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Insurance Abstract
Automated system used by an insurance carrier that is used by carrier
for evaluating insurance risk and for setting optimal premiums for
policies where the carrier's underwriters act as traders of the
risk by relying on the system to determine whether to issue policies
and to determine a range of appropriate premiums.
Insurance Claims
1. An automated system used by insurance carrier for evaluating
insurance risk based on underwriting information comprising an agent
interface; a database comprising underwriting information and associated
underwriting rules established by a carrier; and an automated system
connected to the agent interface and the database through a network
wherein the automated system receives insurance information from
the agent interface, stores the insurance information on the database,
retrieves the respective underwriting rules from the database, and
processes the insurance information as set out herein.
2. The method and automated system of claim 1 begins to perform
an analysis of insurance risk upon receipt of underwriting information
input by an agent through the systems automated, web-based, paperless
agent interface.
3. The system of claim 1 performs a risk analysis against underwriting
and pricing rules, wherein, in response to the system analysis,
a premium quotation is issued or a denial of coverage is issued,
all based on the automated system's risk assessment with no human/underwriter
involvement
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the automated system transmits
the premium quotation to the agent interface for display to an agent.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the automated system may subsequently
receive an acceptance of the premium quotation via the agent interface.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein, in response to an automated
determination by the system that a premium quotation may not be
issued for any of several reasons related to the underwriting rules,
the automated system forwards the underwriting information to an
automated, paperless, task based work flow process within the system
that prompts an underwriter to, in effect, act as traders of the
insurance risk, thereby using the automated system to: (i) analyze
information and to communicate, if necessary, on a real time basis
with the agent to gather additional information to determine the
optimal price for a policy and/or (ii) escalate a review of submitted
risks to various decision makers within the carrier, based on a
set of controls whereby any user may not exceed his authority in
regard to the risk evaluation process, to determine the optimal
price for a policy or whether to deny coverage. The key element
of this claim is that the underwriting process is fully automated
and allows for the entire process, from additional information collection
through analysis of additional risk factors by underwriter, to be
done within the automated system, thereby allowing the insurance
carrier to be in constant real time communication with its agents
through the system and providing underwriters with a system it can
use to maximize the amount of information collected from the agent
in the most expeditious manner possible.
7. An automated system of claim 1 used by insurance carrier, in
accordance with claim 6, to determine whether a premium quotation
may be issued for carrier.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein, in response to a determination
by the underwriter acting as a trader of the risk, the system sets
an optimal premium through use of the task based work flow process
described in claim 6 and issues a premium quotation to the agent
based on the optimal premium for the carrier.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the automated system transmits
an acceptable premium to the agent interface for display to agent.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the automated system may receive
an acceptance of the premium quotation and issues a binder based
on the premium quotation.
11. An automated system of claim 1 used by insurance carrier for
interactively evaluating insurance risk based on underwriting information
comprising: an agent interface; a database comprising underwriting
information comprising multiple underwriting and pricing rules established
by a carrier; and an automated system connected to the agent interface
and the database through a network wherein the automated system
receives insurance information from the agent interface, stores
the insurance information on the database, retrieves the respective
underwriting and pricing rules from the database, and processes
the insurance information in accordance the method set out in claim
6 and determines that the carrier should issue a denial of coverage.
12. The method of claim 11, further determining that a denial of
coverage is appropriate, transmits the information to the agent
interface for display to an agent.
Insurance Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application Ser. No. 60/697,400, filed Jul. 7, 2005, the
entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates to the field of insurance.
