Digital distribution

Okemos, Mich. - Sircon Corp. and Efficient Forms LLC, Littleton, Colo., have formed an exclusive partnership designed to build on each other's products and customer bases to create an online platform for agent hiring, contracting and licensing for insurance agents, carriers and regulators. The partnership is a step toward creating a single online community where insurance carriers and their distribution partners can collaborate through an integrated, coordinated network, according to the two companies."This combination provides online capabilities that can transform processes between insurance carriers and their distributors," says Gary Gummig, vice president of business development at Sircon. "By integrating online services that will automate transactions and workflow, and virtually eliminate paperwork, this creates opportunity for unprecedented process breakthroughs."

Warren, N.J. - Property/casualty insurance and risk management increasingly play a role in financial planning, according to a survey by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.Fifty-seven percent of the 102 financial planners surveyed indicated that they evaluate their clients' asset protection through property/casualty insurance. An even higher number, 72%, said they determine if their clients have an appropriate level of liability insurance.

Edison, N.J. - More than 90% of insurance agents want 24/7, Web-based access to the information technology (IT) systems of U.S. insurance carriers, according to a survey of independent producers conducted by research firm Celent LLC.Technology tools that improve efficiency, communication and customer service also are highly desired by insurance producers, said the majority of the 215 producers surveyed by Celent for MajescoMastek, a software solutions provider to the insurance industry.

Hartford, Conn. -ING, a global financial services leader, has begun offering its defined contribution clients many of the regulatory documents related to their retirement plan accounts in electronic form. Clients can choose to receive account statements and disclosure documents such as prospectuses, prospectus supplements and annual and semi-annual reports via ING's secure site."ING is committed to making it easier for customers to manage their financial information," says Jim Pedrick, senior vice president, worksite and institutional marketing, ING. "Many of our customers have told us they prefer not to get as much paper mail from us. It's a question of volume, and many also have an environmental concern. By offering e-delivery, our customers can now choose to receive regulatory documents from us electronically."

Hartford, Conn. - Aetna has enhanced its suite of consumer tools and information designed to enable members to more easily track and manage their health care expenses. Aetna members now can download their claims information to their personal computer via Aetna Navigator, Aetna's password-protected member Web site, enabling them to manage the information in a data file or spreadsheet. The option to keep claims information in a personal file is particularly relevant at tax time, when consumers often need to create a record of their medical expenses for tax deduction purposes."While Aetna members have long had the opportunity to view their claims activity on our Web site, this enhancement allows them to electronically 'grab' the information, save it in a file or spreadsheet, and sort it to best suit their individual needs," says Christine B. Skelly, head of health-related financial solutions for Aetna.

Geneva, Ill. - Professional liability insurer Insight Insurance Services Inc. has launched an upgraded and redesigned Web site with improved functionality designed to enable independent insurance agents to interact easily and quickly with company and better serve their clients.The new site, at www.insightinsurance.com, includes more tools and features to deliver downloadable forms and applications and facilitate paperless policies. The Web site is structured for easy navigation to Insight's three specific areas of professional liability expertise: architects and engineers, accounting professionals and insurance agents.

Columbia, S.C. - BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina won a bronze World Wide Web Health Award for its online precertification, a feature on the company's Web sites that allows hospitals and physicians a quicker, simpler way to obtain authorizations.The World Wide Web Health Awards recognize the best health-related Web sites for consumers and professionals. The Health Information Resource Center (HIRC), a national clearinghouse for consumer health information programs and materials, organizes the program.

Washington - The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA), a Washington, D.C.-based national association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance, but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses, has reaffirmed its opposition to any proposals that call for a so-called "optional" federal charter for insurers.

Brookfield, Wis. - Fiserv Inc. has acquired certain assets of CT Insurance Services and CCH Wall Street, two product lines of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. The acquisitions, which include Xchange, Securities Registration and Producer Licensing software from CT Insurance Services and the Financial Training product line from CCH Wall Street, will add online application capabilities for insurance licensing and securities registration, along with NASD exam preparation courses to Fiserv's suite of products. Terms of the asset purchase were not disclosed.CT Insurance Services is a provider of enterprisewide systems for insurance licensing and securities registration. The Web-based systems from CT Insurance Services capture data at the origination point, enabling the filer to prepare and submit licensing and registration filings electronically. The Financial Training solutions from CCH Wall Street provide NASD Exam Preparation, including an interactive virtual learning environment, and innovative in-person and self-study solutions.

Denver - InsureMe, an insurance marketing company delivering leads to agents, has unveiled the InsureMe Agent Blog, which is designed to provide industry information to insurance professionals.A Web log, or "blog," is a self-published journal, made accessible to the public via the Internet. Unlike corporate Web sites, blogs are generally less formal and more interactive; the author posts an article and readers can respond with comments and questions.

