The health reform bill and changing demographics are helping drive carriers' offerings and strategies.

A new study of IT spending trends seems to indicate that the departure of these bad times is not yet imminent.

According to the “IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks 2010/2011” study just released by Computer Economics, there has been no recovery yet in terms of IT operational spending. The study is based on a survey of more than 200 IT executives conducted in the first quarter of 2010, and includes individual chapters for 16 commercial and government sectors, including insurance.

The Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA) today announced that it has expanded its efforts to provide compliant social media guidance and resources within the annuity, life insurance and long term care insurance arenas with today’s release of the IMSA Social Media Policy Template.

This issue of Deloitte's Forward Focus, “Building social media into the game plan,” discusses how insurers might leverage new social media technologies and networking tools while avoiding the inherent risks of implementation.

Business intelligence (BI) is all the rage these days, with vendors touting solutions to gather and analyze information about our companies and our customers to help us make better decisions. In this continually flaccid economy, it seems obvious that this should be a priority for insurers, but a recent survey indicates carriers just aren’t getting the job done when it comes to BI.

Life insurers looking to reach the elusive middle market must limit costs and deliver products efficiently. Generations X and Y will demand access to insurance on their own schedule, and won't tolerate the slow, invasive underwriting process of yesterday. Or so the advocates of automated underwriting would tell you. In fact, for these and other reasons, many life insurance companies continuously seek to streamline the underwriting process while preserving its protective value. Automated underwriting systems are often touted as the solution. Although these systems have been around for some time, not much is known about the industry's experience with them. (Article from the SOA's Marketing and Distribution Section January 2010 newsletter.

The world of social networks and social media move swiftly, and these last two weeks have been no exception with Twitter’s conference announcing promoted tweets, and Facebook’s F8 conference announcing all manner of changes to their Web site. Here are a few things to watch out for that may already be affecting you.

Insurers will increasingly use public shared data to inform pricing decisions and aid in fraud detection, predict researchers from Celent. What's more, says Mike Fitzgerald, a senior analyst in the Chicago office of Celent, insurers could use information gleaned from social networking websites, including Facebook, when deciding whether and how to underwrite applicants for life insurance.

A new study on social networking has just been released that shows the insurance industry leads in the use of Twitter.

New life underwriting technologies have gained ground during the last decade. Recent surveys sponsored by the Society of Actuaries and other industry groups show strong inroads and increased confidence in these new tools. More significantly, the focus of underwriting technology is moving beyond speed, ease of case submission and sales support to strategic business benefits, including product design, pricing and capital considerations. As we enter a new decade, the goal will be to take advantage of what’s available to improve efficiencies without losing sight of the big picture – risk management – and the analysis and understanding that is required to manage risk.

Property/casualty insurers outshine their health and life counterparts when it comes to customer satisfaction, a new study finds.

The insurance industry is trailing behind other industries in keeping customers informed electronically, a recent research study concludes.

Commissioned by U.S.-based NewRiver, a company that provides technology solutions to financial services firms, the study found variable annuity (VA) and variable universal life (VUL) policyholders had a strong inclination towards receiving prospectus and related compliance documents electronically.

Who runs one of the world’s largest personal health records businesses? Today the life insurance industry spends over $1 billion annually on the routine chore of creating and compiling the exams, lab tests, and attending physician statements (APSs) required to underwrite the 10 million plus life insurance applications submitted in the United States. Unlike most health records, these documents and files tend to be imaged or otherwise organized into digital formats to drive down the cost of the underwriting process.
What if this routine expense could be transformed into a value added service that customers appreciate and look forward to receiving? And what if the value of this service shifted the customer’s perspective to the point that they didn’t really mind the wait for their policy to be underwritten?

Celent provides a detailed look at 18 policy administration systems for life, health, and annuities.

In a new report, North American Policy Administration Systems 2010: Life, Health, and Annuities ABCD Vendor View, Celent looks at policy administration systems available to insurers in North America. The report is part of a series on policy administration systems (PAS) in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

The Marketing and Distribution and Product Development Sections along with the Committee on Life Insurance Research, are pleased to make the following report available. Authored by a Mike Batty and Alice Kroll of Deloitte Consulting, the report summarizes the results of a company survey on the utilization of life insurance automated underwriting systems.

More and more, it seems, “Welcome to the new normal” is becoming the mantra of the day when it comes to the pace of our business enterprises. We hear it everywhere from the hip technology gurus (ahem) and the purveyors of new technology. But what exactly are we talking about here?

A new blood test could improve cancer-screening compliance.

The latest issue looks at:

• Underwriting the Elderly - Findings From a U.S. Survey
• Beyond Containment but Well Into the Guessing Game - The Novel A/H1N1 Influenza Pandemic
• Evidence-based Underwriting - Rheumatoid Arthritis

While life insurers continue to reflect mortality improvements in their pricing, it is uncertain how much of the improvements can be attributed to better underwriting information and processes and how much to general mortality improvements in the insured population. Dave Dorans, Vice President of Mortality Solutions, discusses life insurance underwriting with Tia Goss Sawhney, owner of TSStrategic Consulting, LLC.

Despite what Rush Limbaugh would have us believe, the movement toward electronic medical records is not about some Orwellian plot. Hospitals' Electronic Wasteland looks at stimulus funds aiming to change a system largely devoid of in-depth electronic record keeping.

Managing the risks, liabilities and solutions associated with electronic processes and interactions related to conducting business over the Internet is a challenge for every insurance company today. The exposure to online risks is pervasive, potentially affecting most aspects of an insurance organization, including assets, operations, finances, legal, regulatory compliance and even reputation. Exactly how serious is the threat of cyber attacks on insurance operations, and what currently are the most dangerous cyber threats to carriers' systems?

When used with data mining tools and street investigations, predictive analytics can be among the biggest electronic enemies of the fraud rings that cost insurers tens of billions of dollars annually.

Building a bona fide mortality management solution is not easy, but the value-creating potential is too big to ignore. In the short run, a mortality management solution improves operational efficiencies and mortality results. In the long run, it captures data that provide essential insights for building competitive products and meeting evolving regulatory demands, according to Joanne Collins, Lead Consultant, Product Consulting & Development.