Claims

IVANS GIVES PROVIDERS HIGH-SPEED CLAIMS PROCESSING

Carriers are taking steps to modernize their claims processing systems and better integrate technologies with existing systems.

Mashup applications, which enable divergent data sources, business processes and applications to be combined and streamlined, are on the rise and poised to change the insurance IT landscape.

Hartford, Conn. – The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) is urging Connecticut lawmakers to reject legislation (SB 288) that would prevent consumers from learning about the full range of their auto body repair options, increase repair costs and, ultimately, force motorists to pay higher premiums.

Mayfield Village, Ohio — Progressive appears to take its name seriously. Adding yet another patent to its business innovation cache, the Ohio auto insurance company is using a unique claims processing method to take responsibility for its policyholders entire vehicle claims/repair process following a crash.

Mobile units enable insurers to provide immediate lines of aid to those affected by recent tornadoes.

San Mateo, Calif. – While the industry has traditionally viewed billing as a back-office function, Guidewire’s newest version of its BillingCenter product takes advantage of the J3EE standard to enable insurers to move billing front and center, the company reports.

Washington – A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests that insurers should make a broader swath of claims data available to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regulators. The suggestion arises in the wake of questions prompted by Hurricane Katrina concerning the responsibility for damages and later allegations that insurers misrepresented wind damage in claims to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in order to limit their financial losses after the storm.

Jersey City, N.J. — ISO Senior VP Richard Boehning will retire on Jan. 31, 2008, concluding a 20-year career supporting the insurance industry.

Schaumburg, Ill. — Zurich recently named Domenick DiCicco as chief claim counsel for its North America Commercial division. DiCicco will be responsible for managing claims’ legal operations in Zurich’s Schaumburg, Ill., and Baltimore offices.

Margin compression and continued pricing erosion is pressuring the insurance industry to achieve top-line objectives in 2008, according to Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center.

Novato, Calif. — Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. is making good on a long-standing promise to offer customer-focused claims service by creating a Claims Service Pledge, the company reports.

New York — AIG Executive Liability, a division of the property/casualty insurance subsidiaries of American International Group Inc. (AIG), announced AIG e-Discovery Solutions, a program of e-discovery-related products and services to help all of AIG Executive Liability’s clients, including the division’s directors and officers and errors and omissions insureds, more effectively manage the e-discovery process. AIG e-Discovery Solutions is a claims service offered by AIG Executive Liability to their clients.

Stamford, Conn. — IVANS Inc., a provider of Medicare connectivity solutions and services, introduced a new high-speed, multi-user Internet solution for healthcare providers processing Medicare transactions, called LIME.

Northbrook, Ill. — The Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA) completed and published its eighth BMS Standards Release, 2007R2. Part of this new release is the subrogation assignment message.

New York - Global services provider Accenture has unveiled enhanced claims and underwriting solutions designed to help property/casualty insurers industrialize their operations by simplifying and modernizing their core systems and streamlining their customer service and underwriting capabilities.

El Segundo, Calif. - Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) announced that the 200th client has licensed its RISKMASTER Business Intelligence Solutions (BIS) component, which incorporates software from Business Objects Inc., San Jose, Calif. CSC and Business Objects met this milestone when Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services Inc., a Chesterfield, Mo.-based industrial services company, licensed RISKMASTER BIS to support its claims and risk management activities.

Thanks to new technologies, carriers are unearthing fraud such as "rent-a-patient" schemes and physician upcoding.

You can't hop into a cab, step into an elevator or walk down the street without passing someone using a Blackberry, iPhone or other type of mobile device. Business professionals, students, police and even your kids are connected every second of the day. As a result, more and more carriers are recognizing the inherent value of mobile technologies as a productivity tool, and have embraced this technology.

Viewed from afar, the claims process has not changed markedly in many decades. Despite new technologies being leveraged in many aspects of claims, for too many insurers, the claims process as a whole remains a manually intensive, inefficient business process-one in which even experienced adjusters find themselves mired in paperwork.