IRMI Update—Issue #184
An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
May 21, 2008
In This Issue
Message from the Editor
Colleague,
The ultimate "product" of insurers is not insurance policies. It is the resolution
of claims—either by efficiently handling and paying first party claims or defending
against and, if necessary, paying liability claims. Unfortunately, the insurance
industry often seems to have lost site of this simple fact and many risk professionals
are telling me that the quality of claims services has been deteriorating over
the past decade or more.
In particular, I hear this from claim professionals who are near or in retirement.
But it is also a common observation heard from risk managers and brokers. The
causes are probably many, but certainly include: inadequate compensation to
attract and retain top talent, a move to automation to cut costs, and the elimination
of training and education programs.
To help bring some focus to the importance of claims management, we are increasing
our coverage of the claims arena in IRMI.com. Of course, we will continue Barry
Zalma's claims series. Additionally, we are adding another series of articles
with the help of the claim consulting team at Albert Risk Management Consultants.
Their first article, written by a claims veteran, compares today's claims practices
to those of 50 years ago. Read his article, "An
Insurance Claims Management Retrospective."
Future articles from ARMC will provide practical advice and counsel for hiring,
evaluating, and managing TPAs or working with an insurer's claims process. We
will also soon offer a special "IRMI Insights" report by Sandy Rodgers that
discusses many of the problems he has observed in the claims field. Stay tuned.
I'm curious if you agree with what I have been hearing. Is the overall
quality of claims services below what it should be? If so, what are the
causes of the problems? Are adjusters underpaid? Undertrained? How should
insurers improve their claims services? What should risk managers do to
ensure they receive good claims service? [See
reader responses].
We sincerely hope that our new focus on claims will give you ideas for improving
your organization's claims function if you are with an insurer or make smarter
buying decisions if you are a risk manager or broker.
Have a great day.
Jack
Jack P. Gibson, CPCU, CRIS, ARM
President
IRMI
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What's New in The Risk
Report
The May issue of The Risk Report by
Kate Westover summarizes the TRIP analysis of captive domicile selection: taxes,
regulation, infrastructure, and perception. This analysis helps both prospective
and existing captive owners determine which type of domicile is most appropriate
for their specific needs.
For
IRMI Online subscribers
For
SilverPlume Sage subscribers
New Expert Commentary
There are over 1,000 risk management and insurance
articles on IRMI.com. Below you'll find summaries of some recent additions
with links to the articles.
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