Skip to main content

Wondering Where Your Underwriting Job Went?

Is the inward focus on underwriting on its way to being replaced by an outward focus on the customer experience? Maybe.

Should you be concerned about your underwriting job? Perhaps.

From Jay D'Aprile's blog "Insurance Industry Talent Tracks" here's how healthcare reform may affect your career in insurance underwriting:
"In the end, healthcare reform will force health insurance companies to compete on their ability to control costs and provide effective delivery of medical care. Health insurance carriers will have to refocus their business strategies away from underwriting “good business” to crafting strategies that instead rely on improving margins through implementing efficient network strategies, lowering administrative costs and creating strong customer service experiences. Unfortunately, for people in underwriting positions this does not add up to good news. Healthcare reform is going to eliminate the underwriting function in the health insurance industry. On the other hand, professionals that can help health insurance companies improve their margins will be in high demand. Network development executives that understand how to partner with doctors and hospitals and can design effective network strategies will be coveted by insurance carriers. Also, health insurance companies will focus on improving the “customer experience” to attract membership. Therefore, skills in information technology, claims and customer service/call centers management will be desired. Finally, finance executives and actuaries who focus on financial reporting, medical management and provider network evaluations will continue to be in high demand."
I don't wish unemployment on anyone. (Well, yes I do but that's another story.) Still, a renewed focus on improving the customer service experience is not the worst news I've ever heard.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Michael Porter On Health Care Reform

Michael Porter, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, proposes "A Strategy For Health Care Reform - Toward A Value-Based System." His proposals are fundamental, lucid and right-on, meaning they're sure to be opposed by some parties to the debate, the so-called "Yes, but..." crowd. Most important, in my opinion, is this: "... electronic medical records will enable value improvement, but only if they support integrated care and outcome measurement. Simply automating current delivery practices will be a hugely expensive exercise in futility. Among our highest near-term priorities is to finalize and then continuously update health information technology (HIT) standards that include precise data definitions (for diagnoses and treatments, for example), an architecture for aggregating data for each patient over time and across providers, and protocols for seamless communication among systems. "Finally, consumers must become much mor...
Post a Comment
Read more

Simplicity From Complexity

Health care planners typically juggle many different services and businesses, each with unique customers, competitors and prospects.  The complexity can be overwhelming.  So-called portfolio models for assessing industry attractiveness and competitive strength can be a good analytical jumping-off point, including the McKinsey-GE 9-box matrix . (Click on the "Launch Interactive" link.)
Post a Comment
Read more

5 Marketing Megatrends

Coming to a brand near you, from Adam Kleinberg at iMedia Connection, here are " 5 marketing megatrends you can't ignore ." Mass collaboration... Constant connectivity... Globalization... Pervasive distrust in big corporations... A global sense of urgency... #4 is, I think, under-appreciated in health care. Doctors and hospitals like to think of themselves as the last of the white hat-wearing good guys, and maybe they are. But trust is a funny thing - built over decades and lost overnight. Screw it up and watch the laser beam of populist rage move from Wall Street to Medical Avenue.
Post a Comment
Read more