In its 30 years in business, Redding, Calif.-based LifeHelp Insurance Ad-ministration Services has grown from an insurance brokerage into a nationwide, full-service third-party administrator (TPA) for life and health insurance products. There comes a time, though, when a policy administration system can take a TPA or a carrier only so far. We needed to be able to rapidly respond to providing solutions to potential clients, says Henry Cuenca, LifeHelp president. If you can quickly provide a solution when youre in the business of solving headaches, you bring in a whole level of value-added to any situation.

A committee was formed that included LifeHelps former IT officer and the head of sales and marketing, who had a software background. After identifying solution vendors that might be able to handle its needs, LifeHelp sent the committee to visit several of them. Following a trip to AdminServer in its Malvern, Pa., office, the committee returned believing it had found a solution. It was browser based, with a 100 percent Microsoft platform, and written in Visual Basic, Cuenca says.

AdminServer was formed in 1998 to address the software needs of all segments of the insurance industry. The company delivers a common platform for individual life and annuity carriers as well as for group market segments. Carriers can lower the cost of policy administration by using a common platform that doesnt require systems modifications. The system allows carriers and TPAs to perform complete policy administration for group life and AD&D, bill and collect premiums, and implement document printing, claims handling, and reporting.