When it comes to the life of a claim, arguably some of the greatest organizational challenges arise during the subrogation process. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than subrogation response, a task often left to line adjusters struggling to manage ever-increasing workloads.

During my tenure as a claims-process leader at multiple Top 10 P&C carriers, this was a challenge that we constantly faced. Through our recognition of this area for improvement, we focused on continual process enhancements in order to remove these time-consuming claims from the line adjusters' scope of responsibility.

While organizations have a myriad of processes and claims workflows, there are two constants that can drive improvements in subrogation response: recognition and response.

• Recognition—The first step to maximizing financial returns on subrogation response is through timely recognition and review of the demand. In many organizations this can prove to be challenging in a world of competing priorities where higher emphasis may be placed on contacts, inspections and disposition.

• Response—With the advent of technology, it is now possible to balance priorities while leveraging innovative new solutions to handle subrogation response. This benefits the adjuster by freeing up time to address the most important priorities, as well as the organization, which can get an immediate lift from technological innovation.

The results of such actions will speak for themselves—with an improvement in indemnity, decreased cycle time and a reduction in intercompany arbitration.

Companies such as Chicago-based HyperQuest provide a seamless and transparent workflow using patented technology, thereby enabling adjusters to hand off subrogation demands from claimant carriers. In a traditional setting, these demands often find their way to the bottom of an incoming stack of mail. The estimates may be rubber-stamped for payment or inadvertently forgotten, resulting in an increase in adverse intercompany-arbitration filings. In the best-case scenarios, the subrogation demands may be submitted to an appraisal group for review using their estimating platform to be scrubbed for company compliance and industry standards. The downside is that this formalized process will increase costs while limiting productivity with a limited impact on leakage.

By identifying workflow opportunities, insurers have the ability to fundamentally transform the existing subrogation-response process. By leveraging technology, insurers can free up existing staff to focus on more critical tasks, such as contacts, inspections and claims disposition. Most critically, changing the paradigm on subrogation response from reactive to proactive will have a profound impact on severity and expense improvement.

Special Reports /

Overcoming the Obstacles of Subrogation Response

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