Psychological Warfare?

Ever wonder why change is not more of a constant? Consider the auto industry. Easy now to ask why they haven't developed fuel alternatives in light of our current prices for gas but I truly wonder; especially our big 3, could they not have anticipated the spike in fuel? Could they shrink the development time or getting new models to market?

The insurance industry may have no rival when it comes to staid processes. In particular, the way claims are adjudicated. A good friend likes to say that claims process has not changed since the advent of the pc! I can't argue with that logic.

Part of what drives us (no pun intended) is the passive manner in which commercial auto cases are handled. Minor impact (see photo) results in claim for injuries some weeks or months after the accident. Adjuster receives letter from plaintiff attorney and acknowledges then...we wait. Adjuster calls the attorney's office for a medical update and when we are given no new information we diary the file for 30 days! And this continues for months while the claimant, with the preexisting condition-has found an orthopedic surgeon who "slaps" a diagnosis of bulging disc on the claimant and associates the condition to this accident since the claimant described it as a hard impact.

Consider the psychological aspect. The claimant nor the doctor or attorney are challenged in any way while we sit back and wait for, essentially, a demand. They all know they game and they calculate how to take advantage (read TIME). Medical is submitted months later along with the bills.

Consider the reaction of the claimant, the treating physician and attorney when they are notified that we have empirical evidence that the impact in NO WAY could have caused an injury and we are prepared to use this information at trial and, further, we are willing to share our information! Back to the psychological aspect, the treating doctor, when they read this along with confirming documents, will run, run, run away from the patient/plaintiff after quickly pronouncing them as 100% cured. The attorney, if they do not drop the case, will get very reasonable with their demand and a case that could have settled for $50,000 now has true nuisance value.

For the benefit of the policyholder and their bottom line we must change our process. The insured-policyholder must become actively involved (people) and ensure that aggressive steps are taken, quickly, to pose psychological obstacles that most claimants, attorneys and doctors will back away from.