Facing the Business Challenges Through IT

Your IT should be a source of profit, not a center of cost. Are you ensuring that you’re not on the losing end?By Rajesh Desingu  February 23, 2012

The insurance industry in theU.S.has evolved significantly. One of the major reasons for the industry’s tremendous evolution and growth is that theU.S.is one of the most litigious countries in the world. But rapid growth hasn’t helped companies tackle the three biggest challenges facing the industry today.  read more..

The Use and Usefulness of Social Media Content

Parameters for Responsible Claims InvestigationsBy Roy A. Mura, Esq.  February 14, 2012

When J.A. Barnes, a social anthropologist, studied a Norwegian fishing village and coined the term “social network” in the 1950s, few could have imagined that the advent of personal computers in the 1970s and the Internet in the 1980s would spawn the social networking services that today connect nearly half of the world’s population.  read more..

Biomechanics and Bodily Injury Claims

Head Injury Causation and PreventionBy Alyssa L. DeMarco, John C. Gardiner, PhD, PE, Dennis D. Chimich  February 14, 2012

Did the claimant sustain a head injury in the incident? Would the diagnosed head injury have been prevented if the claimant was using a protective device such as a helmet, a seat belt or an airbag?  read more..

Accounting for Business Income Loss

Financial Accounting Fundamentals for Claims ProsBy Bruce D. Smith, CPA, CFF, CFE  February 13, 2012

All parties involved in a business income (BI) loss claim, adjusters especially, must have a basic command of financial accounting concepts to ensure that the policyholder is properly indemnified for his or her loss.  read more..

CFOs Ask Risk Managers to Address New Business Risks

By Kerstin Braun, Executive V.P, Coface N.A.  February 16, 2012

There was a time when the risks faced by risk managers were pretty straightforward—property, casualty, liability and workers’ comp, but times are changing.  read more..

Record Retention

When litigation is pending or foreseeable, create a litigation hold memorandumBy Matthew S. Marrone, Esq., Daniel Strick  February 1, 2012

Insurance brokers cannot always "avoid E&O," and often are faced with the separate but related decision of how best to "defend E&O." This process typically begins as soon as the broker reasonably believes an E&O claim might be asserted. This month we address the importance of litigation hold memoranda and retaining records, both electronic and paper, when litigation is pending or foreseeable.  read more..

Faulty Workmanship: A Legislative Issue?

By David D. Thamann  February 16, 2012

There is a continuing dispute over insurance coverage for damage claims arising out of defective construction. Courts around the country have offered decisions about coverage or the lack thereof; insurers have denied coverage and granted coverage; and agents have had to explain to insureds why the claim is not covered or have tried to convince insurers that coverage exists.  read more..

The Horsepower Race

By Greg Horn  February 6, 2012

You’ve heard me talk about how the Obama administration’s recent change to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE) will impact the collision-repair industry. In case you need to jog your memory: In late 2009, President Obama announced an aggressive mandate requiring all new cars and trucks to achieve 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 (an average of 39 mpg for cars and 30 mpg for trucks), cutting four years from the previous regulation timetable.  read more..

Claims Should Look to the Giants

By Christopher Tidball  February 7, 2012

Super Bowl XLVI will not soon to be forgotten. With the New York Giants written off around week 14 of the season with a .500 record, this team exemplifies what it takes to go from ordinary to extraordinary. Tom Coughlin once said, “If you are as good as you can possibly be, the rest will take care of itself. What we need to talk about is winning before we talk about anything else.” Win, they did.  read more..

Regulatory Change Update: That Familiar Feeling

2011 Issues Continue to DominateBy Kathy Donovan  February 9, 2012

With just a little over a month into 2012, the industry has seen the introduction of a number of legislative bills that address familiar insurance topics. Additionally, we are already seeing a number of actions by departments of insurance, all of which are factoring into important regulatory activity early in this new year.  read more..

Who Pays for National Catastrophes?

Although insurance capacity for catastrophic perils is still available and affordable, some experts say last year’s huge losses already are driving up insurance costs and could shrink capacity, federal financial assistance or both.

By Dave Lenckus  From the February 2012 issue of American Agent & Broker

When John Fogerty musically asked "Who’ll Stop the Rain?" 40 years ago, he was pondering the world’s disquiet. But given the economic and insured damage from natural catastrophes that deluged the U.S. and the rest of the world in 2011, the question today is relevant and literal.  read more..

The Ford Mustang: Theft of an American Icon

NICB Releases Supplement to Annual Hot Wheels ReportBy Christina Bramlet, PropertyCasualty360.com  January 31, 2012

The Ford Mustang has long been a fixture in pop culture, inspiring songs (“Mustang Sally”) and serving as a focal point in movies. Does anyone else remember the pristine 1967 Shelby Mustang GT-500 in “Gone in 60 Seconds”?  read more..