More particularly, the invention relates to a system for collecting
insurance information, providing premium quotations, either automatically
or through a totally automated, task-based work flow process that
enables underwriters to evaluate the risk and then enables the system
to communicate on a real time basis with agents as to either (a)
an optimal price for of the insurance policy or (b) the denial of
coverage. The risk analysis is based on set proprietary underwriting
criteria of the insurance carrier, which provides a detailed method
for analyzing and pricing the risk of a particular insured. A patent
is not being claimed for a set of underwriting criteria.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Insurance carriers are faced with the task of systematically
being required to evaluate risk presented by a particular insured's
business and business activity. As with all types of insurance,
this process for evaluating the risk associated with the proposed
insured and their business or business activity adds to the time
and cost of insurance. To obtain insurance, potential insureds typically
utilize agents that act on behalf of an insurance carrier. The insurance
carrier issues insurance policies based on its comfort level with
the risk posed by the information pertaining to the business or
business activity. The premium charged for a particular policy is
dependent upon the level of risk posed by the particular classification
of insurance. In order to assess the risk and determine whether
a particular risk may be insured (and the premium associated with
such insurance), insurance carriers have historically used underwriters
who are individuals with expertise in assessing risk based on a
number of factors. These underwriters normally work in conjunction
with insurance agents to collect data representing the factors which
affect the risk associated with a particular business or business
activity. To facilitate this process, insurance carriers develop
underwriting rules for different classifications of insurance that
are normally used by a carrier's underwriters to determine whether
to insure the risk and to assign a premium to the risk. These underwriting
rules are often proprietary to a carrier. The process of obtaining
a risk analysis and subsequent insurance premium quotations or policy
quotes for a carrier is often quite complex and requires the underwriters
to undergo a detailed evaluation using the carrier's underwriting
rules. This process can be very labor intensive and time consuming,
often lacking controls or checks and balances to ensure that the
carrier's risk comfort level is aligned with the actual risk it
ends up writing.
[0004] In an effort to expedite the risk analysis process, many
insurance carriers have attempted to automate the method for collecting
insurance information and issuing policy quotations as possible.
Notwithstanding attempts to automate this process, insurance carriers
are often forced to divert the analysis of risk from their automated
systems to underwriters for additional analysis outside of the normal
automated work flow (a manual system). This analysis does not allow
for real time communication with agents, thereby increasing the
amount of time required to determine the acceptable premium amount
for a policy or to deny coverage. A manual process also increases
the chances of offering quotes for risks that are outside of the
carrier's underwriting/risk parameters (due to lack of controls
of underwriting authorities). Therefore, there is a need for a web-based
automated system that simplifies the process of analyzing risk,
establishes a task based work flow process that enables underwriters
to analyze risk within the context of the automated system and that
allows the system to communicate the determination of coverage and
pricing information developed from the task based work flow process
in real time with agents while maintaining pricing and underwriting
controls predetermined by the carrier. This system thereby facilitates
an expedited, yet accurate, means of obtaining insurance quotations
from an insurance carrier which decreases the time necessary for
analysis and decreases the transaction costs associated with that
process.
SUMMARY
[0005] The invention relates to an automated system used by an
insurance carrier that is used by carrier for evaluating insurance
risk and for setting optimal premiums for policies where the carrier's
underwriters act as traders of the risk by relying on the system
to determine whether to issue policies and to determine a range
of appropriate premiums. The automated system is used to (i) determine
an acceptable premium quotation for an insurance policy, (ii) deny
coverage for a potential insured or, in the event the system is
unable to determine (i) or (ii), (iii) provide for a totally automated,
task based work flow process that enables underwriters of the carrier
to act as traders of the risk, evaluating risk and communicating
on a real time basis with agents as to either (a) an acceptable
price for the insurance policy based on an optimal price determination
by the system (using minimums and indicated premium ranges derived
from a carrier's proprietary pricing methodology), or (b) the denial
of coverage. The system has integrated controls which operate to
dictate the work flow and place checks and balances on the system's
users, including underwriters, to make sure that no user exceeds
an authority level established by the carrier and that all matters
are escalated to the appropriate level of authority within the insurance
carrier for resolution. No insurance risk is quoted until the risk
is fully evaluated by the system in this method. All risk analysis
is based on a set of proprietary underwriting criteria determined
by the insurance carrier based on particular risks (both pricing
and underwriting) for the potential insured. A patent is not being
claimed on any proprietary underwriting criteria used by an insurance
carrier. The collective effect of automated system is a process
for evaluating insurance risk and trading the risk through pricing
of an insurance policy and supporting the underwriting process and
the carrier's agents through out the automated, web-based, paperless
application process.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] The present invention will become more fully understood
from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0007] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of a method
in accordance with the principles of this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0008] A method and automated system for collecting insurance information,
providing premium quotations, either automatically or through a
totally automated, task based work flow process that enables underwriters
to evaluate the risk and communicate on a real time basis with agents
as to either (a) an acceptable price for of the insurance policy
or (b) denial of coverage. The system has two critical aspects.
