Yes, I am biased. I am an independent consultant, but I have also worked at a large consulting firm. The current insurance environment is in a rapid state of change, where claims departments are struggling to be competitive and efficient due to increased claims volumes and complexities. Technology could transform every step of the claims…
Change is hard for everyone and how and when to change has been debated and discussed in companies since the first company was formed. What is never debated are some of the excuses used for not changing. People are generally resistant to change and despite the need to move forward people generally prefer to live with what they have. Taking a strategic approach to the issues around change itself shuold help to alleviate some of the resistence. In this post we look at changing the way we change.
Maybe I care too much about our industry or am just frustrated by the lack of attention to quality claims handling, but this is annoying. Why should claims make up half of the most frequent market conduct issues for the Property & Casualty industry as listed by Wolters Kluwer for the 5th straight year? As part of their review they track and analyze the results from state market conduct examinations. As with their prior studies, claims issues continue to dominate the list of state concerns. In my latest post I analyze the last 5 years of the Wolters study and find an upsetting trend – nothing is changing. This is a challenge to claims organizations to improve! Check it out.
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.
Good workers are sometimes all that claims departments look for and, given the nature of claims these days, it is not a bad thing. There is so much to do and so little time to do it and good workers, however you define them, are great to have. But how often are creative thinkers looked for? In a video lecture from, Sir Ken Robinson, he asks why don’t we get the best out of people? He argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Do you recognize that employee in your organization? How should we promote creative thinking in the claims world – read more in today’s post at the Claims SPOT.
Creating a strategic advantage through improved agent carrier relations
The relationship between claim adjusters and agents can be an adversarial one. Each side often finds itself correcting issues created by the other side. Agents may set the wrong coverage expectation for a customer, leaving the adjuster to deliver the bad news. Adjusters may get overloaded and not return phone calls in a timely manner, resulting in a complaint to the agent’s office. In the worst case scenario, adjusters and agents may badmouth each other to customers, putting customers in the middle. Clearly, agencies have a role to play in the claim process. Enabling agents and their staff to perform their role efficiently with empathy and professionalism can benefit customers, agents, and the claims department. Read more this week from Melissa Loew.
Making a check in the process won’t ensure the matter is done right. I have written, and am a big proponent of, the importance of good process as a way to ensure good results. Putting a proper process in place is a road-map to help move claims to a prompt fair resolution. Nonetheless, doing and focusing on the process without making sure the outcome is sound is doing things right without doing the right thing. It’s so easy in claims to focus on the process and not use the process as a means to the end
An interesting keynote speech given by Allstate head of claims at America’s Claim Event in Las Vegas. Michael Roche discussed Allstate’s push to improve customer service through both improved technology and initiatives. We discuss a few interesting lessons learned that can be considered by claims operations to improve customer experiences.
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.
Too Many Tasks, And Hiring New Staff Is Not An Option? (Part One of Two) Not every company can afford to hire dedicated teams to focus on cost-saving initiatives such as subrogation or Anti-Fraud. Sometimes there is simply not enough work to justify a full-time position internally. Regardless, failing to focus on cost-saving programs can…