Policy adminstration

El Segundo, Calif. - Ohio Mutual Insurance Group, a Bucyrus, Ohio, insurance company, has experienced a 13 percent increase in staff productivity over the previous year, thanks in part to software from Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), El Segundo, Calif. Previously known as the Ohio Mutual Tornado, Cyclone and Windstorm Insurance Assoc., Ohio Mutual today provides auto, home, farm and business insurance. The implementation of CSC's property and casualty insurance software follows its move last year to replace its legacy system with CSC's POINT IN policy administration and claims components. The POINT IN policy administration component provides Ohio Mutual with an integrated, paperless system for rating, underwriting, reinsurance, and billing and collection. The advanced claims component automates claims assignment and tracking. The company, which writes more than $120 million in premiums each year, reports a surplus of more than $67 million. CSC reports that the carrier also achieved the largest annual net operating profit in the company's 104-year history.

San Diego, Calif. - Abovehealth, a healthcare information technology company, has founded The Dolphin Group, a "think tank" comprised of industry peers who wish to discourse on the unique problems facing IT executives in the healthcare information industry. The group held its inaugural event in Las Vegas in conjunction with last month's America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Institute 2005.

Minneapolis - UnitedHealth Group will acquire Cypress, California-based Pacificare Health Systems, Inc., the company announced today. The acquisition, expected to be financed 27% in cash and 73% in shares of UnitedHealth common stock, is valued at $8.1 billion in stock and cash plus $1.1 billion in PacifiCare debt to be retired at closing. The deal would close in late 2005 or early 2006, pending approvals from federal regulators and shareholders of PacifiCare. Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth, one of the nation's largest managed-care companies, plans to expand its West Coast presence and its involvement in the Medicare market. According to Chicago-based Fitch Ratings, approximately 1.8 million, or 57% of Pacificare's 3.2 million members are located in California, which is a state where UnitedHealth has historically lacked a competitive market share. In addition, UnitedHealth will be acquiring the largest player in the Medicare Advantage program, reports Fitch. Pacificare will add approximately 720,000 Medicare Advantage members to UnitedHealth's existing Medicare Advantage membership of approximately 345,000 and will give an additional boost to UnitedHealth's plans to participate in the Medicare drug benefit beginning in 2006, says the ratings firm.

Salt Lake City - GE Healthcare, a $14 billion unit of General Electric Company that is headquartered in the United Kingdom, and Intermountain Health Care, a Salt Lake City-based integrated health care system, announced the organizations' joint project to develop a new advanced electronic medication administration record, also known as an eMAR, which will better enable collaboration among a patient's care team.

Hartford, Conn. - Personal automobile and homeowners market leaders are employing a new mix of tactics as they compete for growth, according to two new publications by Conning Research and Consulting Inc., Hartford, Conn."Personal lines market leaders are more aware now than last cycle of the price points that damage profits," said Bruce Hale, analyst at Conning Research & Consulting Inc. "Modest price cuts are common in personal automobile, while the homeowners line is showing flat to minimal rate increases in most states. These measured actions are affordable for insurers because of recent strong profits. The aggressive competition is occurring in data modeling and branding. Market leaders are outsmarting their rivals in risk selection and staking a superior position in the mind of the consumer."

New York - MetLife Inc. reports completion of its $11.8 billion acquisition of New York-based Citigroup's Travelers Life and Annuity Co. and nearly all of Citigroup's international insurance businesses. The New York carrier paid Citigroup $10.8 billion in cash and about 22.4 million of its own shares, which are valued at roughly $1 billion. Travelers Life and Annuity Co., which is based in Hartford, Conn., reported 2004 sales of $822 million. Once the deal is closed, Citigroup says it will record a $2 billion gain in the third quarter.

Our readers have told us that their operational silos of the past have been replaced with a demand for a holistic, collaborative, unified approach to using technology to solve business problems.This approach has its roots in the countless changes currently taking place in the insurance industry: the new face of governance, Sarbanes-Oxley, various state reporting requirements and a host of other issues that affect an insurance organization's ability to acquire and retain a competitive advantage.

If the leading policy administration software executives were a bit surprised to see a standing-room-only crowd at their ACORD-LOMA Insurance Systems Forum session in Orlando on May 23, it's because they had yet to see results of a general session poll that would occur the following day: a full 46% of voting attendees reported policy administration systems as a high investment priority (see page 10).The topic for discussion for the session, "What Do the Experts Say About Administration Systems?," was finding cost-effective ways to merge systems and reduce complexity and associated costs.

The good news coming out of the ACORD-LOMA Insurance Systems Forum, held May 22-24 in Orlando, Fla., is: The role of standards is strong and growing for top-ranking carriers. The not-so-good news is: For many other carriers, it's still a struggle to get buy-in for standards from the business side.According to a survey conducted by ACORD of its top 25 members-chosen based on A.M. Best data for premiums and market penetration-90% currently have a strategy in place to implement ACORD standards and 93% have plans to do so this year.

