Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management articles from June 2004

Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management archives from June 2004

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Looms.
June 1, 2004... A few years ago, when senior executives took to the podium to report their companies' earnings, no one really questioned if they were telling the truth. Today, because Enron, WorldCom and other companies have so blatantly duped investors, the...

Every Picture Tells A Life Story.(illustration tools to build life insurance sales)
June 1, 2004... If life insurers had to concoct new mission statements to enhance their new-business selling strategies, one for consideration could be, "A picture's worth a thousand words." For years, life providers and their agents have relied on obtuse,...

The Pursuit Of Predictive Analysis: Detecting claims fraud early in the game-at the prepayment stage-saves insurers not only a lot of pain, but a lot of money. Predictive modeling analysis holds the key.
June 1, 2004... For most insurers, there's a natural inclination to settle claims swiftly, particularly to satisfy customers who might take their business elsewhere. But as insurers improve claims processing time, ironically, many are paying a high price. ...

Here's The ROI.(Report On Investigation of insurance fraud)
June 1, 2004... As insurance CEOs mull over their IT teams' plans to purchase new technologies, inevitably the decision boils down to this: What's the financial upside? It's an important question to ask, although a clear quantifiable answer is often hard to...

Credit Scoring: FTC, 11 States Plan Studies On Credit Scoring.(Federal Trade Commission)
June 1, 2004... With public concern about credits scores far from extinguished, 11 state insurance departments-dubbed "the coalition of the willing"-are planning to conduct their own multi-state study of the effects of credit-based insurance scoring on...

INN Focus.(study of credit scores in insurance by Eleven states)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... AT ISSUE: Eleven states are conducting a study of credit scores in insurance, while the Federal Trade Commission is embarking on its own study as mandated by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. THE CHALLENGE: The...

Calendar.(Calendar)
June 1, 2004... Marketing Research Conference Sponsor: LIMRA When: June 2-4 Where: Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. www.limra.com IASA 76th Annual Educational Conference & Business Show When: June 6-9 ...

Health Care Litigation: Health Insurers Brace For RICO Class-Action Ruling.(Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organ-izations Act)
June 1, 2004... Managed care companies across the United States continue to await a ruling on a series of class-action lawsuits alleging that the nation's largest managed care companies violated the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organ-izations Act (RICO). ...

INN Focus.(Managed care companies were ordered to eliminate improper practices involved in managed care)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... At Issue: Managed care companies are awaiting a Florida appeals court ruling in a case that charges companies conspired to reduce and delay claims payments to network physicians. Case History: Last year, Aetna Inc. and Cigna were...

Contracts.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... The Contracts Update section includes announcements of contracts insurance information technology companies have signed with customers in recent weeks. Contract news can be faxed to Insurance Networking magazine at (312) 913-1366 or by...

Business Alliances.(merges and acquisitiions )
June 1, 2004... Accenture Acquires Nomos Sistema Bermuda-based Accenture has signed an agreement to acquire Nomos Sistema, a Milan, Italy-based provider of life insurance administration and product management software systems. Terms of the deal were not...

Industry Research: Insurance Companies Have Come A Long Way Since Y2K.
June 1, 2004... Only five short years ago, insurers were scrambling to get their IT systems ready for Y2K. This year, they're at the cusp of implementing enterprise solutions that leverage component-based software across the organization, saving them...

BCBST Reacts To Privacy Reg.(BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee)
June 1, 2004... When it considered the various ways to comply with the security rule included within the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Chattanooga, Tenn.-based BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee identified its "incident response"...

Product Previews.
June 1, 2004... Product Platform Offers More Control Toronto-based SOLCORP has released version 2.2 of ProductXpress, an enterprise platform that enables IT and product designers to model, test and implement reusable calculations across multiple...

IT Rationalization: Carriers Ponder Legacy System Options.(information technology application in insurance industry)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Insurance companies' reliance on a "plethora of disparate systems and technologies" has led to a significant overlap of IT infrastructure and application functionality, according to a recent Datamonitor report, "U.S. Insurance Technology...

Quincy Mutual Hits The Road With Simpler Auto Policy Processing.(AIG Technologies Inc.,)(Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Co.)
June 1, 2004... Sophisticated links with the many state regulatory bodies is one feature of a new administration system that's simplifying Massachusetts auto processing at Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Unlike many states that rely on ISO reporting,...

INN Focus.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... The challenge: With several regulatory bureaus to report to, along with a provisional rating period, Massachusetts presents technical and administrative challenges to insurers writing auto policies in that state. The solution: ...

Great American Insurance Progresses From The Stone Age To The Space Age: Over a two-year period, Great American's Alternative Markets division completed 16 IT enhancements aimed at improving claims processing.(Great American Insurance Co. )
June 1, 2004... Like many insurance operations, the Alternative Markets division of Great American Insurance Co. faced a mountain of inefficient workers' compensation claims processing tasks. Simply put, the division needed to selectively apply modern...

Great American's Achievements.(technology applications)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... * Modified its legacy claims system to implement EDI so that its bill review vendor could be paid electronically each month. * Created a nightly EDI claims feed to its bill review vendor. * Modified back-end systems to receive a nightly...

INN Focus.(technology application in health claims processing)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Case Study: Great American Insurance Co. At Issue: The carrier's Alternative Markets division had an antiquated system to process workers' compensation claims. The Solution: With the help of a personalized strategic...

Can voice technology silence fraud?(technology application in fraud detection)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Fighting fraud is becoming more meaningful to most insurers, research indicate. The Washington, D.C.-based Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (CAIF), for instance, found that 86% of insurers track the percentage of claims they refer to their...

Insurer tendencies in fighting fraud.(surveys)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Most insurers track percentage of claims referred to their special investigation units (SIU) and measure how well SIUs save the company money. These are among the findings of a survey of 65 SIU managers at April's Insurance Fraud Management...

Keeping Score on Fraud.(Claims scoring an effective way to mitigate losses stemming from fraud)
June 1, 2004... Claims scoring has emerged as an effective way to mitigate losses stemming from fraud. Insurers begin by establishing a rules-based system. Scores are predicated on the rules. If a score reaches a certain threshold, an insurer flags the claim...

SOX Drives Interest in Financial Modeling Tools.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Along with the turbulent stock market and threats of terrorism, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is putting heightened pressure on insurance executives for improved management information. "The broader use of stochastic models by senior...

Mutuals Aren't off the SOX Hook.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act governs financial reporting for mutual insurers)
June 1, 2004... Sarbanes-Oxley governs financial reporting for publicly traded companies, but mutual insurers will likely to be held to very similar standards, according to industry sources. "There has been some discussion in the insurance world about...

e.capsule.(Web-based sales presentation system)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... The Challenge: For years, life insurers and agents have relied on obtuse, text-heavy sales presentations. Producers found such systems not only uninspiring to clients but they negatively affected agent workflow due to significant manual...

e.Business Briefs.
June 1, 2004... eAutoclaims Raises $1.6 Million In New Financing EAutoclaims Inc., an Oldsmar, Fla.-based claims service provider, has received approximately $1.6 million in new financing. Of the $1.6 million, $1.35 million was a sale of equity to multiple...

Index Of Advertisers.(Illustration)
June 1, 2004... Advertiser Site Addresses Page # AdminServer www.adminserver.com 31 AIG Technologies www.aigtechnologies.com 15 APU ...

Linking The Insurance Supply Chain: Insurers need to develop a broader set of criteria for the way they invest in technology.
June 1, 2004... When the economy soured three years ago, many decision-makers adopted the mantra that all discretionary IT spending had to be justified by return on investment. That is, a business case with demonstrable return had to be presented, first by a...