NAIC Offers Regulatory Information on National Portal

A single point of entry for insurers and others to accessinsurance information, services, and tools now is available throughthe National Portal for Insurance Regulatory Information on the Website (www.naic.org) of the National Association of InsuranceCommissioners (NAIC). The NAICs Information Resources ManagementCommittee began demonstrations of the national portal search engineat the NAIC Spring National Meeting in Salt Lake City.

This technology tool is the first step in allowing [thoseparties] interested in insurance issues to target fully their areasof interest by focusing their online search to find informationthey need, says Jim Long, North Carolinas insurance commissioner,who chairs the Information Resources Management Com- mittee. Makingsimilar queries on other search engines provides Internet browsersan overwhelming number of choices and sponsored links that may beof little relevance. The national portal search engine cuts throughthose generic requests and delivers a more refined search ofpertinent insurance regulatory information.

At this stage, the portal is a search engine that allows usersto retrieve publicly available information from the NAIC andindividual state insurance department Web sites. Content from stateinsurance department Web sites is targeted to increase relevanceand assure authenticity and is updated regularly to be timely. Tomaintain the accuracy of the search engine, the portal is scheduledto check for updates on state insurance department Web sites atweekly intervals.

WHOS USING WHAT

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has upgraded to the 2004release of The Administrator from LIDP Consulting Services.Thrivent utilizes this version to process universal life andvariable universal life contracts in a Java presentationenvironment.

Muang Thai Life Assurance, one of the largest insurancecompanies in Thailand and a joint venture company of the FortisGroup, has agreed to use software and services from Eastpro, aglobal software solutions provider to the life insurance andfinancial industries.

Farmers Alliance Companies has signed a contract with ConnectiveTechnologies, Inc., to supply Farmers with an Internet-baseddownload solution, TEAM-UP Download. Cornerstone National InsuranceCompany also has signed up with Connective to provide Cornerstonean Internet-based download solution and data translationservices.

Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, PreserverGroup, Inc., Maryland Automotive Fund, DTRIC Insurance, CanalInsurance Company, and Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company ofArkansas, Inc., each have purchased the ImageRight documentmanagement system. ImageRight will help the companies streamlinetheir workflows in underwriting and claims.

California State Compensation Insurance Fund has licensed theFair Isaac SmartAdvisor medical bill review system.

Pacific Life Insurance Company has deployed mobile enterprisevoice portal technology from iHello in support of the companyssales force automation and customer relationship managementsolutions.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has signed a contract withUnisys to offer Blue companies outsourcing services for claimsadministration. The agreement provides the 40 independent, locallyowned and operated BCBS companies the option of contracting withUnisys for an end-to-end business process outsourcing solution.

American Fidelity Assurance Company has converted its finalblock of annuities onto McCamish Systems VPAS Life version 4.0,bringing the total number of contracts on the system toapproximately 150,000. Farmers New World Life Insurance Company andMcCamish announced they have extended their BPO relationshipthrough 2011. Farmers Life has been outsourcing the call center,policy administration, and claims processing activities for itsvariable universal life and annuity products to McCamish since2000.

Firemans Fund Insurance Company and First Notice Systems, Inc.,a claims-reporting solutions provider, announced Firemans Fund hasimplemented Claim-Capture, a Web-based claims-reporting platformdeveloped by First Notice. Firemans Fund also will implement a newmanagement system for agents from BearingPointthe GlobeNetTechnologies Firestorm Compensation solution will support agencyadministration, agency business planning, and incentivecompensation management.

Farmers Mutual Protective Association of Texas has chosen theExample Platform from Duck Creek Technologies for the developmentof a Web-based quoting and submission system.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company has approved eTFile forNationwide document management software for use by its more than4,000 agents in the United States. eTFile for Nationwide wasdeveloped and is marketed by Aprs Systems, Inc.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee has begun to implementapplications from Webify Solutions Healthcare On Demand, a suite ofservice-oriented business applications that enable BCBST to expandthe information exchange and process automation with its providercommunity.

Merastar Insurance Company has selected Steel Cards Apogeepoint-of-sale and policy administration solutions for autoinsurance across 47 states. Apogee will enable Merastar to deploynew products and offer self-service capabilities to itsdistribution channels as well as its policyholders.

Principal Financial Group has decided on Dialogue software fromExstream Software as the infrastructure for creation and deliveryof customer communications.

NJM Insurance Group, The California Insurance Guaran- teeAssociation, and New Mexico Mutual Group have opted for ClaimCenterfrom Guidewire Software as their new claims systems. ClaimCenterwill support the entire claims organization and all phases of theclaim process.