Core systems

Forty-six percent of U.S. insurance organizations identified the lack of historical databases as a major cause of poor claims management, according to a recent customer poll conducted by Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO), Jersey City, N.J. This follows an earlier ISO poll in which 78% of insurance organizations said reducing the rising cost of claims handling is their single most important goal for 2004.The poll asked insurance organizations to identify the most likely reason for paying injury claims incorrectly. Of the five options, just under half (46%) identified lack of historical databases as a major cause, and 20% cited lack of medical knowledge as the second most probable reason. Sixteen percent said inadequate negotiation skills, while 13% cited claims adjusters' inexperience.

Following the first quarter of integration activities, Prudential Retirement, a business of Prudential Financial, Newark, N.J. has moved out of the initial planning phase of integration and is now focused on the next phase, implementation of enhanced products and services for the retirement markets it serves."In just about 100 days, we've built the foundation for a new, stronger, and more dynamic Prudential Retirement," says John Y. Kim, president of Prudential Retirement. "In fact, strategic plans have been completed for all full-service retirement businesses, each of which is now working hard to enhance existing products and develop new ones," he adds.

Group Health Incorporated (GHI), a statewide not-for-profit health insurer in New York, has launched several new initiatives that improve customer service for its members, from 100% online plan enrollment to disseminating important coverage updates through brief automated phone calls.GHI has partnered with Sunnyvale, Calif.-based eHealthInsurance Inc. to enable individuals and small businesses to purchase health insurance coverage with GHI online, in real time and without any printing, signing or mailing of forms. Applicants simply log on to www.eHealthInsurance.com, submit the required data, credit-card information for the first month's payment and authorize the transaction with an "e-signature." Approved applicants are covered beginning on the first day of the next calendar month.

New York--The Catastrophe Risk Exchange International, Inc. (CATEX) announced today that it has completed delivery of a Web based Property Aggregate Monitoring System to facilitate the underwriting of facultative property business by the reinsurer QBE Reinsurance Corporation (QBE).

SOMERS, NY --IBM today unveiled new PartnerWorld Industry Networks for independent software vendors (ISVs) focused on the government and insurance industries. IBM also introduced new technical offerings and expanded initiatives that can help ISVs participating in the PartnerWorld Industry Networks speed solution development and ensure interoperability with IBM's middleware portfolio.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.-- UnumProvident has received a top ranking for the success of its individual income protection insurance sales, according to JHA's 2003 U.S. Individual Disability Market Survey.

NEW YORK-- Swiss Re's chief economist said today that strong economic growth, coupled with a slight uptick in inflation, will force the Federal Reserve to raise the federal funds rate to close to 2 percent by the end of 2004.

The Guardian Life Insurance Co, of America, New York, has selected iLinc Communications Inc. to provide Web conferencing for the insurers' 5,500 employees and 2,800 financial representatives in 94 agencies nationwide.Phoenix-based iLinc Communications offers integrated Web and audio conferencing solutions using a combination of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) that can reside inside an organization's network. This combination provides end-to-end security for all data, video, and voice-over-IP exchanged within an online meeting, according to iLinc.

SPOKANE, Wash.-- Itronix Corp., a developer of wireless, rugged mobile computing solutions, announced today that its GoBook II wireless, rugged laptop has been certified by the insurance industry's top three software providers, including ADP Claims Services Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Automatic Data Processing, Inc., CCC Information Services Inc., and Mitchell International Inc.

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa.-- Coventry First, the creator and leader of the secondary market for life insurance, today applauded the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for overwhelmingly approving a new Model Regulation which governs life settlements.

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass. -- Sun Life Financial announced today that Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (U.S.) a member of the Sun Life Financial group of companies, has launched Sun Life Financial Masters, a re-branding of its variable annuity line.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Hartford, Conn., has enhanced its small commercial automation to make quoting and submitting new business applications faster and easier for independent agents--whether they connect to the Internet from their office, their customer's place of business or on the road.According to The Hartford, its ICON 2.0 electronic quoting and submission system offers agents Web-based access, efficient navigation, and a host of integrated features that streamline the submission process for the company's key small business coverages. Those include Spectrum business owners' policy, workers' compensation and commercial auto. Similar support for The Hartford's new "Xpand" products is currently being piloted.

ATLANTA-- SellingLTC.com, LLC, the leader in providing long-term care sales and marketing solutions for insurance producers, today announced the release of its new LTCI Mobile Support feature which allows SellingLTC.com subscribers to download the best of SellingLTC.com's sales support modules to a laptop computer and access the information even when it's not possible to access the Internet.

NEW YORK -- Technology has become critically important to how insurers manage risk, share information with producers and support Internet sales and customer service, a panel of carrier CEOs said June 16 at Standard & Poor's 20th annual insurance seminar in New York City.

Worcester, Mass.-based Allmerica Financial has selected Clarity IT service configuration management software from Relicore Inc., Burlington, Mass., for enhanced change management capabilities for some of Allmerica's most mission-critical business applications.Allmerica is using Relicore Clarity to track operational changes in its point of sale and underwriting workflow systems used by its independent insurance agents to originate and change policies. Allmerica's initial implementation is focused on gaining better control of hardware and software configurations, with a future goal of ensuring that IT staff members are proactively notified of changes that happen outside of approved change windows, and that they fully understand the impact of proposed changes to this environment prior to implementation.

Add Hawaii and New Hampshire to the list of states enacting legislation to adopt the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Compact. The Aloha and Granite states join Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia in taking up the measure, which creates uniform national product standards and provides a central point of filing for insurers.Twenty-two more states currently are considering enactment of the Interstate Compact.

In their quest to expand their long-term care (LTC) products lines, many insurers have been challenged not only by the risk management and underwriting aspects of the coverage, but they've also struggled with finding the best agents tp market this coverage.

The quantity of filings submitted through the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF) continues to multiply as an increasing number of state regulators and insurers recognize the system as a much-needed solution to for addressing cost efficiency, accuracy, and ease of status tracking.As of May 31, 2004, over 50,000 filings had been submitted via SERFF, nearly twice the number of filings submitted during the first five months of 2003. It is anticipated that approximately 155,000 filings will be submitted by year-end 2004, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Kansas City, Mo.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Kansas City, Mo., has submitted a detailed framework document to House Financial Services Chairman Michael Oxley, delineating several ongoing and proposed steps to create an effective, state-based national system of insurance regulation."We have been asked by Chairman Oxley to directly assist in the committee’s process of evaluating the modernization of state insurance regulation, and we have pledged our time and our full resources to move the regulatory process forward in a manner that benefits consumers and the industry," says Ernst Csiszar, NAIC president and South Carolina director of insurance.

MELVILLE, N.Y. -- AutoOne Insurance, a Limited Assignment Distribution (LAD) servicing carrier accepting assigned risks on behalf of client insurance companies, announced today that they are expanding their LAD services into other states and new markets. Assigned risks are those drivers who are unable to obtain automobile insurance in the voluntary market. AutoOne currently offers LAD services to automobile insurance companies in New York and New Jersey.