers responded by tightening their policies with ironclad exclusions of future FDIC claims.

Survey shows employers not meeting employee desires for health plan programs that are easy to use, motivating, meaningful and personalized.

Former American International Group CEO Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg is seeking $25 billion in damages from the federal government for the manner in which it bailed out the insurance giant in 2008.

Late yesterday both houses of Congress passed a continuing Resolution which provides for a 30-day extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. The program is now set to expire on Dec. 16, 2011.