After months of sheltering in place, it should come as no surprise that claims volumes are down. COVID-19 has impacted markets around the globe, and has produced ripple effects in the auto insurance market that are influencing many aspects of the claims ecosystem—from the global supply chain to workflows to the car parc itself. So what does this mean for collision repair and the claims industry as a whole? Three early indicators have already emerged that could have a long-lasting impact.
By Bruce Shutan, The Self Insurer
Pandemic anxiety, depression and isolation gives us a taste of what employees face in overcoming a work injury
The workers’ compensation and auto casualty industries today are still in most cases, bogged down by paper. While it can be challenging to transition a claims operation to digital, removing paper from the claims process can provide many benefits, including improving data quality, efficiencies and effectiveness, and can help payors comply with current state regulations and adapt to future regulations. One highly effective and relatively simple method to move toward a paperless approach is implementing an electronic payment system to create a medical claims workflow where payment, fulfillment, remittance and filings can help carriers eliminate paper checks and the administrative processes and costs that come with them.
Payers and the companies they represent are eager to get injured workers back on their feet and back on the job. Many of these companies represent the heavyweights of corporate America. Major employers like manufacturers, large retailers, and airlines rely on comprehensive return-to-work programs to help their injured employees recover. The best programs do far more than safeguard the bottom line. They focus on truly addressing the needs of injured workers themselves. That’s because the longer workers are away, the less likely it is they will return to the workplace. The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board has broken down some statistics, and reports that there is only a 50 percent chance that an injured employee will return to work after a six-month absence. That drops to a 25 percent chance following a one-year absence. After two years away, the likelihood a worker will return plunges to a 1 percent chance.
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