Core systems

The recent disclosure that criminals illegally obtained personal information from ChoicePoint Inc. is prompting the company to take action to improve the security of its insurance databases.Although no insurance-related information was stolen, ChoicePoint executives say, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based company intends to establish new auditing procedures and implement other measures to ensure that a similar policy breach will not occur for databases that house insurance information.

The Contracts Update section includes announcements of contracts insurance information technology companies have signed with customers in recent weeks. Contract news can be faxed to Insurance Networking News magazine at (312) 913-1366 or by electronic mail to Stephen.Dwyer thomsonmedia.com Adaptis

Maybe it's because so many companies have focused most of their attention on complying with Sarbanes-Oxley this past year, but a significant portion of health insurers and health care providers will not meet the security requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by the April 20 deadline.Only 30% of payers and 18% of providers said they were already compliant with the HIPAA security regulations in a survey released in February by Phoenix Health Systems, a Montgomery Village, Md.-based consulting firm to hospitals.

CHICAGO--Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) Consumer Markets Division, as part of its ongoing effort to meet the growing demands of consumer-directed health care, announced today that it is offering two new Health Savings Account (HSA) compatible health plans: the BlueEdge Individual HSA and the BlueEdge Individual HSA 5000.

WESTBORO, Mass.---Ascential Software Corporation, an enterprise data integration provider, today announced that CNP Assurances, the leading personal insurance company in France, has standardized on Ascential DataStage, a core component of Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite, to reduce infrastructure costs, optimize the company's IT system, and achieve a single view of customer portfolios in real time.

WAUSAU, Wis--Midsized companies now have better access to expanded umbrella capacity since Wausau Insurance is more than doubling its in-house individual account coverage limits up to $25 million --the amount typically sought for such programs.

ORANGE, Calif.-- CalSurance, a national insurance sales, service and support organization comprising many diverse and specialized programs, today announced that it has enhanced its specialized errors and omissions program for broker-dealers with 75 or fewer registered representatives. Recently CalSurance and Quanta Specialty Lines Insurance Company teamed up to offer this program.The program enhancement now provides each broker-dealer with its own policy limits without sharing a master policy aggregate with other broker-dealers in the program.

WAUSAU, Wis.--Wausau Signature Agency has increased its focus on employee benefits by forming a Group Benefits Division in the upper Midwest states.

CAMBRIDGE, England--Autonomy Corporation plc, a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today announced that Autonomy has been awarded a contract by Norwich Union Life, the largest provider of life, pensions and long-term financial services in the UK.

WASHINGTON, March 17--With health benefit costs still rising at double-digit rates, more employers are adopting health management and consumer-directed health care programs to help control costs. And some employers keep increases remarkably low by getting employees involved in health care decision making. These are among the major findings in the 10th annual survey of large employers conducted by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT--- A single point of entry for access to insurance information, services and tools for consumers, regulators and industry will be available on March 16 through the National Portal for Insurance Regulatory Information on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) Web site at www.naic.org.The NAIC's Information Resources Management (H) Committee began demonstrations of the National Portal search engine at the NAIC Spring National Meeting in Salt Lake City.

Warren, NJ--The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies has redesigned its Web site, www.chubb.com, to make it easier to do business with the insurer and help increase agent productivity. The upgraded Web site features new content, easy-to-use navigation, a simplified design and direct access for agents to @chubb, a secure Internet platform. "The clean, information-focused site will enable agents and brokers, customers, investors and journalists to quickly find the information they need," said Scott Wickstrom, Chubb's e-business manager.

SEATTLE, WA-- Only Financial Group (OFG), a national Insurance Brokerage and Lead Generation company has announced the launch of OFG Agent Web Sites for its nationwide network of OFG member agents and brokerages. OFG's new Agent Web Sites provide life insurance agents and brokerages across the country with a customized Web site that boosts new business and streamlines the sales and marketing process. Agents who use an OFG Web Site can:

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--OneShield, Inc. and NetRate Systems are collaborating to address the rating system needs of small to mid-sized insurance carriers. The companies remain separate organizations but have agreed to combine efforts to address the needs of insurance carriers who want a tools-based configurable architecture provided by OneShield along with dedicated resources having over 25 years in the rating engine business offered by NetRate.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, the nation's largest agents and brokers group, is pleased with the much-improved producer compensation disclosure model approved Saturday by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) at its spring meeting in Hilton Head, S.C. The NCOIL model is a disclosure-oriented proposal that relies on and does not conflict with the regulatory framework endorsed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), but significantly improves on the NAIC model by focusing the scope of the new disclosure and acknowledgement provisions on those producers and transactions where there is a potential conflict of interest.

Executives from a group of life insurers March 8 announced the formation of the Affordable Life Insurance Alliance (ALIA), co-chaired by Jefferson Pilot Financial President & CEO Dennis R. Glass and John D. Johns, Protective Life Corporation Chairman, President & CEO.

CHICAGO, March 4-- Aon Corporation has reached a comprehensive agreement with five agencies in three states to settle investigations relating to contingent commissions and other business practices that may have created actual or potential conflicts of interest. Parties involved in the settlement, in which Aon admits no wrongdoing or liability, include the attorneys general of New York, Illinois and Connecticut as well as the insurance departments of New York and Illinois. The settlement involves no fines or penalties.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has selected and begun to implement applications from Webify Solutions' Healthcare On Demand solution. The product consists of a suite of service-oriented business applications that will enable BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee to rapidly expand the breadth and depth of information exchange and process automation with its health care provider community by implementing a direct connect strategy, the company says.

Farmers Mutual Protective Association of Texas (RVOS) has selected Duck Creek Technologies' Example Platform for the development of a Web-based quoting and submission system. Future plans include utilizing the Example Platform for the implementation of a complete policy administration system.

When Citicorp and Travelers Group merged in October 1998, banking and insurance experts universally hailed the deal as the beginning of a new era in financial services in the United States: the one-stop financial superstore.Indeed, given the emergence of technologies that enable companies to slice and dice customer data to pinpoint cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, the Citicorp/Travelers combo was viewed at the time as a powerhouse that would set the stage for similar deals.