Acenda has partnered with EQ Pathology so doctors can provide medical information to the insurer’s underwriters more efficiently – without the need for PDF form-filling.
The partnership intends to streamline the processing of medical information and remove the need for manual intervention, helping reduce delays for advisers and their clients.
Gerard Kerr, Chief Executive Individual Business, said Acenda is the first Australian life insurer to deliver this new digitised process.
“It is part of our focus to transform underwriting and to innovate how our underwriters get precisely the information they need the first time, without the back and forth that can delay applications,” he said.
“Doctors will no longer have to download or print PDFs so advisers can provide their clients with faster decisions in a streamlined experience that still respects their privacy.”
Stephen Clarkson, CEO of EQ Pathology, said: “This partnership demonstrates how technology can solve real problems, making life insurance applications smoother and faster for clients, advisers and medical professionals.
“It’s exciting to see an insurer embrace our structured data approach to eliminate the traditional bottlenecks in underwriting.”
Looks good, but I'll wait till the delivery occurs. I've seen it all before – promises from new participants in the industry who spun out insurers by promising they could save on all the new business staff that spent time following up PMARs
It's over 15 years ago I guess when UHG was presented at product days (remember those) as the saviour to all the delays advisers experienced with doctors refusing to complete PMARsIn a timely fashion. I distinctly remember a spiel which went along the lines "we are doctors, we know how to talk to doctors to get results".
Yeah right!
A few years back when I was attempting to convince UHG to finally follow-up a recalcitrant cardiologist, I asked how many doctors were on staff. The answer was a definitive NIL, and that particular staff person could not remember any doctors sitting around calling their colleagues for late PMARs
Of course it never passed the pub test. To employ doctors in call centres would have meant paying them at least $300,000 a year. That's an expensive overhead.
We live in hope. Hope that it works and hope that other insurers spend the money to engage in the same technology.
Comments are closed.