One aspect of the present invention relates to the agent's ability
to input risk information into an automated system using a web-based
agent interface and receive, on a real time basis, either an immediate
quote for an insurance policy or notification of denial of coverage.
This method involves the analysis of information input by agents
into the system using predetermined underwriting and pricing rules
to determine the appropriate outcome. This requires no human/underwriter
intervention.
[0009] The other aspect of the system is, in the event the risk
cannot be quoted based immediately on a real-time basis by the system,
the risk is directed into an automated, task based work flow process
that engages an underwriter of the insurance carrier in to the risk
analysis on a real time basis. This aspect of the system allows
for an underwriter to obtain information necessary to maximize the
pricing of a policy and select a price quotation within the carriers
predetermined minimum and indicated price ranges (optimal price)
that adequately provides for the risk associated with the particular
insured. The key element of this aspect is that the underwriting
process is fully automated and allows for the entire process, from
additional information collection through analysis of additional
risk factors, to be done within the automated system, thereby allowing
the insurance carrier to be in constant real time communication
with its agents and providing underwriters with a system it can
use to maximize the amount of information collected from the agent,
the quality of the information collected from the agent and accuracy
of risk analysis and pricing. Because the system provides for this
real time information collection and provides underwriter with a
task based work flow to follow to gather only relevant information,
it enables the insurance carrier, through the underwriter, to maximize
the pricing for any given policy and to maximize the efficiency
of the underwriting process. Through the creation of this real time
process, the insurance carrier is better able to serve its agents,
encourage efficient communications and issue more accurate quotations.
All of these results maximize the profit of the insurance carrier.
[0010] Other features and advantages of the present invention are
apparent to one skilled in the art upon examination of the following
drawings. It is intended that all such features and advantages be
included herein within the scope of the present invention.
[0011] A method and automated system for collecting insurance information,
providing premium quotations, either automatically or through a
totally automated, task based work flow process that enables underwriters
to evaluate the risk and communicate on a real time basis with agents
as to either (a) an optimal price for of the insurance policy or
(b) denial of coverage. The system has two critical aspects. One
aspect of the present invention relates to the agent's ability to
input risk information into an automated system using a web-based
agent interface and receive, on a real time basis, either an immediate
quote for an insurance policy or notification of denial of coverage.
This method involves the analysis of information input by agents
into the system using predetermined underwriting rules to determine
the appropriate outcome. The method and automated system commences
its risk analysis upon receipt of underwriting information input
by agent through a web-based agent interface. The underwriting information
is submitted for the purpose of a premium quotation. The information
is received by the automated system and is stored in a database.
The automated system reviews the information against underwriting
rules to evaluate risk and, alternatively, either returns a premium
quotation, denies coverage and does not return a quotation or submits
the information to a task-based work flow process that enables an
underwriter to evaluate the information on a real time basis and
maximize the pricing for the policy. It is the ability of the system
to submit the information for further review through the task based
work flow process and ultimately either select a price quotation
within the carrier's predetermined minimum and indicated optimal
price or deny coverage that comprises the other aspect of the system.
In either case, the agent may utilize the price quotation returned
by the system to place a policy. The expeditious, real time nature
of the system enables the insurance carrier and its agents to more
efficiently write business, thereby maximizing revenues.
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