Insurance Services Office Acquires Marine Database Firm to Help Employers and Insurers Manage Bodily Injury Claims Costs

January 1, 2011 / 2 min read

NEW YORK, January 16, 2001 — Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) has acquired the Marine Index Bureau, Inc. (MIB), a claims-information company that operates a proprietary database of information about bodily injuries of maritime employees and others related to the U.S. marine industry.

The Marine Index Bureau's customers, including the industry's self-insured employers, insurers, independent claims adjusters and maritime claims underwriters, submit claims to the MIB database and get access to reports on claimants' injuries. This enables customers to review prior claims histories, manage costs, document preexisting medical conditions, detect potentially inflated or fraudulent claims, and expedite claims-handling and disposition.

Customers secure information by contributing claims reports to the MIB database. The computerized database contains almost 4.5 million claims records from numerous public and private sources. The MIB also is a long-standing user of the ISO ClaimSearch® database with access to its casualty claims records.

"The acquisition of the Marine Index Bureau, the most trusted name in the maritime claims business, brings our loss-mitigation and claims-management expertise to marine insurance," said Frank J. Coyne, ISO's president and chief executive officer.

"ISO has proven expertise in fighting insurance fraud through the ISO ClaimSearch system. Insurance and claims expenses are among the marine industry's largest costs, and the new database expands our capability to identify potentially questionable injury claims," Coyne added.

The MIB's services are used by various segments of the U.S. marine industry that include: international ocean transportation, coastal transportation, coastal towing, inland towing, Great Lakes transportation, shipyards, stevedoring and terminal operations, commercial fishing, dredging, marine construction, offshore energy service and supply, cruise industry, offshore drilling and exploration, geophysical industry, casino boats and ferries, marine insurers, protection and indemnity associations, claims adjusters and attorneys.

Typically, when self-insured employers, insurers, independent claims adjusters and maritime claims underwriters receive a bodily-injury or illness claim, basic information about the incident is reported to the MIB. The basic information includes the claimant's name, address, date of incident, Social Security number, name of the insured, and a brief description of the incident. The claim information remains in the MIB database for future reference.

When a claim is filed, the MIB database provides the inquirer with a standard report listing all the claimant's previous claims reported by other MIB member-companies.

In addition, the MIB database provides optional reports on claimants that include publicly available records on criminal convictions, civil litigation and personal injury, driving records, healthcare providers, and workers compensation claims.

About Marine Index Bureau

The Marine Index Bureau, located in Princeton Junction, N.J., has served the U.S. marine industry since 1937 as the central clearinghouse of bodily injury claims by maritime-industry personnel. The Marine Index Bureau is also the industry's repository on hull and machinery-loss information for commercial fishing vessels.

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com