When politicking for change, there's likely to be a few stumbles along the way. But an organized approach that includes consistent communication with all parties involved should help you stay on the path to getting business buy-in.That was the message presented by Mike Byam, vice president, e-business and technology at The Hartford, Hartford, Conn., during the "Managing Change" session of the ACORD-LOMA Insurance Systems Forum held in Orlando May 22-24.

In software buys that have risen fairly steadily over the past eight quarters, core systems appear to be carriers' priority, according to a report released by Celent Communications Inc., Boston.Celent's goal in conducting its research, "Insurance Software Deal Trends 2003-2004," was to find out what types of insurers (by size and lines of business) purchased application and infrastructure packaged software during that time period. The study also looked at the business processes supported by these deals, as well as some of the broad trends in terms of deal activity.

Think back to 1978. Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds had his 3,000th major league hit. The first test tube baby was born. Poland's Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II. Nearly 1,000 people committed suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. And Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David peace accord.In the same year, the P&C industry made its last profit from underwriting for 25 years. That's right: Not until last year did the industry's combined ratio again fall below 100-which means for more than two decades, P&C losses exceeded premium earnings.

Madison, Wis.-based Rural Mutual Insurance Company can be counted among the many insurers that have witnessed, over the past few years, the changing needs of both personal and commercial insurance buyers.More than three years ago, Rural Mutual embarked on a strategy that would enable the company to better serve its customers, its 160 career agency force and its own internal support staff that often interacts with agents.

Two primary trends are emerging that are impacting the state of underwriting in the P&C market. The first is the drive to reduce complexity. New technology is simplifying systems and reducing the amount of manual document-handling between carriers and agents. The second trend is an increased use of data-driven decision-making for more predictable underwriting results.This is the conclusion of research conducted by TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass.-based research and advisory firm to the financial services industry.

There's probably been more discussion about Web services than any other technology topic in the trade magazines lately. And the debate abides: Is it hype, or will Web services truly add business value to the insurance industry?It isn't hype, but only full Web services, those offering a common interface for all systems and applications, can make the potential of Web services a reality.

The Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA), Durham, N.C., announced today that their members have elected Mark Robison as president for the fiscal year that will begin on July 1, 2005. Robison has risen through the ranks of IASA holding various management team, leadership and volunteer positions within the association during his many years of volunteering. Currently, he serves as vice president and treasurer of Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company, a Fort Wayne, Ind., a niche regional P&C carrier insuring America's churches and related ministries. Robison joined Brotherhood in January, 1994. Prior to joining Brotherhood, he worked as a manager for Ernst & Young, LLP serving insurance clients, and also within the firm's information systems consulting practice. Robison is a Certified Public Accountant, a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, a Fellow, Life Management Institute and holds the Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance designation from the Insurance Institute of America.

Washington - The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), a temporary program introduced after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has served its purpose and is probably stunting the development of the private insurance market, Treasury Secretary John Snow wrote in a letter to the Senate Banking Committee summarizing the agency's conclusions regarding TRIA.

Genworth Financial is streamlining its operations. The $103 billion company, which serves the lifestyle protection, retirement income, investment and mortgage insurance needs of more than 15 million customers, operates in 22 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K. and more than a dozen other European countries.

San Mateo, Calif. - Siebel Systems Inc. is stepping up efforts to tackle the rise in fraudulent claims, the San Mateo, Calif., provider of customer-facing solutions reports. Analysts estimate that fraud in the U.S. has jumped 63 % in the past four years, and more than 25% of current U.S. insurance claims contain some element of fraud, contributing to an annual cost of at least $44 billion.

Kansas City, Ks. - General Electric Co. (GE) has unveiled a plan to reorganize its 11 business groups into six. The reorganization places GE's largest Kansas City area operation, GE Insurance Solutions, in the corporate giant's commercial financial services division, headed by Michael Neal. Neal, 52, previously was president and chief executive of GE Capital Corp. and has worked in a variety of GE jobs, both in the United States and overseas, since 1979. GE's insurance operations will continue to be headed by Ron Pressman, president of Insurance Solutions in Kansas City. The new commercial financial services group will also include the parent company's leasing, real estate, corporate financial services and health care financial services operations. The restructuring also touched GE's top management ranks. Three senior executives, including Neal, were promoted to vice chairman. The company did not disclose what changes, if any, the reorganization would mean for Insurance Solution's 850-member Kansas City area work force. GE says its Insurance Solutions, formerly known as Employers Reinsurance Corp., is the world's fourth-largest reinsurance company. The other divisions created by the realignment are GE Infrastructure, which includes energy, transportation and aviation manufacturing operations; GE Industrial, which includes industrial chemicals and technology operations; NBC Universal, the company's broadcasting and entertainment operations; GE Healthcare, which includes medical technologies; and GE Consumer Finance, a global collection of financial services providers. Securities analysts quoted by Reuters and other news services said that the changes play important roles in GE's transition to a more technology-driven company.