NICB Offers 80 Years of Vehicle ID Information on CD

Search, Authenticate Passenger Vehicles Dating to 1931By Staff Writer  February 2, 2012

Earlier this week, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released an analysis of Mustang thefts spanning the past three decades. Today the NICB broadens its scope with the release of a compilation of every passenger vehicle identification manual produced in the past 80 years.  read more..

Opinion: A Year of Opportunity for Agents

Big Changes in Workers' CompBy Kevin Ring  February 3, 2012

It seems that 2012 is starting out as a year filled with opportunity for agents in the workers’ compensation world. With the two largest rating bureaus making big changes, agents’ chances to outsmart, rather than outprice the competition have never been better.  read more..

Generating Growth in a Tough Economy

By Rebecca C. Amoroso, Sam J. Friedman
February 9, 2012

These are extraordinarily difficult times for insurers to grow their business, with the United States and Europe struggling to jump-start their economies and a double-dip recession still not out of the question.  read more..

Coverage Trends in Manufacturing’s “Big 3” Risks: Workers’ Comp, Product Recall and Supply Chains

By Dave Lenckus  February 9, 2012

Those who manage and underwrite risks for manufacturers are facing familiar risks—but with some challenging new twists. With Workers’ Compensation, the big shift is the medical component of costs exceeding indemnity costs—this after an extended period when companies could materially cut their Workers Comp’ expenses by focusing primarily on returning injured employees to work.  read more..

Employers Say Employees Not Prepared to Retire

By Mark E. Ruquet, PropertyCasualty360.com  January 25, 2012

NU Online News Service, Jan. 25, 3:18 p.m. EST

A stunning 4 percent of employers are very confident that their employees will have sufficient retirement funds when they retire, according to an Aon Hewitt survey. In a survey of more than 500 employers conducted in October 2011, Aon Hewitt says it found “employer confidence in their ability to influence employee decisions and/or actions has eroded.”  read more..

5 Ways Employers Can Reduce Worker Stress

By Dr. Albert Ray, M.D.  February 1, 2012

According to the American Institute of Stress, job stress costs U.S. businesses more than $300 billion annually due to increased absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity and medical expenses.  read more..

Claims Auditing 101: Part 2

How Philosophy Shapes OutcomesBy Ken Brownlee, CPCU  From the February 2012 issue of Claims Magazine

Before an auditor can fully understand what he or she is looking at—either in an insurer’s or self-funding entity’s overall loss data or in individual claim files—the auditor must understand that insurer’s or entity’s claims philosophy.  read more..

Social Media Sleuthing

Proceeding with Caution in the New FrontierBy James Ruotolo  From the February 2012 issue of Claims Magazine

Social media has quickly become the foremost activity on the Internet. The explosive growth in user-generated content has been a boon for insurance claims adjusters and fraud investigators. Navigating the social media landscape, however, can be tricky.  read more..

Never By Accident

Coverage Concerns for Building Trade ContractorsBy David D. Thamann, JD, CPCU  From the February 2012 issue of Claims Magazine

Contractors confront some perplexing insurance coverage problems in their daily business activities. Let’s explore a few common scenarios briefly and discuss if and when coverage applies to structures.  read more..

Growing Knowledge Managers With BI

Harness Data to Transform Claims and Business OutcomesBy Ericka Billue  From the February 2012 issue of Claims Magazine

While almost every insurer has implemented a claims system and still others have more than one, most have not taken advantage of the wealth of claims data collected. This byproduct of the claims process is a goldmine of insight into the operation. When effectively put to use via business intelligence (BI) tools, the secrets buried deep in the data can help transform claims managers into knowledge managers.  read more..

Analytics Are the Silver Lining to Core System Replacement

By Steven M. Callahan  January 24, 2012

Economic conditions for 2012 do not look particularly promising, challenging companies to find unique ways to generate sustainable growth and profitability. Continued high unemployment, near zero interest rates, limited growth in the economy, increased consumer diversity, extended low investment returns, intensified service expectations, expanded competition, and a probability of additional natural disasters converge to create yet another challenging year for the insurance industry in general.  read more..

Stop Chasing Numbers and Get Results

By Christopher Tidball  January 20, 2012

At the end of the day, where the rubber meets the road, there is only one thing that really matters; results. Far too often organizations spend far too much time chasing numbers only to be muddled in mediocrity. Call this person, close that file, inspect that vehicle, refer more to subrogation, move the salvage. The list of metrics upon which adjusters are measured goes on and on.  read more..