CCC Introduces First-Ever Automated Claims Review Product
6 May 1998
CCC Introduces First-Ever Automated Claims Review Product New Quality Advisor Offers Millions in Savings Potential
CHICAGO, May 6 -- CCC Information Services Inc.
today announced the availability of Quality Advisor(TM), the
claims industry's first-ever software product that automates the auto physical
damage claims review process. Quality Advisor is a groundbreaking automated
workflow management tool that allows claims adjusters, reinspectors and desk
reviewers to decrease settlement cycle time, lower loss costs, and enhance the
quality of collision damage estimates by identifying irregularities and errors
in a claim before payment is made.
Quality Advisor has been credited with substantial payment severity
savings by insurance companies that tested the system. Significant expense
savings are obtained by the improved productivity among staff that audit claim
files. For example, a top five insurance company that served as a beta test
for Quality Advisor, reported a reduction in severity and expense per claim of
$55. This exceeds CCC's initial projections that an insurance company would
save approximately $45 per claim, which translates into an industry-wide
savings opportunity of over $500 million annually.
Most insurance companies evaluate estimate quality after the appraisal has
been completed and often the audits occur after payment has been issued.
Estimate audits are usually quality checked by desk reviewers who read and
analyze each claim by hand. As a result, insurers may spend time on files
with no aberrations and fail to review others with obvious problems.
"Most often, errors in an auto damage claim -- like accidental use of an
incorrect labor rate -- are not caught until after payment has already been
sent to the consumer or collision repairer," commented Karoline Obora, product
manager at CCC. "With Quality Advisor, this problem is eliminated because the
software verifies the accuracy of an estimate much earlier in the claims
cycle. Quality Advisor helps reduce costs because it identifies any
miscalculations or inaccuracies long before the claim is paid, and in many
cases, before work on the vehicle has even been started."
Obora continued, "Manually reviewing 100 percent of estimates is often
viewed as cost prohibitive. Quality Advisor eliminates an outdated manual
process, electronically scanning each estimate to identify errors and
inconsistencies and enabling the claims reviewer to take corrective action
before it is too late."
Quality Advisor consolidates all the estimate and supplemental information
into one file to check rates, identify inconsistencies and verify that all the
parameters included in each file are consistent with the guidelines set by an
insurance company. In addition to tracking and reporting on estimate quality
for staff appraisers and direct repair shops, Quality Advisor also measures
and reports on the productivity of staff performing the reviews. "Over time,
the savings realized by Quality Advisor can translate into a nice boost to the
company's bottom line," said Obora.
CCC Information Services Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Ill., is the
automotive claims industry's leading supplier of advanced software and
communication systems. Its value-added, technology-based products and
services increase efficiency and facilitate communication among more than
12,500 collision repair facilities, 300 insurance companies and a range of
business partners. For information about CCC Information Services Inc., call
contact below.
SOURCE CCC Information Services Inc.
