Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Makes Fitness Program Available to More Missouri Seniors

With the economy barely inching towards recovery, now is a time for health care insurers to be innovative. To stand out in a crowd of comparable coverage options, providing more services for the same expense has never been more important. One insurer who has taken this approach for many years is Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri. Their cleverly named SilverSneakers® Fitness Program was developed in 1992 to address senior citizens’ wellness needs. Now, the company is expanding the program, says a press release from the company:

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri will expand its current partnership with Healthways, Inc. to offer the award-winning SilverSneakers® Fitness Program at no additional cost to Anthem Medicare Preferred Standard and Anthem Medicare Preferred Select members in Missouri beginning January 1, 2010 ¹.

Understanding and catering to the interests of beneficiaries is one of the primary aspects of success in the health plan market. Anthem BCBS should be applauded for listening to and addressing its members’ needs. “More than ever, older adults are recognizing the benefits of regular physical activity and that's why we are giving our members access to an innovative fitness program designed to meet their physical and social needs”, said Krista Bowers, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's Senior Business.

In addition to happier, healthier members, Anthem BCBS is helping to keep health care costs down. “A 2008 CDC-funded study found that members who participate in SilverSneakers are admitted to the hospital less often and have lower overall health care costs. In member surveys, nearly 70 percent of SilverSneakers participants report improved overall health.”

It’s great to see health insurers embracing member benefits that will positively and directly impact their beneficiaries’ quality of life while also contributing to lowered healthcare costs.

¹ Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Expands SilverSneakers® to Additional Members in Missouri

Tags: trends in insurance industry
Categories: General
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P&C Insurers – Migrate from Legacy Systems to Save Costs and Retain Customers

Recently, the P&C insurance industry has seen a decrease in demand for its products, and consequently a dip in profitability. Factors such as economic recession, the forecast of a moderate hurricane season and lower prices for commercial insurance are the primary drivers for this decline. Additionally, the profitability of insurers is also affected by expenses - such as commissions paid to brokers/agents and other overhead costs. A company that is able to generate premiums with lower overhead costs than its peers will tend to be valued higher¹.

Property & Casualty insurers need systems that reduce administrative costs and tackle today’s challenges. If insurers want to be successful in a slow growth economy, they need to set their sights clearly on cost savings and improved customer retention. They can achieve both through implementation of a technology platform that suits their business processes. Though there are insurers who have invested in advanced systems to see a long-term reduction in expenses, many insurers are still relying on homegrown or legacy systems for internal processes like commissions processing and policy administration. Although perceived as saving money, these systems can actually cost insurers millions due to incorrect calculations, manual processing and dependence on valuable IT personnel.

With advanced systems in place, insurers will benefit from reduced expenses in the areas of data management and system support and maintenance. Management teams could focus more on business process, workflow redesign and business rule management, rather than worry about data integrity issues.

Over the last few years, software vendors for the insurance industry have designed a solution: incentive compensation management, which features improved configuration tools, business rule engines and workflow technologies. Processing complex commissions and incentive programs becomes easy, reduces reliance on IT, and saves effort, time and money. The advanced architecture enables the core application to integrate better and faster with surrounding applications, including customer relationship management (CRM) and producer portals. With these integrated solutions, insurers can motivate sales teams by providing clear performance measures and trusted payments.

When soft market conditions prevail, P&C insurers need to look beyond aging technologies and migrate to advanced systems to lower overhead costs, improve distribution channels’ efficiency and retain customers. Although these systems require an up-front investment, P&C insurers stand to gain ROI quickly and equip themselves to emerge as strong competitors when the economy improves.

¹ Recent Trends in Valuation of P&C Insurers: 2009 by Jeff Balcombe, Business Valuation Advisors LLC

Tags: technology for insurers, p&c insurers
Categories: Insurance Technology
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Improve Productivity with Integrated Distribution Management Systems

Celent recently published a report that examines how insurers can achieve sustained profitability and growth through improved information sharing within distribution channels. Typically, the insurance industry is hampered by outmoded or disjointed technology systems that negatively impact access to information and coordination among different departments. When it comes to producer management, lacking appropriate information at a critical moment leads to delayed responsiveness, which does not sit well with producers. Delays may decrease producer productivity, which can directly impact the bottom line of the organization.

Luckily, insurers have many options when it comes to technology solutions to address these issues. The most promising vendors provide distribution management solutions that accomplish all of the tasks involved in the full lifecycle of the company-producer relationship by combining the capabilities of enterprise incentive management, licensing and compliance. These are integrated solutions that can carry out “producer management functions of appointment, commission, compliance and registration management,” along with support functions such as “document management, workflow and rules management. As a result of this convergence, Celent further expects to see increased integration and capabilities for self-service portals, as well as increased workflow automation.”

Improved coordination between the various functions involved in the producer management lifecycle ensures better producer productivity and customer service. This synchronization of information will also give a superior insight into producers’ performance for the management teams to better align the company’s objectives with producers’ incentives. Thus, coordinated information transfer and system integration empower insurance business users to achieve administrative efficiency, increase producer productivity and advance compensation strategy.

Mike Fitzgerald, senior analyst with Celent's Insurance group and author of the report, says “Distribution solutions that increase coordination and consistency improve agent service, decrease expenses, and attract business.”

Tags: distribution management solutions, technology for insurers, vue software
Categories: Distribution Management
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The Top Six Issues for Insurers in 2010

A new year has arrived - and with it the opportunity for a fresh start. As such, the beginning of 2010 may see organizations looking within to evaluate internal processes and identify areas for improvement.

For the insurance industry, there are six issues on the horizon that are most likely to be of impact. In a recent article, Insurance Networking News outlines the six issues that will take prominence across the insurance companies in the United States, according to an annual Insurance Industry Outlook produced by Deloitte. Below, we list the six points along with our thoughts on how the right technology can address each concern.

1. Regulation. Tougher regulations are sure to arise after the introduction of the new National Supervisor for Insurance Commission. Companies should have in place flexible processes and technology to accommodate these changes. Technology systems with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), which can connect existing systems with regulatory ancillaries such as NIPR, will be of advantage in complying with industry standards.

2. Expansion. According to another Deloitte newsletter, insurance companies have been "adversely affected over the past few years by slower growth rates, lower investment returns, and extreme pricing pressure." Growth will remain difficult in 2010, so differentiation will be paramount to gaining market share. Incentive compensation management can help insurers implement compelling incentives to help drive growth.

3. Customers. Carriers need to focus on their distribution channels and partner with their producers to better understand the customer. Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions and online producer portals make it easy for producers to manage customer interaction and keep the carrier updated.

4. Streamlining. Expense reduction will remain a top priority for insurers in 2010. However, Deloitte cautions that "while rapid staff reductions, hiring freezes, salary cuts and project postponement can generate short-term savings, they normally provide little in the way of long-term benefits". Instead, insurance companies should focus on investing in technology that can generate rapid ROI and provide year over year cost savings.

5. Technology. Deloitte points out that technology will be of the utmost importance to addressing the other concerns, whether to increase efficiencies or to expand via social media.

6. Talent. The INN article states that "managing talent through the downturn, both in terms of attracting talent on the street and retaining current employees, will be key to maintaining a long-term competitive advantage." Securing producer loyalty is made markedly easier with the use of technology that makes it easy for producers to do business with a carrier.

Tags: technology for insurers,
Categories: Insurance Technology
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