There are a variety of reasons an employee may use their paid time off (PTO). They might be sick, their child may be ill, or a family member may have passed. No matter how legitimate, an employee absence can be expensive and disruptive. While employers cannot mitigate all causes of absences, they can do something about their employees’ health.
Many employees do not feel comfortable taking PTO for a preventative care visit. As a result, they are more prone to illnesses that could have been avoided. Some employees even feel that their company would frown upon them making a preventative care appointment during work hours. This means the vast majority of the workforce is attempting to schedule these appointments after work. This leaves little opportunity to secure a doctor’s visit.
To change this perception and reduce the likelihood of employees falling ill, some employers are instituting an Unsick Day as part of their PTO. Employees would have access to PTO specifically for preventative care appointments. By dedicating a day to seeking preventative care, employers can reduce the amount of time employees will need to take off for a preventable illness. They will also save on the associated cost with extended employee absences.
Many employers have wellness programs and want their employees to use their given healthcare. This benefits both parties as employers have a consistent workforce and employees are not dealing with avoidable illnesses. However, many employees do not seize upon these opportunities. To learn more ways to reduce employee absences due to illness and improve absence management, contact the professionals at Actec.
Author: Andrew
Using Metrics Data to Improve the Claims Process
Integrating your claims process with technology can provide a number of benefits. Your company can reap most of these benefits through the collection and analysis of data. Simply having the data is not enough, though. Claims management should use the data to improve operations, discover trends, and forecast future claims.
Data to Improve Operations
Metrics can locate areas that need improvement within your claims process. They can also show you where your claims process is performing at its best. You can leverage this information to implement practices that improve the areas where you are weakest. Relevant data include:
- Open and close rates
- Closing ratios
- Age of claim (time it takes from receipt to move it forward in the claims process)
- Workloads of employees
Data to Discover Trends
Discovering trends can help your company manage incoming claims. It allows you to take a more aggressive approach to managing certain types of claims based on trend data. It can also allow your company to make changes to reduce the frequency of certain types of claims.
Data for Predictive Modeling
Knowing trends is great, but predicting the outcome is better. While predictive models will never remove the needs for a claims expert, it can help assist and expedite the claims process. For example. Predictive tools can alert the claims representative of a potential fraudulent claim.
Data collection can help you streamline your claims process. To learn more about claims management and custom claims solutions, contact us.
Why First Notice of Loss is Important to Policyholders and Insurers
When a policyholder first contacts their insurance after an accident or theft, they are contacting a first notice of loss (FNOL) call center. These call centers operate all year round to make the claim process go as smooth as possible for the policyholder. FNOL call centers also benefit the insurance companies as well. They guarantee the insurer receives the relevant claim information as soon as possible
FNOL and the Policyholder
FNOL is important to the policyholder for a number of reasons. The most important is it gets the ball rolling on their claim. Some insurance companies have different procedures for various types of claims. This can be confusing for a policyholder, especially while they are dealing with a stressful situation like an accident or theft. The FNOL agent can help guide the policyholder through the process to reduce stress and confusion.
FNOL and the Insurer
Efficient FNOL call centers enhance a policyholder’s trust in their insurer. An FNOL call center agent is the first person the policyholder will speak with during the claim process. This presents the opportunity to show policyholders that their insurer can handle their claim with competence and care. As a result, the FNOL process can play a big role in customer satisfaction and retention.
Full-Cycle Claim and Incident Reporting
Proficient FNOL call centers are only the first step to ensuring excellent claim management. Taking a full-cycle approach to the claim process shows policyholders their insurer cares more about delivering satisfactory service than transferring information to the appropriate department. Actec is the premier leader in full-cycle claim and incident reporting. To learn more about implementing a full-cycle claim management process, contact the experts at Actec.
Reducing Absenteeism with Electronic Reporting
One of the most prevalent issues that plagues employers is employee absenteeism. While most of the absences are legitimate, up to one-third of them are not related to illness. To help reduce instances of employees taking fraudulent sick days, employers can implement electronic absence reporting. Electronic absence reporting helps reduce unnecessary absenteeism in a few ways:
- Employees who know their employers are tracking how often they call out tend to rethink taking a gratuitous day off.
- By collecting absentee data, employers can gather averages for how many days employees take leave. Employees who know this information can compare their time off to the status quo. Some employees may not realize they are taking more leave than is normal without this data.
