First notice of loss plays a crucial role in loss prevention for large-scale corporations. This manifests in multiple ways. Accidental misreporting or under-reporting can occur, resulting in lost time for the company. Intentional misrepresentation of time, injuries, and other issues can also occur. Without a system in place to track and verify these incidents, problems like these will arise. Studies have shown that the incidence of theft increases dramatically when the opportunity is evident. Employing a thorough FNOL program shows that a company cares about its employees in multiple ways, including increases to the bottom line.
Author: Andrew
Outsourcing Absence Management & FNOL
When it comes to absence management and first notice of loss, timing is crucial. Outsourcing these services to a qualified third party prevents bandwidth restriction and reduces the chance of organizational failure.
Failing to document an absence promptly and accurately can cause significantly more complication down the road. Similarly, returning a first notice call an hour later or the next day may be too late – they may have already contacted an attorney. This will increase the cost of your claims dramatically and will simultaneously reduce the effectiveness and level of customer service provided by your organization. This is why many of today’s contact centers employ outsourced call centers staffer with claims professionals to improve the customer experience.
By leveraging a contact center for overflow, nights, weekends and holidays, you will improve the efficiency in your organization by as much as 40% while greatly improving your customer experience. All of which impact the bottom line. Today, many high quality call centers outsource FNOL for overflow and non-peak times.
Full-Cycle Claim Reporting – Accuracy Is Key
Full cycle claim reporting refers to a comprehensive approach to claims and incident reporting. In some instances, full-cycle claim and incident reporting is also referred to as claims intake and reporting, or even within the general context of first notice of loss (FNOL). The concept is fairly simple; an individual has experienced a loss, theft or damage and needs to reports the specifics to their insurance carrier, third party administrator or self insured organization. It is important that this intake is professionally handled, promptly addressed and accurately recorded. The intake is extremely important to ensure the resulting claim is accurately reported. Full-cycle claim reporting refers to a comprehensive, one stop approach to this situation. Key components of a full-cycle solution include:
- Companies can report all claims to a single claim reporting service
- Claim reporting is fully integrated into the system
- All the information needed for processing is completed on the first report
- Workflow changes can be easily to accommodated to meet new requirements
There are accurate metrics to determine the actual cost of claim and incident reporting. With first notice of loss, it is important to close claims quickly and manage risk at all levels of the organization. FNOL intake specialists should be available 24/7,365 days a year, to ensure accurate and timely intake whenever an incident occurs and to handle after-hours incidents and overflow. It is also an opportunity for companies to demonstrate their commitment to employees, by ensuring employees receive rapid and professional response, during what is likely to be a very stressful time, namely the reporting of a loss or theft. Creating a full-cycle claim reporting system to respond, monitor and measure the FNOL process is a key component in success in this complex scenario. Many companies outsource their first notice of loss to a full cycle claims and incident reporting specialist, particularly when the consider the challenge of a 24/7, 365 day a year schedule.
Absence Management Best Practices
Absence management procedures consist of many complexities and intricacies, but every company should know the fundamentals. This begins with timely coordination. Absences must be reported and confirmed promptly in order to optimize turnaround time. The next step is verification. The type of absence, anticipated duration, and other relevant circumstances must be documented thoroughly and accurately. Next, this data must be stored in an appropriate database where those who need to access the data can do so, and those who shouldn’t cannot. Finally resolution – it’s imperative to follow up so as to confirm the extent of the absence, what transpired, and whether or not further action or reporting is required. Within each of these large steps lie a number of smaller steps. For more information, ask us (the experts)!
Top Incident Reporting & Claims Management Blogs
Incident reporting and claims management are vital components of an effective first notice of loss program. Executing these fundamental yet nuanced tasks requires a deep understanding of claim intake methodology, a high degree of organization, and a sense of urgency. To better understand why these issues are so important for your business and the ramifications of going without FNOL solutions, check out these blogs:
Claims Management and FNOL: The Bottom Line
Cost-effective incident reporting management is dependent upon capturing accurate information, the first time an incident occurs. When policyholders report a notice, they should be greeted on behalf of your organization by a qualified Intake Specialist, trained to handle worker’s compensation, auto, property, general liability, short-term disability, and long-term disability claims. Intake Specialists capture all relevant data using a best practices workflow developed over years of first notice of loss (FNOL) experience. Alternatively, enter notices can be entered directly into your in-house claims management application via the Internet or secure connection. Providing Medical Coding, Duplicate Checking, Quality Assurance Reviews and Notice Completion in addition to streamlined and skilled services keeps Actec Intake Specialists ahead of the curve.
