TAMPA, April 19, 1999 — Insurer strategies that combine internal investigative resources with public awareness, technological innovations and partnership with industry organizations are key to fighting insurance fraud, a claims executive said in keynote remarks at the Insurance Fraud Management Conference here.
"In the war against insurance fraud, no one can do it alone. For effective fraud management, insurers need to complement their own resources by forging working partnerships with industry organizations like Insurance Services Office and the National Insurance Crime Bureau," John Sadak, vice president of Internal Operations in the Claims unit at The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., told the conference.
The conference, sponsored by ISO and the NICB, is the property/casualty insurance industry's premier event on strategies and technologies for managing insurance fraud prevention programs.
"The cost of fraud can be as devastating as any natural disaster, and the industry cannot afford to look the other way when fraud is detected. Fraudulent claims account for an estimated 10 percent of the entire industry's total claim payments," added Sadak. The Hartford is one of the nation's largest insurance and financial-services organizations.
Nearly 300 claims and fraud-management executives from property/casualty insurers and other industry interests are attending the three-day conference, which concludes on Wednesday.
Attendees participated in a hands-on demonstration of ISO ClaimSearchSM, the property/casualty insurance industry's only comprehensive all-claims information system comprising bodily-injury, property-loss and vehicle claims databases. The comprehensive information system will permit fraud investigators and law-enforcement personnel to easily detect suspicious insurance-claim patterns and potential fraud rings.
The Insurance Fraud Management Conference features five tracks — claims/special investigation units (SIU) management partnership, SIU management issues, starting up a fraud program, using technology and interactive sessions — comprising 15 sessions and 30 speakers. Speakers have been drawn from leading insurance companies, industry associations and law-enforcement agencies, including The Hartford, Prudential Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Zurich Services Corp., St. Paul Insurance Companies, Allmerica Financial, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, the U.S. Justice Department and the NICB.
Release: Immediate
Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com