The expression “one and done” first arrived on the college basketballscene in the mid-2000s when the National Basketball Association(NBA) began prohibiting high school seniors from entering the NBAdraft right after graduation.

Since the league required new athletes to be 19 years of age orplay one year of college or international basketball before turningpro, most student athletes opted to play a single year of collegeball before entering the draft. 

As Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner recently said, the “one anddone” era may be coming to a close because the current system isunsustainable. The attempt to protect professional basketball fromunprepared players has led to an influx of illegal, corporatedollars flowing into college sports and other negativerepercussions.   

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Technology is allowing adjusters to settle claims faster,but are they capturing all of the critical information? (Photo:Shutterstock) 

Does one and done work in claims?

The insurance claim handling industry has created its own formof one and done in the past couple years. Some carriers and IAfirms—seeking to establish faster protocols for handling claims—arehopeful to short circuit the scoping and estimating process. Theywant insurance adjusters to inspect, estimate and issue advancepayments to policyholders as quickly as possible and, preferably,at the customer site after the first inspection: one inspection,one estimate, file “done.”

The logic to accelerate cycle times and process payments toensure happier policyholders make a great deal of sense. While thelogic here is sound, the system is flawed. Fundamentally, today'smarket lacks the resources to execute this one and done modelsuccessfully. This is because there are limited experienced fieldpeople to implement a proper scope followed by an accurate estimateproduced quickly on-site.

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For example, what happens during hurricane season when thoseexperienced resources are desperately needed in multiple locationsat once? Supply is short, and as more inexperienced resources arecalled upon, their ability to execute a one and done model quicklyfalls apart. If there is an attempt to do so, there becomes agreater likelihood of re-inspections and other time-consumingchallenges that will prolong the process of closing a file.

Further, the one and done model de-values the scoping taskitself. Estimates are, inherently, a derivative of a scope. Whilecritically important to settle a loss, estimates are typicallydelivered alongside general loss reports, scope notes and othersupplemental information.

If there is a rush to execute the estimate, is sufficientattention being paid to the creation of the scope itself and thesupplemental information? Failure to give those relateddeliverables proper attention can result in downstream challengesfor carriers and service providers, especially if there areestimating discrepancies or a file ends up in court.

Specialization may allow adjusters to capture informationmore quickly and expedite complex claims. (Photo:Shutterstock)  

Turning to claims specialization

A growing number of top insurance businesses are insteadsegmenting the workforce involved in claims operations currentlyhandled by a singular, field-based labor group. The separationcreates focus, scale and greater efficiency. It can also enable anew kind of specialization in tasks such as “drone piloting” or“roof inspecting” in the field, and “central estimating” or “fileexamining” at the desk.   

We see optimal claims operations like the assembly line that putAmerican manufacturing on the map and continues to drivemanufacturing globally. If you were to build a car, you wouldn'task each technician to build an entire car single handedly. Why?Because doing the upholstery and installing electronic componentsrequires different skill sets. It's called an assembly line becauseinterchangeable parts are added as the semi-finished assembly movesfrom workstation to workstation. When the parts are added insequence, final assembly is most efficient. Asking a single personto build the whole car is inefficient and produces a lessconsistent product.

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We believe that Henry Ford's assembly line approach — not theone and done approach — is far more effective for the claimsprocess because it creates specialization in tasks and efficiencyin the production of the scope and deliverables.

Team handling or inside-outside models with different serviceofferings can help achieve the desired work products relative tothe type and size of losses a carrier seeks. The claims assemblyline model enables each person in the line to better specialize andoptimize for a specific task. Just like the NBA is changing, it'stime to embrace a better path to faster, more consistent, and lessexpensive claims operations.

Brett Goldberg is the CEO of Spex. Contact himat [email protected]. Opinions offered arethe author's.