Data and information management

ATLANTA-- Digital Insurance Inc. announced it has signed agreements with five additional employee benefits brokers to enhance the level of day-to-day service and product sales for a portion of their small group benefits business.

Results International Systems (RIS) will provide an end-to-end, Web-enabled policy processing system Partners Mutual Insurance Co.'s personal and commercial lines of business. The RIS solution will deliver a policy processing system with integration to claims, billing, rating and form printing. RIS will provide the hardware, software, systems personnel, systems security, back-up and disaster recovery.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- Vitria, a leading provider of business process integration solutions, today announced that Premera Blue Cross, a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association independent licensee for Washington state and Alaska, has selected Vitria's Healthcare Solutions as the integration infrastructure to simplify, streamline and automate its transaction management processes.

Seattle-based Safeco Corp. has launched Safeco Now for property/casualty insurance--an online sales platform that integrates personal and small-commercial insurance product. Safeco Now is a streamlined Web site for independent agents and brokers that gives them access to 90% of their daily online work tools with just one click.The highlight of the system, according to Safeco, is the single-platform sales tool that enables distributors to quote and bind--in just minutes--seven major lines of P&C and surety business: personal auto, homeowners, business owners policy (BOP), commercial auto (fleet and non-fleet), workers' compensation, business umbrella, and surety (notary; license and permit bonds; court bonds; public official bonds).

Toronto, Canada--DWL, a provider of Enterprise Business Services software, today announced that Empire Financial Group has launched phase two of groupweb - an initiative to achieve proven cost reduction with web-based self-servicing capabilities for group business. Following on the success of Empire's initial implementation of DWL InsuranceT for Group Life and Health, which provides a password protected site for electronic plan administration, phase two of the project now adds full update and enrollment capability in real-time, using version 3.0 of DWL Insurance for Group Life & Health.

Increasingly, life and health insurers are underwriting man-made catastrophic risks involving deaths and disabilities resulting from terrorists making use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, according to the latest LOMA study on risk exposure for the insurance industry. "The New World of Risk describes these risk exposures in detail and the efforts being made by the U.S. government and other institutions to control them," says Stephen W. Forbes, Ph.D., FLMI, senior vice president of research at Atlanta-based LOMA, and report author.The report also reviews catastrophic loss exposures involving technological networks, a continually expanding universe of legal liability, and global risks that affect all insurance companies and U.S. businesses. "Fortunately, there are actions available in both the public and private sectors that can significantly reduce these catastrophic risks," says Forbes. "The insurance industry has an important role to play in encouraging the implementation of the many well-thought-out methods that are available to improve the risk environment."

Miami, FL-- SunGard Insurance Systems, an operating group of SunGard, announced today the SunGard VIP sales illustration system has been awarded the Designed for Windows XP logo certification. This certification is a result of a long-standing technology affiliation between SunGard Insurance Systems and Microsoft, further strengthening the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner relationship recognized for many years. SunGard VIP clients running on Windows XP can realize benefits such as greater application stability and efficiency; as well as, the assurance that the SunGard VIP system will be fully functional in later versions of Windows.

WebMD Corp., Elmwood, N.J., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dakota Imaging, Inc., a privately held provider of automated healthcare claims processing technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) services.Dakota's scalable software and BPO services provide automation for mailroom, document processing, scanning, data capture, data scrubbing, automated workflow and online secure document management. Dakota's solutions can reduce costs associated with manual processing of healthcare documents and increase auto-adjudication and auto-payment of medical claims through advanced data scrubbing.

The insurance industry's response to fast-changing regulatory and corporate governance demands is characterized by a primary reliance on manual processes and ad-hoc measures, according to survey conducted by ILOG, a Mountain View, Calif.-based business rules software vendor, and Pearl River, N.Y.-based ACORD.Although specially appointed compliance officers generally have been assigned to manage the impact of regulatory demands, the survey reveals the industry is failing to fully embrace the high business value of information technology when addressing regulatory requirements such as HIPAA and corporate governance demands driven by mandates such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Insurity Inc., a ChoicePoint company, today announced that Georgia Casualty & Surety, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlantic American, has selected Insurity's Commercial Intellisys property/casualty policy processing services and software. A complete Web-based rating, intelligent underwriting and electronic issuance platform is being deployed across 11 states for workers' compensation, commercial business auto, general liability, commercial package and umbrella policies.

