Do you still distribute paper files and mail the old fashioned way? I see this all the time. Even Underwriting departments have people that distribute paper policy files to Underwriters for review of applications, renewals, MVR and CLUE reports.
Why do so many insurance organizations still use a manual distribution method for workflow - especially in the Claims arena which has transactions that are so heavily paper based? There are so many problems created by paper files and mail being stacked on adjusters’ desks for handling without regard to priority. An insurance organization takes on too much risk:
- Increased Error Rates
- Increased Operation Costs
- Reduced Service Response Time
- Extending the Lifecycle
- Raising Adjuster “Burn Out” Rate and Increasing Employee Turnover and Training
When I was a claims adjuster, every day was the same – about 10:30, after the morning mail was opened (which I had to go to the post office and retrieve because I was a “field adjuster”), a stack about 3 inches tall, wrapped in a rubber band, would be dropped on my desk like a ton of bricks. At least the claim file numbers were written on them which the administrative staff would spend about 90 minutes researching. Then I would have to take that stack of mail, and start retrieving all the paper files from cabinets associated with that mail – PIP applications, damage appraisals, attorney correspondence, medical bills, etc. How was I supposed to go out in the field when I had all those paper files back in the office? You couldn’t take them with you because they weren’t allowed to leave the office IN CASE THEY GOT LOST.
Granted, this was a long time ago, and I had to consider myself lucky that at least I had a mainframe system into which I could enter my reserves, payments, notes and confirm coverage. But these days, not storing files electronically and making them accessible remotely is almost inexcusable. All that wasted time and productivity. I probably could’ve handled twice the case load and closed files twice as fast if I could have been out in the field all the time.
Like so many of their policy brethren, many modern claim systems include automated workflow and straight-through processing features that insurance organizations with legacy systems can not, or do not, utilize. But these legacy systems don’t necessarily have to be replaced in order to implement these types of functions. Many independent automated workflow systems can work right along side existing legacy systems and push work forward. I know carriers that implement a simple document management system with high speed scanners that scan and distribute 10,000 – yes, ten thousand – pieces of mail every day.
There are those claim managers that are considering making a change to their claim administration system, and may want to increase the priority of the automated workflow function in their search criteria. By introducing an automated workflow, many insurance organizations have improved productivity by as much as 100%, recognizing savings to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and supported a 20% increase in business with existing staffing levels. The additional benefits to an Insurance organization of a workflow utility are that it can:
- Implement continuity in processing,
- Decrease processing costs, and
- Increase efficiencies to improve Service-level Agreements (SLAs) with customers, agents, and company departments.
Insurance organizations can also benefit by increasing the collaboration of resources using a document repository. A single repository would enable organizations to reduce resource costs associated with searching for non-existent data or recreating data that is unable to be found, such as loss control guidelines, rating specifications, or even just the office fire procedures. Call center and other service-related expenses can also be reduced by providing customers with access to their documents via the Web for policy documentation and/or claims forms. In addition, field workers would be more efficient by being able to review and transfer documents remotely, reducing claim processing times and expenses, and allowing for claim payments to be issued more promptly to customers; spending more face time with insureds, claimants, and agents. Face time is always good for business.
One final note, Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Workflow can also be utilized as a knowledge broker between the many systems and departments within an Insurance company, and can become an important source for Business Intelligence (BI). It can provide consistent searchable metadata for proper document retrieval that can be used to support Dashboards and other BI reporting tools for executive management, resulting in improved productivity even at those levels.
But that’s all right. You keep paying rent on that office space for file cabinets and maintaining resources to pass paper around. I’m sure you’re not losing market share or unnecessarily increasing your expense ratios.
Tagged: automated workflow processing, claims, claims systems, Insurance, insurance_technology