- The data can help employers target problem areas. If one department has a much higher absentee rate than the others there could be a leadership issue. The data can help employers address the issues and prevent similar problems from happening in the future. Ensuring employees are happy goes a long way to reducing absenteeism.
Employers who implement electronic absence reporting systems should be mindful when using the data. The end goal should be to support and improve employees’ workplace experiences. If employees view the data collection as a means to mete out punishment, it could have the opposite intended effect.
Employers should make it clear that any electronic reporting system is meant to enrich employees’ health and wellness while at work. To learn more about optimizing your absence reporting procedures, contact us.
Automated FNOL and Claim Intake
Many companies are looking for ways to improve their claim intake process. Technological solutions are often a high priority. Such technology boasts electronic crash detection, automated first notice of loss (FNOL), prognostic solutions that aid in the vehicle repair process, and more. It works for insurers similar to how OnStar functions for drivers. However, while there are benefits to such technology, there are a number of drawbacks as well.
Benefits
- Collision injury support. The technology includes contacting rescue support in the event of a collision. Even if the driver is not injured, knowing that assistance is on the way can help keep them calm. This is helpful for drivers who do not have security systems like OnStar.
- Automated claims. Many policyholders are shaken up after an accident. They may not think to contact their insurance right away or may be too panicked or injured to do so.
- Reduce hit and run incidents. This technology can help eliminate hit and run collisions. If the policyholder flees the scene of the accident, their insurance company will still know about it. The police will be able to subpoena the insurance company for the information and help aid the other individual involved in the accident.
Concerns
- Fender benders. If an accident is not severe and the damage caused is negligible, the policyholder may not wish to contact their insurance. Accidents increase insurance rates, so some policyholders opt to pay for repairs out of pocket. This technology would inform the insurance company regardless, triggering the first notice of loss.
- Overtaxing law enforcement. While the technology can assess the severity of the crash, it will always notify local law enforcement. Minor incidents do not often require a police presence.
- Damage to the vehicle. In order to get the most accurate damage estimates, a physical person should inspect the vehicle. If the predictive technology is imperfect then the policyholder may not receive adequate money to repair the vehicle. The vehicle may even be beyond repair.
To achieve similar benefits without the significant drawbacks of such an implementation, it’s best to develop in-house solutions that work and improve your FNOL and claims process. To learn more about how to improve your claims management process, contact us.
Employee Absenteeism: Causes and Solutions
No employee can avoid the occasional illness or the unexpected passing of a family member. However, when an employee is absent on a regular basis, there are usually other factors at play. While many employers know that illness is not the only cause of employee absenteeism, not enough of them are taking steps to resolve the source of the issue. Below are some of the most common causes of absenteeism and how to start resolving them.
Childcare
When a child is sick or their childcare arrangements fall through, one of their parents will have to call out of work to address the problem. Issues of health and childcare take time to resolve, and that time is most often during the work day. To combat this issue, some companies instituted on-site daycares and programs designed to help employees find short and long-term child care.
Flexibility
Many employees desire to maintain a work-life balance but feel burnt out by the end of the week. One solution to this problem is to offer flextime within reason. Some companies allow employees to work longer work days at the beginning of the week so they can work fewer hours at the end of the week. The idea is that employees are better rested at the start of the week, but start to feel the wear and tear of work by the end of the week. By offering flexible work hours, companies can reduce employee burnout and the related absenteeism.
Illness
Sometimes, employees get sick. However, the workplace may be contributing to the cause and duration of their illness. Employees who are overworked in poorly designed workplaces experience a higher degree of stress and muscular-skeletal illnesses. Employers can address part of the issue by providing an ergonomic working environment. Employees who are stressed out about returning to long work hours after a prolonged illness may take additional sick days as well. One solution is to offer a slow reintegration. By working a reduced schedule and building back up to normal hours, employees will feel less overwhelmed.
While the above are common causes of routine absenteeism, there are many more attendance difficulties a company can face. To learn more about the causes of employee absenteeism and how to resolve them, contact us.
FNOL: Is Your Claims Process Hurting Customer Retention?
When a customer first contacts their insurer, this is the best chance to have a lasting and positive influence on their experience. However, if the notice of loss process is not efficient or requires a lot of leg work on the customer’s part, they will likely have a long-term negative association with their insurer. Once the customer initiates the process, other factors begin to affect their overall perception as well. Communication with employees, ease of understanding the claims process, and how fast the insurer handles their claim all contribute to the customer’s final opinion.
