The report comes from Mitchell, which provides technology, connectivity and information solutions to the property and casualty claims and collision repair insurance sectors. The report is titled “Latest Technology Trends, Industry Insights, Data And Analyses On The Property & Casualty And Collision Repair Industries.” This covers collision claims, collision repair, first or third party casualty, workers’ compensation and pharmacy controls.
The new report, the seventeenth edition, focuses on the second quarter of 2018. The focus is with the way that data analytics are increasingly embedded into most levels of insurance organizations. This has many advantages but it also throws up a few challenges.
Key advantages include reducing complexity and improving efficiency. There are also simplified steps that insures can follow, guided by technology, in terms of helping to restore an individual’s quality of life following an accident or injury. This approach is explained by Nina Smith, who is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Casualty Solutions.
In a different area, Dave Torrence, who is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Pharmacy Solutions, describes how digital solutions can provide greater visibility into opioid prescribing and how the collection and study of metrics can help prevent abuse. Opioid overdoses and misuse, from prescription only medicines, is a considerable problem in the U.S. A recent study by Altarum places the cost associated with the epidemic at $1 trillion between 2001 and 2017, projecting an additional $500 billion spend by 2020
Digital data communications can also assist insurers in data sharing and helping out those who need the value gained from analytics but who have little experience in data science. Sharing data more widely, according to Ryan Mandell, Director of Claims Performance at Mitchell, helps to address this, enabling those skilled in data analysis to share the key inferences with others.
Activates like utilization review and precertification can assist with reducing unnecessary medical expenses. The application of technology here can aid forming strong medical options for recovery, according to Jackie Payne, Vice President of Medical Management Services. Payne notes that costs will continue to rise, so there are incentives to explore mechanisms by which cost can be lowered.
One area of claims cost that can be addressed by technology is, according to Michael Parker, Senior Director of Product Management for Mitchell’s SmartPrice Solutions, workers’ compensation medical bills. Additional costs can arise through billing mistakes and abuses. Here auditing technology can help address these falsifications.
