Core systems

Chicago - Aon Consulting, the human capital consulting organization of Chicago-based Aon Corp., report that Anne Kemp and Kathleen Skapik have joined the electronic discovery business unit. This unit is part of the IT Risk Consulting group, a division of the company's Financial Advisory and Litigation Consulting Services practice.

Portland, Maine – Results of a study measuring insurance industry challenges as well as how technology can assist disability carriers in successfully managing claims operations indicate that carriers are dissatisfied with their current claims management technology.

Hartford, Conn. - Property/casualty carriers in the U.S. can expect another year of overall industry underwriting profit in 2006, matching the results of 2004, according to the latest Conning Research and Consulting Inc. forecast report for the P&C industry, which provides a first look at results through 2008.

Fort Collins, Colo.- Colorado State University’s hurricane forecasters now predict this year's hurricane activity "will be slightly below the long-term," according to a revised forecast issued Friday.

Chicago - With the goal of helping patients improve their surgical outcomes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois says it has become the first health insurance company in the country to offer the EmmiHealth program, "Informed Decision Making for Bariatric Surgery," to its members considering bariatric surgery. Developed by Chicago-based Emmi Solutions, LLC, EmmiHealth is a multimedia, Web-based program that provides people with clear, concise information about their medical condition, the risks and benefits of treatment, alternatives to surgery and what to expect before and after their procedure - information that collectively leads to better expectations about their care and better outcomes.

Hartford, Conn. - Using a simple online search by zip code, Aetna members can find healthcare services at a variety of in-store clinics, the Hartford, Conn., company reports. Last week Aetna, announced its relationship with InterFit Health's RediClinic, Houston, which offers treatment for more than 25 common medical conditions, such as strep throat and ear infections, at health clinics located inside retail locations such as H-E-B in Texas, Wal-Mart in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and Duane Reade in New York. RediClinic also provides health screenings, medical tests, vaccinations, immunizations and physicals. RediClinic also offers a range of preventive health services, including health screenings, medical tests, vaccinations, and basic physical exams. Earlier this year Aetna announced a similar relationship with Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic's walk-in healthcare centers in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington, and the Washington, D.C./Maryland Capital area. Aetna, which serves just less than 30 million members, says those members who visit either clinic will pay the specialist office visit copay indicated by their plans. Aetna members can find the location of the nearest in-store clinic by visiting Aetna's "DocFind" directory and searching for a doctor in their zip code, selecting "specialist," identifying their plan, and then choosing "nurse practitioner" for specialty type. Members can also find locations by selecting "other facilities" as the type of provider, identifying their plan, and then choosing "view search results now." In announcing that InterFit Health's RediClinic has become a participating provider, William Hauser, M.D., Aetna's regional medical director for the Southeast and Southwest Regions, points out that as people's lives become busier, retail health clinics such as RediClinic can provide a convenient alternative for certain common health problems when a patient cannot see his or her primary care physician. "We urge members to continue to use their primary care physician as their first recourse for care of common health problems and to recognize that retail clinics are not meant to treat serious illness or emergency situations," he says. Source: Business Wire

Internet usage in China has grown rapidly over the past 10 years. In 1997, there were 300,000 computers and 620,000 users for services offered over the Internet.Statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center and forecasts from Celent LLC, a Boston-based research and advisory firm, show there are 49.5 million computers and 111 million people in mainland China who access the Internet. The online environment in China is also gradually improving. There are now 22.4 million computers in China that access the Internet via broadband access, representing 45% of computers that access the Internet, according to a recent Celent report, titled "Insurance E-Business Trends in China."

IT INFRASTRUCTURE OUTSOURCING CONTRACTThe Netherlands subsidiary of Blue Bell, Pa.-based Unisys Corp. has expanded its relationship with long-time client REAAL Insurance through a new five-year outsourcing contract with a value estimated at $11.6 million (U.S). By managing the company's IT infrastructure, Unisys will provide support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to REAAL and its agents. REAAL hopes to achieve significant cost reductions through consolidating infrastructure outsourcing services under one vendor. REAAL will consolidate its hundreds of existing support contracts and suppliers to one central contract with Unisys, and will reduce the number of services suppliers from 20 to one.

Zurich, Switzerland - Zurich Financial Services Group, a property/casualty insurance company, promoted John LaGrassa to senior vice president and director of ceded reinsurance.In his new position, LaGrassa will be responsible for all of Zurich's ceded reinsurance functions in North America, including the placement and analysis of all treaties for Zurich North America Commercial business units and Zurich Global Corporate in North America. LaGrassa also will have governance responsibility for treaty, captive and facultative reinsurance.