Ineffective claims processes are often the root of customer dissatisfaction. Traditional claims processes segment the claims manually which can lead to delays. Another element that slows down the claims process is high employee turnover rates. This reduces work quality and further interrupts the process.
A major way to improve customer satisfaction is to meet their technological expectations. Many customers want a digitized claims process that is clear and progresses without their continued input. While dated systems can hinder this, there are ways to improve the customer’s experience.
To improve the FNOL process, insurers can:
- Automate the initial claims process by going digital. Automating segmentation can reduce the amount of effort required for both the customer and the insurer.
- Engage in proper staff management and forecasting. If an insurer knows what time of year is busiest, they can fill labor gaps without overtaxing their permanent workforce. This will reduce turnover and training time as well as increase work quality.
By focusing on meeting the customers’ needs and expectations during their time of crisis, insurers can improve customer satisfaction and retention. To learn more about claim management, contact us.
5 Steps to Improving Your Claim Intake Procedures
Claim intake strategies are as varied as the business landscape of the United States. Different organizations require different approaches, starting with an in-depth analysis of status and objectives. Deriving claim intake procedures from your unique needs ensures development of a custom workflow that fits. It’s critical to use your business rules to ensure accuracy, minimize call times, and reduce follow-up calls.
- Develop a best practices workflow for thorough and logically organized reporting
- Make claim reporting available through many media: telephone, e-mail, fax, website, even social media
- Implement a contact tracking module, to improve forms management and dissemination capabilities
- Rapid response to critical incidents including clear escalation procedures
- Ensure correct routing of claims with coverage verification and claim office assignment
While all of these capabilities can be developed in-house, it’s often more efficient and effective to outsource them to a professional claim intake center. To learn more about claim management, custom intake solutions, and outsourcing, contact us.
5 Key Terms in First Notice of Loss Operations
There several important terms when discussing first notice – some may seem esoteric, others mundane. But understanding their full meaning and method of execution can dramatically improve business operations for organizations of all shapes and sizes. A positive FNOL interaction is key to successful business operations – from client relationship management to risk reduction.
1. First Notice of Loss (FNOL) – The initial report of a claim or incident resulting in loss of an insured product. A crucial element of insurance coverage. This discipline and its various constituents is now dependent upon a vast array of technologies, from data management and communications software to social media awareness and forensics.
2. Claim Intake – The initial interaction between claimant and professionally trained personnel – a critical step in the FNOL process.
3. First Report of Injury – The initial report of a claim or incident resulting in injury to an employee. A employer practice required by law.
4. Claim Handling/Claim Management – The conveyance of an insurance-related claim through a system of communication and investigation to ascertain the appropriate compensation. The more adept and timely the claim management, the less shrink for insurers and the higher satisfaction for clients.
5. Incident Reporting – A system of documentation for FNOL in which specific details must be thoroughly recorded to ensure proper claim management. Well-trained personnel and a modern, sophisticated incident reporting medium significantly reduce costs due to slow resolution, shrink, and other organizational issues.
There are other components of FNOL, but familiarity with these 5 key terms will illuminate much of our industry and its purpose. To learn more, contact us.
Claim Intake – What's Your Solution?
Claim management is a critical issue for most insurance companies. There are two major categories of tasks involved in the claim management process – claim intake and claim handling. Claim handling usually gets a lot of focus, due to its complex and often-drawn-out nature. But claim intake is an equally important part of the process, and warrants special consideration for a variety of reasons. The most significant reason is that poor or unsuccessful claim intake can result in one or both of the following major consequences: inaccurate case information that will lead to failures in the claim management process and customer dissatisfaction that can lead to loss of business.
Most people and companies are often unaware that when they first contact their insurance provider to report theft, loss or damage that they are actually contacting a first notice of loss (FNOL) call center. Call centers can be highly professional and serve a wide variety of insurance and other claims-related businesses. But beware – not all call centers are created equal. Yours should offer 24/7/365 operation to ensure convenience for clients and timely claim transmission for your organization. First notice of loss operations are sometimes staffed internally, but more frequently these days, the operations are outsourced to a specialist. As with most round-the-clock operations, staffing, training and accurate claims intake are challenging for any organization.
There are different types of vendors which offer solutions for FNOL – some offer software, others offer a comprehensive call center based on a proprietary application, and still others customize their call center operation to accommodate any platform. These are platform agnostic vendors who claim to work with insurance companies’ existing platforms. While there are a variety of solutions available, some will serve your organization more effectively than others. To learn more, contact us.