Life Insurance, Health Insurance
PR Newswire | August 17, 2023
EvolutionIQ, the market-leading Claims Guidance platform for Disability, Workers' Compensation, and Property & Casualty lines of insurance, today announced that Principal Financial Group® has extended the use of EvolutionIQ's Claims Guidance platform into production for all of its disability insurance lines. Principal® is now the first carrier to extend EvolutionIQ across every segment of its group and individual disability product segments.
EvolutionIQ's machine learning understands complex bodily injury to help guide claim examiners to the right actions on claims. Principal has extended EvolutionIQ's impact to all disability coverage phases. With claim actions happening earlier across all parts of the recovery journey, a positive ripple-effect occurs through the entire process.
Data shows that EvolutionIQ enables Principal examiners to reduce unnecessary customer interactions by 64% on stable-bound claims, which are claims that will migrate to a mature status due to the longer recovery times expected. With fewer unnecessary interactions, customers are able to focus more time on recovery. Improved customer experience includes:
More accurate referrals to clinical and vocational experts – which eliminates delays when the help of a specialist is what is most needed to help with recovery.
Better identification of modified occupation opportunities or alternative occupations for those whose illness or injury means they will not be able to return to work in their original occupation.
Faster benefit payments for sick or injured customers whose claims are stable or designated as long-term. These customers also benefit as the need to check-in with claims teams is significantly reduced.
Matching senior examiners to more complex claims so that the right expertise is applied at first notice of injury.
"Principal is dedicated to providing unique, tech-driven solutions for employers that simplify the benefits experience, not just at onboarding or the claims payment experience, but as part of the entire process in between," said Kara Hoogensen, Senior Vice President & Head of Workplace Benefits at Principal Financial Group. "Our continued collaboration with EvolutionIQ has improved the experience for our customers."
Added EvolutionIQ co-Founder and co-CEO Michael Saltzman: "We are thrilled to continue to work with Principal across their disability product lines. They are committed to all forms of innovation that advance the interests of their customers and policy holders and we're honored to help them further their mission every day."
Principal first integrated with EvolutionIQ in 2021 with the successful pilot and production launch of EvolutionIQ's Group Mature module. In 2022, Principal became a strategic investor in EvolutionIQ's Series B funding round, joining existing strategic investors New York Life Ventures, Tokio Marine, Guardian and Sedgwick, and has now expanded its use to include Group Short Term Disability and Group Long-Term Disability Core modules, as well as EvolutionIQ's Individual Disability module.
About EvolutionIQ
EvolutionIQ is the market leading Claims Guidance platform in Group and Individual Disability, Property & Casualty, and Workers' Compensation lines of insurance. EvolutionIQ now counts the majority of the top 20 US Disability and Life carriers as clients. EvolutionIQ's proprietary Artificial Intelligence uses the entire claim file contents, historical claims, and external data to guide claim handlers to their most productive task across the entire claim block, every day. The system combines real-time predictive accuracy, clear guidance, and explainable AI to ensure adoption and business impact. As a result, claims organizations spend their efforts on claims they can impact – and their claimants get better, more tailored service. Insurers choose EvolutionIQ to increase their profitability and control over complex lines of business by integrating decision intelligence into every step of the claims handling process.
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Compliance
PR Newswire | September 21, 2023
NEXT Insurance, a leading digital small business insurer, today announced a differentiated new offering that will enable agents to fully customize coverage quotes to better meet the needs of their small business clients. NEXT's Coverage Builder represents a fundamental leap in allowing agents the ability to micro-tailor small business quotes for their clients, all while maintaining NEXT's superior instant bind capabilities. Coverage Builder is fast, easy to use, and tailored exclusively to agents pre-purchase, equipping them with the tools they need to select the appropriate limits and fully control the coverage they're quoting.
With Coverage Builder, agents can select their base policy limits, add or remove coverage or update limits post-purchase, all while benefiting from the convenience of instant underwriting and price updates. This saves agents valuable time and money, allowing them to make changes automatically without the need to pick up the phone and connect directly with an underwriter. NEXT's Coverage Builder offering furthers the company's commitment to its agents by providing a user-friendly and accessible digital quoting experience, 100% online. Coverage Builder is also available to all NEXT customers post-purchase, allowing small business owners to tailor their policies with immediate price updates and seamless policy management.
