Let’s face it, claims is as much about negotiating as anything. It is a significant part of our jobs as claims professionals, yet little real time is spent honing those skills. In coming across an article on 5 things you should never say while negotiating, we comment on how these techniques can be used in claims negotiations. Take a look, and tell us your techniques.
Best Practices
Claims And A Half Plate Of Vegetables – Teachings From The New Dietary Guidelines
Recently the government changed the way the public should look at nutrition through simplified messages like “eat less.” Simplicity and looking at the obvious in an easy to understand way is a tool that would go a long way to helping the claims professionals be better at what they do. Being understandable and actionable can only be a good thing in claims. In our latest post, we discuss how trying to use visual cues when handling a claim or looking at the claims process can benefit today’s professionals. We are a visual society – time to shift some of those visual cues to claims.
Looking Back On 2010 And Forward To 2011 In The World Of Claims
The year began with continued economic concerns, a poor job market and no recovery in sight. It has come to a close with a booming stock market, improved job numbers and a better outlook for 2011. Looking back on the year in claims and looking ahead to the future of claims is always a fun exercise this time of year so here we go! The Claims SPOT adds to the debate about the past and the future.
Thanks for reading and have a happy and healthy holiday season and New Year!
Claims And The Investigative Journalist And Learning From All The President’s Men
Investigating a claim is like being an investigative journalist. Using the story of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and All the President’s Men, see how there is a relationship between investigative reporting and claims. In today’s post we also remind claim professionals how technology has truly made certain aspects of claims bette. Regardless, it is important not to forget what is most important in claims – the knowledge and skill of the claims professional’s ability to analyze fact and come to a reasoned and supported conclusion.
3 Perspectives On The Use Of Social Media In The Claims Investigation Process
Social medial sites like LinkedIn, Foresquare and Facebook are becoming a regular common experience in today’s world. With increased use is information that regular people put online that is available for review and scrutiny. In today’s post we discuss the use of these sites in the investigation of claims from the perspectives of attorneys, claims professionals and investigators. Summarizing a recent discussion on the Insurance Professionals group of linkedIn, it provides and interesting perspective on how these sites are very much being used in the claims process today.
Do The Hard Things First And Embrace The Challenges: A Conversation With Chartis (AIG) Chief Claims Officer Rick Woollams
On July 28, 2010, The Claims SPOT had the pleasure to sit down with Rick Woollams for our “The Inside SPOT” series of industry leaders. We hope to present more interviews where we explore how these leaders began their careers and how they see the industry today.
Rick Wollams is in charge of one of the largest claims organizations in the world. What was most interesting about our discussion was how he began his insurance career as a front line liability claims handler and worked his way up the ranks. At his heart he is a claims person through and through and clearly cares about the profession and the people that work for him.
Do the hard things first and embrace the challenges is a wonderful message from Rick Wollams so please read more and enjoy the interview.
There Is No Such Thing As A Pro Forma Signature On A Document – If You Sign It You Own It
Doing things for the sake of doing things can have significant adverse consequences for an organization. It is important to realize that one day you may have to answer for every action you take on a claim file. The concept of how doing a pro forma task can come back to bite you is being highlighted as a yet another fallout of the mortgage crisis. Tens of thousands of foreclosures are being halted because of a process in place where an individual just signed hundreds of documents without ensuring the information contained on the documents were correct.
Clearly, doing something for the sake of doing something can really have negative consequences for the organization. In our latest post we offer questions to ask when signing documents. Controls are important, however, if they are not adding value they should be reviewed.
Why Extending More Claims Authority Means Extending More Responsibility
Extending additional authority to a number of claim handlers can have a dramatic affect on the department’s total incurred. Make sure claim handlers understand the impact, both good and bad, to the company. Deciding when, and how much authority to extend will always depend on the line of business, and experience of the claims professional. Giving more authority also means extending more responsibility to the junior claims professional to make greater financial decisions for the company.
In today’s post we discuss the authority-responsibility correlation and the importance of ensuring claims authority is extended only when responsibilities associated with that authority are understood.
3 Ways To Help Defense Counsel Help You Make Claims Management More Efficient
We all talk about collaboration with counsel as a means to get better results at a lower costs. But getting what you want is not so easy. How about trying to get what you truly need to get your job done. In our latest post, we discuss three suggestions for helping counsel help you get better results. No attorney is going to say that they don’t want to make a claims professional’s job easier, so help them to help you. Start by telling them what you do, ask for what you want, and then make sure they do it. Take a look at the latest – from the Claims SPOT.
3 Suggestions To Beat The Summer Slow Down In Claims (If You Do Slow Down)
It’s summer time and the living is easy!
Take advantage of the summer slow down and make changes, clean things up and improve your operation. In the latest post from the Claims SPOT see three suggestions for ways to use your summer effectively. One for the manager, one for the claims handler and one for the claims executive, suggestions to use the slow down to improve your operation. Take a look and suggest others – we would love to hear from you.