Claims

The use of GPS technology by SIU teams may be moot when looking at how proactive improvements in the claims arena may make a bigger difference.

To model for natural disasters, insurance companies rely on modeling expertise from firms such AIR Worldwide, RMS and EQECAT. New report from AIR Worldwide casts critical eye on predictive models.

Vendor offers system designed to increase consistency and automation of claims payments for health care payers.

Who's Buying What: Carrier turns to NetReveal, an insurance claims fraud prevention service from BAE Systems, to standardize its processing, workflow and reporting of potential claims fraud across the company's global business units.

Persistent economic, social and environmental risks are conflating to menace insurers.

Claims severity is also on the rise, but trend between profit and non-profit types of organizations is narrowing.

Chartis has named Murli Buluswar its new Chief Science Officer, a newly created position responsible for establishing research and development operations that enhance the insurer’s global commercial and consumer business strategies.

Propertycasulaty insurers got some more bad news this morning, this time from Ernst & Young, which predicted their ongoing struggle to succeed against a tide of further economic ills.

OpenSpan Inc., a provider of business process analytics, optimization and automation solutions, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Triangle BPA LLC. The acquisition follows a year-long partnership between the two companies. OpenSpan has secured rights to intellectual property for Triangle BPA’s health insurance payer claim automation tools and techniques and is adding key senior staff to the OpenSpan executive team.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued an interim final rule to require adoption of standards and operating rules for electronic funds transfer and remittance advice HIPAA transactions.

Two groups focused on reigning in costs have established a primary care physician practice in North Carolina. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) and UNC Health Care announced Carolina Advanced Health to eligible BCBSNC customers last month.

A day after the Insurance Information Institute released figures declaring 2011 the costliest year for P&C insurers covering U.S. cat losses, Munich Re and I.I.I. announced global cat figures.

Allstate is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to claims service.

Looking to round out its core system offerings, Cover-All Technologies Inc. has acquired BlueWave Technology for an undisclosed amount of cash.

Predicting the future can be a fool's game, but planning for it is an operational necessity for insurers.

While expectations are not dwindling in the face of these challenges, respondents also complained that they are being given fewer resources to accomplish performance goals. According to a Towers Watson report, the bulk of 48 claims officers from small, medium and large insurers believe they have the authority to make a difference, but not necessarily "the range and depth of resources" to do so. To sidestep this detrimental trend, technology-in the form of electronic communications and processes-is being looked to as a bridge for the gap left by dwindling resources.

The United States set a record in 2011 in its declarations of federal disasters, and insurers are still playing catch-up with claims payouts. In fact, when all is said and done, insurers will have paid more than $32 billion in claims to help people rebuild homes and businesses damaged or destroyed by natural disasters in 2011, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).

Try as I might, some article assignments just don't elicit a very fevered response in me when first assigned (I'm looking at you, standards). This is never the case when it comes time to write about claims.

A Swampscott, Mass., man was convicted in a Salem Superior Court this week of bilking insurers out of $30K for claims fraud. Owner of two auto repair shops, Robert Giller, 53, plead guilty to 40 counts of fraud, which included 20 counts of filing false insurance claims, 18 counts of felony larceny and two counts of attempted larceny.

The top technologies in use today by P&C insurers today are portal technology, business process management and fraud scoring, according to a new report from Celent. The new study outlines all technologies being used by insurers and lays out their adoption rates.