The Hartford ClaimPlus Team(SM) Provides the Third Alternative in Claims Handling
18 Aprile 2005 - 10:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
The Hartford ClaimPlus Team(SM) Provides the Third Alternative in
Claims Handling New claim services model offers account knowledge,
flexibility HARTFORD, Conn., April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Good claim handling is increasingly complex, costly and important
to a company's bottom line. For accounts with unique handling
requirements, the right service model that lies somewhere between
standard claim handling and a third party administrator (TPA) is
now available at The Hartford. The Hartford ClaimPlus Team(SM)
provides accounts with a designated team of claim professionals
that handle only these unique accounts. The structure promotes
intimate knowledge of the account and provides flexibility to meet
its specific needs. The claim process brings appropriate resources
to the claim for better communication and results. "The Hartford
really understands what risk managers want, and built a new service
model that responds. Its cornerstone is our proprietary triage tool
that uses a predictive model to quickly identify the level of
claims expertise required and route it to the right team member,"
said Sean Faherty, assistant vice president of claim account
management at The Hartford. "Experience shows that immediately
aligning a claim to the appropriate resource optimizes claim
outcomes." Standard insurance claim handling works fine for most
small and mid-size companies with straightforward claim needs. TPAs
are often a good choice for large firms that want to pick and
choose among unbundled services -- and pay for their choices. A
certain segment of businesses with unique handling requirements,
though, have largely been underserved. To effectively address their
requirements, The Hartford ClaimPlus Team services all
property-casualty claims for The Hartford insurance customers with
complex needs, including geographically dispersed losses and a
minimum of $400,000 in premium. This is a threshold below the
traditional TPA focus. To meet these needs, The Hartford has
established a dedicated ClaimPlus team in each of its claim centers
that specializes in larger accounts. Each team ClaimPlus team is
staffed with the following members: * A claim service consultant
(CSC) who serves as primary point of contact with the client
company and develops a service plan; * A team manager to execute
the claim service plan and ensure adherence to pre-determined
special procedures; * A team leader to manage the process; * A
complement of claim handlers who specialize in different lines of
business and different levels of claim complexity. The structure of
The ClaimPlus Team enables use of The Hartford's specialization and
segmentation capabilities to align each claim with a professional
who has the appropriate claim expertise. The Hartford ClaimPlus
model emphasizes communication, flexibility and comprehensive claim
handling and account knowledge. "We designed ClaimPlus with our
customers' high expectations in mind. There are other good insurers
doing some of what we're doing here, but we've put all pieces
together in a way that really differentiates our claim handling,"
Faherty said. Risk manager feedback has been very positive. "After
44 years in risk management, I appreciate the value of a responsive
team that understands my business needs and works with me," said
Larry Garman, risk manager at Riggs Industry in Boswell, Penn. "The
ClaimPlus team gets me involved at every level, even with Medical
Only claims to keep them from escalating into lost-time cases.
Sometimes a claim's needs will go up or down, but since the claim
stays within the team it works well." For further information,
Hartford agents should contact their local underwriter. The
Hartford is one of the nation's largest financial services and
insurance companies, with 2004 revenues of $22.7 billion. The
company is a leading provider of investment products, life
insurance and group benefits; automobile and homeowners products;
and business property-casualty insurance. The Hartford's Internet
address is http://www.thehartford.com/. Some of the statements in
this release may be considered forward-looking statements as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We
caution investors that these forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ
materially. Investors should consider the important risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. These
important risks and uncertainties include those discussed in our
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our 2004 Annual Report on Form 10-K
and the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. We assume no obligation to update this release, which
speaks as of the date issued. Contacts: Sue Honeyman 860-547-4976
Victoria Gallant 860-547-4938 DATASOURCE: The Hartford Financial
Services Group, Inc. CONTACT: Sue Honeyman, +1-860-547-4976, , or
Victoria Gallant, +1-860-547-4938, , both of The Hartford Web site:
http://www.thehartford.com/
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