Claims

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

EXTON, Pa. -- Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company's (GTL) Impaired Risk Division has contracted with iPipeline to syndicate their insurance forms and product information to its distributors' Web sites. GTL Impaired Risk has also taken advantage of iPipeline's proprietary Web-based forms and database software, as well as their Web professional services to completely redesign its Web site, giving GTL's impaired risk producers greater access to the tools they need.

UnumProvident Corp, Chattanooga, Tenn., has selected customer data integration (CDI) software from Atlanta-based DWL Inc. The software, DWL Customer, will provide consolidated views of customer and producer information across UnumProvident's multiple lines of business.UnumProvident will be using DWL Customer, an enterprise customer hub to replace and enhance its existing customer index, providing increased availability to information currently contained in more than 30 business systems.

DriveCam Video Systems, a San Diego-based developer of fleet safety technology designed to improve driving behavior, reported a 120% increase in revenue for the first quarter 2004 over the same period in 2003 due to growing demand for its products and services.To support demand, the company has added new staff in safety services, sales, engineering, product management, customer service and administration while increasing its facilities. The new staff members will work with DriveCam fleet customers to maximize the results of the DriveCam Driving Feedback System in reducing collisions and lowering operating expenses.

To support insurers’ initiatives in the health savings account (HSA) market, Portland, Ore.-based MyHealthBank is collaborating with HSA Bank, Howards Grove, Wis., to provide insurers with a highly integrated banking and technology offering for health savings account-based plans.Through this relationship, MyHealthBank will integrate technology from HSA Bank for health savings account banking transactions with MyHealthBank’s Unify platform, a Web-based, self-service platform for broker quoting, member enrollment and benefits administration.

ViPS Inc., a Baltimore-based provider of business intelligence solutions for healthcare and life science companies, has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Medical Mutual, a Cleveland-based health insurance company, for the ViPS anti-fraud software, STARSentinel.STARSentinel is an early-warning detection system that surveys health plan data and evaluates claims in the light of provider claims' histories, specialty profiles and the most common, documented fraud schemes. By calling questionable patterns to management's attention, STARSentinel helps prioritize cases so the plan's financial investigations department use its resources more productively.

ICICI Infotech Ltd., an Edison, N.J.-based IT solutions provider, has signed an agreement to implement its PREMIA 10.0 system for Comercial America Insurance Co. (CAIC).PREMIA 10.0, has been tailored for the U.S. insurance industry, and combines a modular application software solution with a single, integrated system. Beneath a consistent presentation layer, PREMIA 10.0 provides business functionality that supports rating, quoting, underwriting, binding, billing, endorsing (including out-of-sequence), claim administration, reinsurance management, and general ledger accounting. PREMIA 10.0 also delivers enhanced reporting and an improved capability to integrate with existing systems.