Deloitte Views Claims; First Rehab Views Growth.

Given the industry’s 2010 results – our cover story- here’s a timley report. “Driving Operational Excellence in Claims Management,” just issued by Deloitte finds that property / casualty insurers who upgrade to better claims management also increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer and agent service..” To enhance operational excellence in claims, the report suggests that Companies view: • Leveraging advanced analytics – Using data acquired at “First Notice of Loss” to forecast outcomes effectively for individual claimants and to segment claims can transform claim management by improving the allocation of claim resources, increasing efficiency, improving the estimates of claim severity, and reduce claim cycles. • Supplier management – As insurers rely more heavily on third-party suppliers, a supplier management strategy cannot only contain costs, but can also enhance the customer and agent experience • Legal cost management – A performance-based approach uses data-driven analysis to help develop a streamlined, reusable process for organization selection, case governance, and traditional cost management. This can be combined with predictive modeling for litigation management to help create a disciplined process that assigns cases to the most appropriate resources for the specified resolution, reducing the total cost of the claim. • Technology enablement – Developing an overarching approach to how and where to invest in new capabilities can improve efficiency and increase the likelihood that the technology infrastructure effectively supports the organization’s initiatives to enhance operations. • Fraud detection – Insurers that adopt advanced fraud detection tools and techniques that promptly identify claims with a high propensity for fraud can reduce losses and may gain a reputation in the industry of being hard on fraud. The goal is stable, predictable loss estimation and experience ensuring better claim service ratings and policyholder retention, a boon to agents. A copy of the report is available on Deloitte’s Web site at http://www.deloitte.com/us/insurance/DrivingOperational ExcellenceInClaims… Readers of the Insurance Advocate are no strangers to Richard White and First Rehab. In this issue, we are pleased to report that First Rehab Life’s holding company, Rehab Services Corporation(“RSC”), entered into an agreement with Eos Partners, L.P. (“Eos”), a New York City based private investment partnership that manages approximately $2.0 billion of capital on behalf of its partners to spur its growth. The carrier, labeled the broker’s company here in its home state will accelerate its business expansion activities through the independent producer community, once approval of Eos’ equity investment is Okayed by the NYSID. The company’s management team will remain unchanged. The investment will be used to provide funding for RSC growth initiatives ranging from new insurance to non-insurance products and services, all to be sold through First Rehab Life’s large network of independent insurance producers. Since its inception, First Rehab Life has partnered exclusively with independent insurance producers to distribute its products and its success as a company has been based on strong working relationships with the independent producer community, Rich White reminded us. He’s the seasoned insurance pro who, as Chief Executive Officer of RSC and First Rehab Life, has laid the groundwork for the Company’s coming push. The formula seems strong in our view, reflected in remarks made recently by Dr. Seth Goldberg, Chairman of the Board of RSC who summarized: “In 2009, RSC identified a new management team lead by Rich White. With the strength of the new management team combined with the capital and support from Eos, RSC will be in a position to deliver premium products and services to its customers consistently”. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Company officials expect the closing of the transaction to occur within the next ninety days. We wish the team at First Rehab the very best in this dramatic undertaking…together with its independent agents and brokers.