STUDY SHOWS POOR USABILITY OF WEB HOME PAGESAccording to a recent study by Oak Park, Ill.-based Vox Inc., home page usability of many insurance companies isn't up to snuff. The study analyzed the positioning of key customer and user elements, such as insurance quote and "find an agent" functions. Each company was given a rating based on a set of usability and benchmark criteria. One exception to the overall findings is 21st Century Insurance Co., Woodland Hills, Calif., which recently redesigned its home page. The study, conducted in the first quarter, reviewed content and where it was positioned on the page, comparing 12 insurance providers: State Farm, Allstate, Progressive, Geico, American Family, Liberty, 21st Century, Country Financial, AIG, Nationwide, AAA Chicago and USAA.

WEB-BASED POLICY PROCESSINGAgent X Press, a suite of processing capabilities, is designed to enable small insurers to support their agents and MGAs with Web-based policy processing. The suite from Wyncote, Pa.-based IDP Inc. is available to new and existing clients of IDP's VISION 21 policy management system. Agent X Press' functionality includes online policy inquiry for billing and claims information; and quoting, application submission and issuance. Agents enter a customer's name or unique identification data, such as policy number. They can then obtain the status of a bill or a claim, or obtain an accurate quote, within seconds, according to IDP. Subsequent to providing a quote, Agent X Press will permit the agent to electronically submit the application to further speed the process.

Mayfield Village, Ohio - Young independent insurance agents identify technology to help them more easily write business and service customers as the second most important thing – after competitive rates – carriers can offer an independent insurance agency. Drive Insurance Group of Mayfield Village, Ohio-based Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. discovered this while conducting a survey of more than 750 young (40 years of age or younger or those who have been in the industry less than 10 years) independent agents to find out what they think about everything from business growth opportunities and technology to the skills necessary to succeed and the challenges faced by the industry.Drive insurance conducted the survey to coincide with the National Young Agents Leadership Institute, put on by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, which gets underway in New Orleans next week.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Nearly two-thirds of security executives believe they have no way to prevent a data breach, according to research by the Ponemon Institute, an Elk Rapids, Mich.-based privacy and information management research firm. What's more, most respondents believe their organizations lack the accountability and resources necessary to enforce data security policy compliance.The survey report – "National Survey on the Detection and Prevention of Data Breaches" – was sponsored by Palo Alto, Calif.-based PortAuthority Technologies Inc. and examines the responses of 853 randomly selected, U.S.-based information security professionals to questions related to data protection and prevention within their organizations.

Cambridge, Mass. - Insurance companies will gradually move away from geographic and product silos, focusing more on cross-domain business processes, according to a report from Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc. The report goes on to predict insurance companies will identify processes that can be implemented with common systems and configured for local needs and that this trend will increase the use of business process outsourcing (BPO) as carriers outsource nondifferentiated processes.The report, "Process-Oriented Insurance Will Drive BPO," suggests insurers implement specialized project teams with process and sourcing expertise, use frameworks like Six Sigma and deploy systems that provide the flexibility to accommodate local needs without complex development efforts.

Charlotte, N.C. - Montgomery Mutual Insurance Co., a Charlotte, N.C.-based member of Liberty Mutual Group, Boston, implemented the Commercial IQ SmartRisk underwriting and pricing system for business owners' policies developed by Liberty Mutual Agency Markets' strategic business unit.After a pilot launch in Maryland yielded a 100% increase in policy issuance, Liberty Mutual made Commercial IQ SmartRisk available to appointed agents for BOP coverage in Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and will be available to Virginia appointed agents this fall.

Washington - Senior technical and management professionals from a number of insurance companies--Prudential, The Hartford, AIG and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota--are among the presenters at Rules Technology Summit, a new event at the 2006 International Business Rules Forum, November 5-9 in Washington.The Rules Technology Summit is aimed at technical audiences including IT architects and IS professionals whose goals are to take advantage of the business rules approach to build agile applications with the flexibility to accommodate frequently changing business conditions.

London - While insurers continue to embrace the use of return on investment (ROI) to measure IT project success and failure, many do not meet their own targets. In fact, only 11% are able to achieve their ROI objectives, according to new research released by SunGard's iWORKS business unit, an insurance technology company.

Boston - Dozens of new insurance activities, such as 'green' building credits and incentives for investing in renewable energy, are emerging to tackle the causes of climate change and rising weather-related losses in the U.S. and globally, according to a new report issued this week by the Boston-based Ceres investor coalition. But the report also states that more insurance companies need to be offering similar services to minimize losses and make the most of business opportunities related to climate change.

Washington, D.C. - As the country approaches the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina next week, the American Insurance Association (AIA) and ProtectingAmerica.org were at odds as to how best to proceed with a national catastrophe agenda.

Health plan sponsors are ready to help workers make sound medical and financial choices, according to a recent employer survey. The problem is that many of these clients do not have the healthcare decision support tools to do so, notes Starmark, a Lake Forest, Ill., company that specializes in small group healthcare benefits and serves businesses with two to 50 employees.