OLDSMAR, Fla. -- eAutoclaims today announced that it has secured a two-year contract with Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company. eAutoclaims will provide its national network of body shops and independent appraisers (IA) to process Michigan Millers' automobile and commercial heavy equipment physical damage claims.

They say sharing is good, but try telling that to insurance executives overseeing individual business units. Actuaries, underwriters, sales and marketing executives and claims adjusters have long regarded their departmental knowledge as sacrosanct, with the thought of sharing that information akin to giving up one's first-born.Perhaps out of necessity, this cloistered approach to knowledge-sharing might be loosening its territorial grip. Keeping departmental knowledge close to the vest might protect a business's so-called secrets, but reciprocally this approach also prevents a business from tapping into the knowledge that resides within other corporate units, industry experts relate.

If insurance carriers want their online shoppers to become online buyers, they need to give their customers more respect.That's a warning derived from recent analysis of 70 insurance Web sites that gave the insurance industry an average online Customer Service Index of 6.8 out of 10. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that although 93% of insurers post online privacy policies, 35% of them share customer data without the customer's permission.

The credit-based insurance scoring controversy continues with the latest volley coming from the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA). In January, MIA released a report indicating that the data it had collected in 2003 was insufficient to conclusively determine if credit scoring has an adverse impact on low-income or minority populations.Last month, Insurance Networking News reported that a recent study conducted by the Missouri Department of Insurance found that minorities and low-income populations are harmed by insurers use of credit-based insurance scores (see March 2004, page 8).

Like many of its mid-size insurer counterparts, Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance Co. understands that overhauling legacy information systems is a costly proposition. As a result, the carrier continues to conduct business from multiple and disparate systems.But what if an insurer could eschew the high cost of a comprehensive systems conversion and reap the operational benefits of an effective but less-expensive alternative?

When economic times are tough, executives turn their focus to increasing revenues and reducing costs. It's easy to say, but executing this simple idea can prove much more difficult, especially in the insurance industry.The events of Sept. 11, 2001 and the recession have brought the healthy profits the insurance industry saw in the 1990s crashing down into the depths of financial hardship.

BOSTON-- The family with a car each for dad, mom, the college sophomore and the high-school senior. The tenant in apartment 2B who's never had a ticket or an accident in 20 years of driving. The distracted shopper who backed into another vehicle in the supermarket parking lot. With OneChoice Auto, OneBeacon Insurance is delivering comprehensive protection to fit the needs and lifestyles of a broad range of Maine drivers. "We've expanded our approach to auto insurance significantly," said Dan Bridge, Vice President of Personal Lines New England for OneBeacon, "and we're now able to offer insurance solutions to most drivers and for most vehicles in the state. The key is to meet customers' needs at a price that's competitive in the marketplace yet appropriate to the skill levels and driving histories of individual operators."

INDIANAPOLIS--Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield continues to make managing health care benefits easier for its members through its award-winning Web sites. MyAnthem, Anthem's new personalized member Web site available at anthem.com , provides members an individually tailored online experience that offers quicker, easier and more efficient access to self-service tools and member-specific health information. "Members come to anthem.com for four reasons: to view their membership information, to choose or change health care providers, to learn about health and wellness, and to shop for health-related products and services at discounted prices," said Mary Scanlon, Anthem's vice president of eBusiness. "We simply designed MyAnthem for our members based on the way they use anthem.com -- all in an effort to make managing their health care easier than ever."

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Company has signed contracts to implement AcroSoft's Insurance Content Management solution. The initial implementation will include the AS Docs System together with its ad-hoc workflow capability and web application interface, which lets agents and adjusters access their company's document repository via the Internet.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced today its support of an important legislative proposal -- by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio) and Chairman Richard H. Baker (R-Louisiana) of the Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee - that would modernize an outdated state-based regulatory system. The Oxley-Baker proposal calls for enactment of national regulatory standards to make state insurance regulation more uniform and efficient while creating a more dynamic and responsive marketplace for consumers.