NU Online News Service, April 18, 12:00 p.m.EST

There are hundreds of exhibitors representing the myriad ofinsurance interests and specialties assembled all in one place thisweek at the Risk and Insurance Management Society's 50^thannual meeting in Philadelphia.

National Underwriter spoke with a few of the exhibitorsto discuss a few of the new offerings they presented to the morethan 5,000 risk management attendees who gathered for the four dayevent that ends April 18.

RISK ANALYSIS DASHBOARD & CYBERRISK

Travelers' Michael J. Strietelmeier, second vice president, riskmanagement information services, presented the company's riskanalyzer dashboard in its e-CARMA suite of information services andtools on Monday.

The new web-based analyzer allows a risk manager to compile amyriad of worker injury loss data into a statistical format with afew clicks of the mouse.

The dashboard, which is assembled for clients by Travelers, hasloss history going back five years to give risk managers a granularpicture of their company's injury history and helps discernpatterns of loss.

It gives them the ability to recognize in what segments of theworkforce injuries are taking place and see trends where types ofinjuries that are most prevalent.

“This was built by risk management professionals for riskmanagers,” says Strietelmeier.

The analyzer is geared toward companies in the mid to large sizerange with a claim frequency of 50 to 100 claims a year.

The dashboard has been rolled out to 2,300 customers, saysTravelers, and shortly be rolled out to a total of 11,500.

Travelers also rolled out an enhanced version of its CyberFirstproduct that Kirstin Simonson, underwriting director of globaltechnology, explains expands its coverage to first party coverageoptions.

In the past, the product only covered third party cyberliability such as technology errors and omissions, network andinformation security liability and communications and medialiability.

Now, the first party coverage will cover costs resulting fromcyber attacks that go to the costs for forensic investigation todetermine what happened and who was harmed; cost of notification;reputational risk; exposure to fraud and telecommunication theft,such as billing for long distance phone calls the policyholdernever made.

Simonson says the telecommunication aspect is unique and hasnever been seen in the industry before.

She says Travelers can accommodate most companies with thisproduct. It is currently offered on a non-admitted basis in somestates, but the intent is to offer it on an admitted basis in allstates eventually.

PHYSICIAN-GUIDED CARE

Jeffrey D. Miller, chief operating officer for Paladin ManagedCare Services says his company is offering a unique service thatshould lower costs and improve outcomes in workers' compensationcases.

Paladin is offering physician guided management care.Where most healthcare management services companies rely on nursesto review cases and influence care, Miller says his company hasdoctors reviewing these cases.

The advantage is that workers' comp cases go through a peerreview process where doctors discuss cases with doctors todetermine the best outcome for a patient.

He says the process is built on years of developing a technologyprogram that focuses on getting the claim into the hands of theright specialist. The money savings comes from Paladin's specialistworking with the claimant's doctor to determine the most effectivecourse of action that gets the patient back to work quickly.

The system also streamlines the process where in the past anurse would have had to spend days seeking out the proper physicianto turn a case over to.

Decisions are made quickly and Miller says experience shows thissystem has been able to reduce medical costs by 8 percent andlitigation in a study group by more than 50 percent.

“Our system provides to the injured worker the right kind oftreatment and phenomenal cost savings,” says Miller.

DEALING WITH SUPPLY CHAIN EXPOSURE

Supply chain exposure is a growing concern among riskmanagers and AIR Worldwide has addressed that concern with theexpansion of its suite of Catastrophe Risk Engineering solutions toquantify the impact of catastrophes on supply chain networks.

Akshay Gupta, senior principal engineer director, catastropherisk engineering for AIR, explains that the new offering helps riskmanagers to better understand the probability of exposure to theirsupply chain.

The analysis can run from just a portion of the supply chain to100 percent to understand “the interdependent action of multipleevents” on their business.

He says the program can help risk managers look at not onlytheir facility, but also the surrounding region of a facility andhow catastrophe events can affect the organization.

The program can also examine political risk or otherdisruptive events that could affect the supply chain of anorganization.

“Here, we have taken out one level of the unknown,” says Gupta.“We have more clarity and that helps everyone. The cost ofuncertainty goes down.”

HISCOX ANDENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment industry now has an alternative to thetraditional domestic insurers with the launch of Hiscoxentertainment in the United States, explains Suzanne Kemble, headof Hiscox Media and Entertainment for the United Kingdom basedinsurer.

She says the company has a long history do offering coverage tothe entertainment industry all over the world, but held offpresenting it to the United States until it established an officehere.

Earlier this year, Hiscox began offering its suite ofentertainment coverage geared toward independent films and touringentertainment productions.

Unlike existing insurers, Kemble says the program offers a fullsuite of coverage for the entire aspect of the production process.The advantage here is that the insured and insurance brokers do nothave to worry about determining who the insurer is for a loss whena program is cobbled together utilizing several insurers.

Hiscox can also offer additional coverage for kidnap and ransomand errors and omissions coverage where needed.

The program is not seeking to compete with major Hollywoodproductions, says Kemble.

“We do not just want to compete on price,” she says. “We feelrelationships are key. We want to provide good service with peoplewe know and trust.”