The customer comes first. We've all heard that phrase, but many insurers would be hard-pressed to prove it's a strategic and tactical reality.Why? A number of carriers implementing customer relationship management (CRM) systems are hopeful that CRM's ability to provide profiling, micro-segmentation, and predictive analysis to reveal the preferences and proclivity of customers will help maintain their existing customer base and drive new business.

The insurance industry, long saddled with paperwork-intensive processes, has become prime turf for enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. ECM is the catchall phrase for what was originally a plethora of solutions, ranging from imaging systems to records management.To carriers seeking to expand their business lines and speed up processing at as little additional cost as possible, content management may be more than some glitzy new technology; it may fundamentally change the nature of the insurance business.

Ten years have passed since the Web made its debut, threatening to eliminate intermediaries in the insurance sales process. But, after all these years, only a small percentage of insurance consumers actually purchase their policies online.The Internet has evolved, however, and it serves an important role in insurance.

Segundo, Calif. - Two U.S. surveys of property/casualty insurance customers show a large, untapped opportunity for cost control through electronic billing.Conducted for Computer Sciences Corp. by MarketSearch Corp., a survey of car and homeowner insurance billing methods found 88% of auto insurance customers and 93% of homeowner insurance customers still receive bills by mail. Yet 73% of respondents surveyed indicated they would be willing to pay their insurance bills over the Internet. A second survey that asked approximately 350 P&C professionals at CSC's Connect 2005 conference about their own personal insurance experience confirmed these findings.

Okemos, Mich. - The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) and Sircon Corp. have been working to establish a relationship that would provide additional benefits to PIA members. The result is a partnership that provides online services delivered by Sircon's Compliance Express platform at a special rate for PIA members.With PIA joining the Sircon Partner Referral Program, PIA members can now go to a special co-branded Web site designed specifically for PIA, and take advantage a PIA member discount for online services such as:

Seattle - Many companies advertise great service, but how many have been recognized for this by a non-partial third party such as J.D. Power and Associates? To receive recognition, companies must score higher than 730 out of a possible 1000 points. PEMCO received 911 points, a score that was noted as unusually high by J.D. Power and Associates."We come to work every day committed to giving our customers the absolute highest level of service and value," says Jon Osterberg, spokesperson for PEMCO, a provider of auto, home, boat, life, and umbrella insurance to Washington state residents. "This certification demonstrates that. Service is the bedrock of PEMCO's culture, and it's extremely gratifying to see our customers recognize that."

Cleveland - Insurance.com, an online auto insurance agency, claims that consumer car insurance quote requests on its Web site increased by more than 20% in 2005, the fourth straight year of growth."During the past five years we have seen a tremendous growth on our site as a result of customers' increased confidence level with the Internet," says Insurance.com President Lou Geremia. "We've embraced this new growth by adding over 100 licensed insurance agents to our sales center and have extended our sales center hours to 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern Standard."

New York - In an effort to enable Korean-speaking policyholders and agents to access and learn more about its products and services, New York Life has launched a Korean-language Web site at www.newyorklifekorean.com. "The Korean-language Web site is part of New York Life's continued effort to serve the Korean community in the United States," says Janet Choi, assistant vice president of the Korean market at New York Life.The Web site contains information on insurance and financial products. An education center provides helpful tips for first-time life insurance buyers dealing with life-changing events including the birth of a child, purchasing a home, getting married and entering retirement. Customers can use the interactive forms and e-mail addresses to submit questions and requests. The site also provides access to information on career opportunities at New York Life.

San Diego - CareGroup Healthcare System has gone live at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) with an application that delivers automatic healthcare information updates every 15 minutes to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. The bio-surveillance system, which feeds the CDC with information key to early identification of disease trends, is built on the CACHE post-relational database. InterSystems Corp., a health care database provider, spotlighted the bio-surveillance implementation at the HIMSS 2006 conference in San Diego, Calif.BIDMC is one of 10 U.S. hospitals that were approached by the CDC to provide medical data on an ongoing, around-the-clock basis. The initiative is part of a mandate by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt, who chairs the American Health Information Community (AHIC), a group charged with advising the federal government on standards for electronic health records (EHRs). Bio-surveillance and public health monitoring are among the first focus areas for AHIC and Leavitt has stated that he wants a system for streaming emergency department (ED) data to public health authorities in place by the end of 2006.

Washington, D.C. - Health insurance plans' cutting-edge information technology (IT) strategies are adding value to health care for employers, health care practitioners and most importantly, consumers, industry leaders said today on Capitol Hill.Participants in the briefing stressed that health insurance plans are using IT not only to process claims more efficiently, but also to promote evidence-based care, add value to health care services and empower consumers through access to better information and decision tools.