"NEXT's Coverage Builder feature is 100% hassle-free," said Cody L Slocum Lammers, Commercial Lines Agent & Broker at Affordable Insurance Solutions. "This new feature sets NEXT Insurance to a new level, above its competitors, as this allows agents the flexibility to customize policies to fit the needs of each individual small business. It's user-friendly and simple to understand- this is truly a game changer for NEXT Insurance agents!"
"Agents are the go-to insurance experts and know exactly the unique types of coverage small business owners need - that's why we're offering them the opportunity to customize policies for their clients instead of standardized coverage packages," said Jack Ramsey, Vice President of Agent Business at NEXT Insurance. "Now, with NEXT's Coverage Builder, we are empowering agents to instantly quote and easily customize and bind policies that will best serve their customers. As a result, small business owners will gain the peace of mind that they're only paying for the coverage they need to protect their business and livelihood."
NEXT's Coverage Builder offering comes on the heels of the company's launch of commercial umbrella/excess liability coverage to support small businesses in their entrepreneurial journey. The digital small business insurer also recently announced its integration with Ivans Download™ for General Liability and Workers' Compensation policies and its strategic hire of Jack Ramsey as the company's Vice President of Agent Business. These developments are further evidence of NEXT's commitment to agents and dedication to providing them with a smoother, more intuitive insurance purchasing process for small business clients.
If you're interested in working with an insurance agent through NEXT Insurance, visit our website to find an expert to help you get the right coverage at the best price.
About NEXT Insurance
NEXT Insurance is transforming small business insurance with simple, digital, affordable and tailored coverage. Trusted by over 480,000 business owners, NEXT offers policies that are easy to buy and provides 24/7 access to Live Certificates of Insurance, additional insured, and more. Revolutionizing a historically complicated insurance industry, NEXT utilizes AI and machine learning to simplify the purchasing process and provide more affordable coverage. Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in Palo Alto, has received a total of $881 million in venture capital funding, is rated "A- Excellent" by AM Best and has been recognized by CNBC Disruptor 50, Forbes Fintech 50, Inc.'s Best-Led Companies, and Forbes Best StartUp Employers. For more information, visit NEXTInsurance.com. Stay up to date on the latest with NEXT on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and our blog.
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Core Insurance
GlobeNewswire | September 26, 2023
Applied Systems® today announced that Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc. has selected Applied Pay to make their business units more efficient across all workflows and simplify the payment process for their customers. The agency is taking advantage of Applied Pay’s integration with Applied Epic to automate payment collection, processing, and reconciliation, while providing an effortless, modern checkout experience that internet-savvy clients have come to expect.
“We’ve used other payment solutions in the past but didn’t get the buy-in we expected because the process was too cumbersome for our customers,” said Tiffany Johnston, Senior Vice President, Technology Operations Manager, Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc. “We’ve been long-time customers of Applied, so migrating to Applied Pay was the obvious choice. Not only do we get that ease of client payment through a link, but our accounting staff can streamline their back-end processes, a benefit that really made Applied Pay stand out.”
Applied Pay is a cloud-based electronic payments hub that enables agents and brokers to provide their clients with a secure, online way to pay new and recurring premiums. Directly integrated into Applied Epic®, Applied CSR24® and EZLynx Client Center, Applied Pay provides intuitive, branded checkout pages where policyholders can pay premiums via credit card or ACH. It automatically handles payment authorization and tokenizes sensitive information to increase security and ensure compliance. The solution also reconciles receivables at the account level, reducing manual workflows and improving the accuracy and timeliness needed to reconcile payments.
“In today’s e-commerce climate, consumers can make a purchase with just the click of a button, and paying for an insurance premium shouldn’t be any different,” said Chase Petrey, president of Applied Pay, Applied Systems. “It’s always a win-win when one solution can simplify processes for both customers and staff at once, something Applied Pay will allow Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc. to do by offering their customers an intuitive payment hub that models the modern online shopping cart experience while providing a speedy and secure reconciliation process for their accounting staff.”
About Applied Systems
Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and the innovation leader, Applied is the world’s largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applied’s people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.
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