Want to reduce cycle times? Find missing claim details faster

December 10, 2019 / 3 min read

Claims adjusters are charged with a difficult task: They have to process claims quickly and efficiently, but sometimes they don’t have the necessary information to do so. Without critical entity or event details, claims stay open longer, cycle times extend, costs escalate, and customer satisfaction declines.

But just because you don’t have key details at first notice of loss (FNOL) doesn’t mean the information isn’t available if you know where to find it—and how to get it. The faster you can access that information, the quicker you can settle claims and close your claim files or refer them for further investigation if necessary.

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Waiting for critical information can cost you

While you may have information about insureds, getting details on third-party claimants can be challenging. And the longer it takes to find that information, the more it can cost your company.

Consider this scenario: Your insured was involved in a two-car auto accident in which the claimant was injured. The claimant was transported to the hospital by ambulance, his car was towed, and the insured only got the claimant’s license plate number.

What do you do next? You can order the police report and wait for the third party to contact you, but that can take weeks. And as days and weeks pass, claim costs can spiral:

Storage fees add up as the vehicle sits in the tow yard.
Rental vehicle costs continue to accrue.
If the vehicle is sold to salvage, you can’t get images to assess damage accurately.

That’s why the first hours and days after a claim is filed are critical for speedy resolution.

Finding details early expedites claims processing

Instead of waiting, you could take a proactive approach and uncover vital missing details through readily available supplemental data reports. This resource will provide important entity details and contact information, so you can make the right decisions and reach out to the claimant immediately.

For example, the report can instantly provide details such as an entity’s name, AKAs, address, email addresses, and phone numbers (landline and mobile), even with minimal search inputs.

With this information, you can contact the claimant and fill in that missing information needed to start processing the claim more quickly and efficiently.

Checking for suspicious claim activity

Even with entity and event details, you still need to verify the information for accuracy and make sure there’s nothing suspicious about the claim.

You can start by searching the loss history of the claimant and the vehicle. In this scenario, let’s say the loss history report indicates prior damage to the claimant’s vehicle. Was the damage repaired before this accident, or is the claimant trying to link existing damage to the current claim?

Normally, you would have few options to find out if the vehicle still had existing damage on the date of loss, and it could take extensive time and effort to verify that information. Instead, you can search available records that provide time-stamped vehicle photos along with other valuable details. Just by entering a search on the license plate and a date range, the report would show photos of the vehicle and potentially verify whether it still had the prior damage before the accident.

With this information collected and verified, you can make a better-informed decision on processing the claim.

Faster and more efficient claim review

Gathering information for effective claim review doesn’t have to be a long and arduous process. Though there may be missing details at FNOL, you can quickly and efficiently access critical claim information from a single source within your current workflow.

Decision Net® helps claims handlers uncover entity details and make more informed decisions with access to hundreds of reports from best-in-class sources right within the ClaimSearch® platform. You never have to leave the platform and search external sources. With key information at your fingertips, you can expedite meritorious claims and make better SIU referrals when they’re needed.