FNOL Case Study
Actec handled a large-scale catastrophic event for a large multinational oil company. Total call volume was above 147,000 (in the first few days calls came on a general claims line until a dedicated 800 number was published) – over 60% received the first month, a daily average of more than 3000, peaking at over 8000. We captured more than 90,000 claim reports, 66% reported telephonically, the remaining 34% captured via a custom Internet report we developed and rolled out about eight hours after notification to proceed. We also participated in daily conference calls and supplied the client with detailed management reports four to five times daily, seven days a week, over a period of four months. To learn more about how these solutions can help your business, contact us.
Incident Reporting Management Enhances Productivity
Incident reporting solutions improve employee productivity. Personnel are one of the most important parts of any organization, and employers should take steps to reduce their risks and liabilities. FROI (First Report Of Injury) is crucial for compliance with workers’ compensation guidelines. When an incident occurs, the insurance companies depend on the accuracy of information collected. The policy holders report a notice about the incident and the incident reporting management companies on the behalf of their clients handle workers’ compensation, auto, property, general liability and other long-term disability claims. They are experienced and trained specialists and capture all data using best practices.
Commercial and personal insurance carriers, third party administrators and self-insured companies utilize services of incident reporting management companies for reducing their costs. The incident reporting process starts when a person reports to the incident reporting company. Each state has a different FROI form and it is required to be completed in quadruplicate. One copy is sent to the employee, one to insurer, one to the state and one is retained for business records. It is necessary to hire the services of a reliable company so that the FROI form is completed promptly. In order to ensure accurate claims, the form must be completed in full and quickly accepted by the state on the first submission.
The cost-effective claim and incident reporting management helps companies in achieving long-term success. The specialists use all means of communication and organization to enhance their clients’ experiences. These include telephone, email, fax and web entry to make sure that comprehensive reporting is done in the most accurate way. While selecting an incident reporting management company, it is vital to ensure that the company files reports timely and accurately to avoid any re-filing fines. The company should be experienced in this field and provide customized solutions as per client’s needs. Hiring the services of such companies improves the work environment for all employees while staying in compliance with the state laws.
High Tech Claims Management and Incident Reporting
In incident reporting and claims management, it’s critical to stay ahead of the game. This means leveraging all available methods of communication and organization to optimize the client experience. Data integration across all contact methods is crucial. This includes telephone, e-mail, fax, and web entry in order to ensure consolidated reporting and may be filtered by contact method. Individual notices should immediately transmit via automated e-mail or fax to any number of recipients, based on the location, type of report and other criteria.
Scheduled summary reports must also available, allowing regular electronic distribution of reports daily, weekly, monthly, or by custom period to multiple recipients based on level of management within your organization. VoIP solutions are invaluable in enhancing telephonic intake by quickly connecting intake specialists with policyholder account information. Call switch statistics must be available for management reporting by individual incoming number. With these tools, complete call statistics and all associated time tracking may be summarized and archived down to thirty-minute intervals.
To maintain quality standards, Actec trainers and supervisors monitor daily, listening to live calls and recordings in conjunction with remote observation of FNOL intake. We record all calls, which are stored as .wav files and readily accessible. Using RightFax, we are also able to log and distribute in- and out-bound faxes and e-mails for efficient and fully accountable document management. Thorough, advanced organization is key to achieving FNOL success via claims management and incident reporting.
Actec Systems: Comprehensive Incident Reporting
Actec Systems has been providing claim reporting and other data intake services for many years. The experienced specialists are dedicated to providing solutions to commercial and personal insurance carriers, third-party administrators, FMLA services and more. They follow a complete incident reporting process to ensure that the reports are filed on time and accurately, thus avoiding re-submission and hefty fines. Full-cycle reporting starts with a comprehensive analysis of your needs, goals and the current process of your custom workflow. They ensure accuracy, minimization in call times and reduction of follow-up calls.
With Actec, policyholders can call the moment an incident occurs because Actec Intake Specialists are available 24/7, 365 days a year. They collect and disseminate critical
information such as commercial and personal lines claims, short-term disability and long-term disability claims as well non-claim reports and inquiries. VoIP solutions are utilized for connecting policyholder account information with intake specialists. They complete call statistics and then the associated time tracking is summarized. The trainers and supervisors of this incident reporting company monitor daily calls, listen to live calls along with remote observation of FNOL intake. All calls are stored as .wav files and can be easily accessed.
The incident reporting process does not end at the recording of vital details. These claim reports are required to be converted to actionable information so you can manage risks effectively. Complete incident reports are communicated to key recipients and the urgent reports are immediately flagged as high priority according to your business rules. Actec maintains first reports of injury (FROI) for worker’s compensation and does all state filing
processes of FROI as well as subsequent reports of injury (SROI). This incident reporting company provides you with all the data needed to monitor your performance such as the efficiency of in-house solutions, follow-up calls, filings and distributions and many other vital details.
The incident reporting process is aimed at reducing claims paid out, decreasing administrative costs and reducing overall expenses. The actionable data provides you with a complete overview of your organization for managing risks and
increasing profits. For more information, contact us.