14 Resolutions for 2014

1. Finding free loot is always a favorite of mine! According to government records, there is $35 billion in unclaimed funds owed to individuals and businesses. You can search for your own personal goldmine at www.unclaimed.org.

2. How about finding money for your claims organization? Did you know that 15 percent of all claims are closed with a missed subrogation opportunity? There are key steps that can be taken to ensure that adjusters are proactively identifying recoveries during the course of the claim. There are also some reactive steps that can be taken by capturing critical data points that have a high probability of identifying these missed opportunities on closed files. A simple place to start in the auto insurance sector is the identification of paid collision features with no associated PD payments.

3. Did you know that only 3 percent of claims are closed with a comparative negligence assessment? According to Jury Verdict Reporter, more than half of all claims adjudicated involve intersections, slip and falls and other scenarios where shared liability is likely to be assessed by a jury. By leveraging technology and training, organizations can add significantly to their bottom line through improved comparative negligence recognition and assessment.

4. How about trying something new? Our industry is notorious for being comfortable with the status quo. After all, humans are creatures of habit. We don't like change, as change disrupts our routine. Like death and taxes, however, change is one of life's only certainties. So don't wait for the change; be the change. Use 2014 to be the catalyst to take your claims organization from ordinary to extraordinary. The one constant of the most successful organizations in any industry is that they are the facilitators of change. As Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) so eloquently put it in Caddyshack, “Just be the ball.”

5. Take business networking to a new level. Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn are all great places to leverage for both personal and professional information. Consider these 33 ways to use LinkedIn to grow your business.

6. Set SMART goals. Metrics need to be defined like so:

Specific. Rather than “improve subrogation”, the goal should be set to a specific outcome, such as a 10-percent improvement in subrogation referrals over the prior year.

Measureable. Organizations must have a objective, rather than subjective, mechanism for accurately measuring metrics. For instance, it is often assumed that there is a lot of insurance fraud in Miami, but what if you could actually measure and track this with real industry data, such as that being compiled by Mitchell Auto Casualty Solutions?

Attainable. Goals should be realistic. As previously mentioned, the industry average rate of comparative assessment is 3 percent. By leveraging key technology, such as ClaimIQ, users typically find attainable results of 15 to 25 percent, depending on jurisdiction and level of expertise. While not suggesting that this is an attainable goal overnight, it is realistic for those who make the decision to leverage proven technology to drive long term results.

Relevant. Metrics should be relevant to the position. For example, putting salvage disposition in a subrogation adjuster performance evaluation may not be relevant to their job function. This holds true across the claims organization, where a myriad of processes are measured. The key to success is to ensure the right metrics are applied to the right positions.

Time bound. Again, specificity is critical to outcomes. Rather than saying we need to reduce BI severities, it should be phrased that we need to reduce leakage in BI evaluations by the end of the year by a specific percentage. The key to success lies with implementing a method of identifying the leakage through proven medical bill audits that address benchmark medical pricing, relatedness and duration of treatment coupled with deceptive practices such as upcoding, unbundling or modifier abuse.

7. Look for others who can show you something you don't already know! Often looking outside of one's industry can provide a wealth of ideas to raise the bar. Look to companies such as Samsung, Southwest, Toyota or Apple to see how this challenge can transform entire industries.

8. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Of course, once the bar has been raised, it becomes par for the course to emulate success. Certainly copying is a form of flattery and at times it may work, but doesn't it stand to reason that those who have already raised the bar once will simply do it again. So rather than simply try to play catch up, take the risk necessary to leap frog your organization into the lead.

9. Refine hiring practices. People are the core of any organization—claims or otherwise. The caveat is that the right people become our greatest assets, the wrong people our greatest challenges. While people are critical to outcomes, industry supremacy will not come from people alone! The key is to develop critical qualities that define your best and brightest and then use a combination of hiring strategies and personality testing to bring the right people into your organization, and more importantly, retain them.

10. Process fundamentals. There is a reason that football teams punch the ball up the middle more frequently than any other play; because it works. A quick handoff to the running back is the surest way to get yards. It is not fancy, it is not glamorous, but it works. Sure, teams will mix it up, but at the end of the day it is fundamental strategy that gets the job done. The same can be said in claims organizations where the basics are often forsaken with the hopes that technology will be the savior. Can technology help? Yes. Can it replace fundamentals? No. It takes a combination of people, processes and technology to drive improved accuracies and outcomes. Technology will improve results in direct correlation to how well there is basic execution by personnel. Consider the billions of dollars left on the table by the industry as the result of improper liability assessments and missed subrogation opportunities. People need to be the front line; process improvement and efficiency needs to be the playbook. Technology will just make them better.

11. Don't be afraid of innovation, which becomes the key differentiator among organizations that effectively block and tackle. Technology allows for adjusters to be more productive and efficient, ultimately improving claims accuracies while reducing expenses. Consider the simple act of reviewing an attorney demand. A well-schooled adjuster may be able to identify deceptive billing practices, such as upcoding or unbundling. But this takes time, and adjusters are busy. Leveraging technology to do the heavy lifting allows them to more effectively push claims to closure in a shorter period of time.

12. Keep your eye on the 'ball.' On December 31, 2014, where will you be when the ball descends in Times Square? Focus on the ball during the course of the year and chances are your results will be significantly improved. While this may seem obvious, it is much easier said than done. Distractions in claims organizations abound. Far too often the easier path is the one of least resistance.

13. Have fun. There is nothing worse than an organization that sucks the fun out of life. At its core, claims organizations offer a difficult environment. From customers who may not be happy to shareholders demanding better results, claims personnel often bear the brunt of their ire. After all, it is us who spend the money. Creating a positive environment may seem challenging, but with the right people driving the bus it can be accomplished.

14. Leverage a business partner with a proven track record of success. Rome was not built in a day, nor was it built be a single person. Rather, true success takes a myriad of partnerships with those who have access to a wealth of resources and best practices that can assist claims executives in driving execution and outcomes.

With the New Year upon us, now is the time to have the courage to pursue dreams to make 2014 the happiest, healthiest and most prosperous year ever!