Why It’s More Critical Than Ever to Support Mental Health and How Insurers Can Help
Editor’s Note: Ian Bridgman is a longstanding member of The Council for Disability Awareness board. He also happens to be British – although, according to Bridgman, he became a “bloody American” in 2008. (Despite his citizenship, Bridgman still carries his wonderful dry sense of humor.)
In this post, which first appeared on The Claim Lab blog, Bridgman makes an interesting analogy between the transition taking place in the British monarchy and opportunities in disability claim operations.
King Charles III is Formally Proclaimed to His New Role
As King Charles III takes on his new role, I pause to consider the enormity of the task before him. Somehow, he has to modernize the Royal Family to survive! But how does he do that within the constraints of the storied tradition and history? It is the pomp and ceremony that make a royal occasion so special, that comes from centuries of tradition.
Yet it is a complex web of culture and history, much of which built the institution in the first place, that now threatens its existence . . .
I find some of these themes mirrored in the disability claims industry.
Should New Claim Managers Be Trained in the Traditional Ways?
In the case of claims operations, it’s the experience of staff leaving their organizations, rather than the reign of a Queen coming to an end. This means that new claim managers have to be found, recruited, and trained. Should these new recruits be trained in the traditional ways or is this an opportunity to move our processes forward?
To attract new people, the claims process needs to be automated, modernized, and brought up to date with advanced technology and better use of data. Productivity needs to be improved to take away the boring drudgery of the job. Easy claims should not be given to claims managers.
We know that our young recruits want to feel their work is worthwhile, and meaningful: “I want to help people . . .”
So, we need to give our claim managers the skills to manage the most complex of claims such as mental health awareness, motivational interviewing, critical thinking, and so forth. This will equip our case managers with tools needed to better handle those complex claims.
Our new claims managers will get more back from the work they do, and strangely, insurance companies might just get better managed claims, too!
What an opportunity we have to train these fresh new individuals coming into our claims operations – with new technology and data tools to spot at an early stage – those claimants that need extra help to return to work. By focusing these resources in the right places we will achieve better results with fewer people.
Now is the time to seize the moment . . . Long live claims!
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