Consulting firm Health Strategy Associates recently completed their first annual survey of workers’ compensation claims systems to find out what insurer front-line staff and executives are looking for when considering technology purchases.

To learn more about the company's results, PropertyCasualty360.com spoke with HSA Associate Sandy Blunt, who also is vice president of insurance services at Medata. Formerly, Blunt served as the COO of the Ohio State Workers’ Comp Fund and CEO of the North Dakota State Fund.

In this podcast, Blunt discusses HSA’s survey findings based on information gleaned from interviews conducted with more than 100 respondents, and explains how software providers will have to respond to these concerns to be relevant moving forward. He also analyzes the top tech providers in the space and offers up insights for vendors looking to increase their presence.

Here are a few quotes from Sandy Blunt, made during the podcast:

• “Seventy percent of [survey] respondents had 11 years or more experience in workers’ comp, and over half had 15 years or more,” he said. “A third had more than $150 million in premium sales per year. Additionally, we learned that respondents’ current systems have been in place for about five and a half years, and they expect to replace or significantly modify the system in next 2-3 years."
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• “One of the most significant findings was a large disconnect between the front-line staff and the executives on whether or not their current system was fully integrated with their bill review and utilization review system,” he said. “While 80 percent of front-line users were clear that there was no full integration between claims and bill/utilization review, 60 percent of executives said they were integrated.”
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• “Both front-line staff and executives were very clear: They want a better full integration — not pieces and parts— but a full integration and no more smoke and mirrors.”
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• “When we asked respondents, in their view, who was the leading claims system vendor, the number one answer was, ‘I do not know.’”

To listen to the full interview, click the play button below.