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Tag Archives: Litigation Costs

  1. Getting Creative And Reducing Claim Costs Without Sacrificing Quality – Part II December 22, 2010

    Posted in Litigation Management, SPOT on Costs, SPOT on Ops.

    Last month, Suzanne Ganier discussed the building blocks needed to reduce claim and litigation costs, while still maintaining a strong focus on quality. Those building blocks included:

    * collecting current data about your claims and litigation
    * evaluating the claim and litigation work itself
    * settling on a carrier claim and litigation handling philosophy

    In her follow up, Suzanne discusses how these building blocks create a foundation on which to build new processes and procedures that will reduce your claim and litigation costs, and maybe even decrease you volume as well. I refer this building process as looking at What I Have, What I Want, and What I See.

    3 comments
  2. Time to Get Creative – Reducing Claim Costs without Sacrificing Quality (or your sanity) November 22, 2010

    Posted in Litigation Management, SPOT on Costs, SPOT on Ops.

    In an environment of increased pressure to reduce costs and close claims, bright ideas can help to reduce legal costs while still ensuring great service. In this article, litigation expert Suzanne Ganier speaks about the importance of understanding what you know and what you don’t, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of those involved in the litigation process, and aligning those analyses with your organization’s philosophies. The result can be a litigation management process that reduces overall claim costs and preserves your sanity.

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  3. AMA Study Finds Almost 1 Malpractice Claim Is Filed For Every Physician – Not Really Shocking August 23, 2010

    Posted in Medical Malpractice, SPOT on Issues.

    A study from the American Medical Association (AMA) reports that an average of 95 medical liability claims are filed for every 100 physicians, almost one per physician. The AMA study looked at 42 specialties and was from a sample size of over 5,800 physicians. The number of medical liability claims is not an indication of the frequency of medical error, as the physician prevails 90 percent of the time in cases that go to trial. While 65 percent of claims are dropped or dismissed, they are not cost-free.

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  4. 5 Items To Consider When Evaluating An Electronic-Invoicing System For Your Outside Law Firms May 26, 2010

    Posted in Litigation Management, SPOT on Costs, SPOT on Ops.

    Estimates vary, but by most accounts roughly 30% of P & C claims organizations have put some kind of e-billing platform in place. Now, as prices have decreased and law firm utilization expanded, these solutions are easily accessible by claims organizations of all sizes, including those with very low legal expenditures. In Taylor Smith’s last post, 10 Keys To Managing Court Reporting Costs, he wrote about the benefits claims organizations are experiencing when implementing a national court reporting program. He now tackles several key concepts to consider when implementing an e-billing system to improve the management of legal invoices.

    Take a look and let us know what you think.

    1 comment
  5. 10 Key Steps To Managing Court Reporting Costs Designed To Save Claims Expenses May 21, 2010

    Posted in SPOT on Costs.

    There are simple ways to lower costs so stop throwing money away As a consultant working with insurance carriers and the service and technologies who sell to them, I am often asked about new areas for improved cost management. While there are often many opportunities to consider, I often focus on court reporting costs. Why? […]

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  6. Cutting Costs Without Overloading The Claims Handler – Part 2 Of The Series April 6, 2010

    Posted in SPOT on Costs.

    In part 2 of this series on cutting cost without overloading claim handlers I given an example of hiring a part-time employee to review legal bills. As noted, sometimes specific types of work, such as legal bill review, subrogation and anti-fraud, can best be handled by dedicated resources. Hiring a part-time employee that can focus on an area of claims is sometimes the best way to get results. Overworking claims handlers with additional tasks not part of their core job function – to evaluate and settle claims – can result in some aspect of their job suffering. Key cost cutting initiatives, such as Anti-Fraud and subrogation recovery, get put aside by the handler and never get the fullest attention needed to be successful. Take a look at the latest example of solutions that work.

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  7. Thinking Outside The Box: Litigation management program initiatives can substantially lower costs February 25, 2010

    Posted in Litigation Management, SPOT on Costs.

    Managing litigation is an easy way to save extra expense costs on claims files. A strong litigation management program designed to help foster improved communication, and streamline defense of insureds, benefits all parties involved. As I wrote about the cost savings benefits of out-of-the-box claims handling, using new and forward thinking strategies for litigation management is an excellent way to save money. Using specialized vendors, claim handlers can further control legal costs as well as enhance their defense.

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