SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Mitchell International will present to the Society of Insurance Research (SIR) during the SIR’s Product/Claim Summit on March 11th in San Antonio, Texas. Senior Director, Information Services, Jamison Day, and Executive Vice President and Founder of Mitchell Medical, Thomas McCarthy, will share insight with insurers on leveraging claims data and turning it into Business Intelligence to gain insight into overcoming current economic and industry-wide trends affecting the claims organization.
One recent study conducted by Mitchell reinforces that the current trend of a flattening to slightly declining portion of total losses has been occurring in the industry over the last few years. Changes in vehicle mix, moving towards vehicles with lower underlying total loss rates, have driven the drop. “Business intelligence is a hot buzzword these days and, at Mitchell, we'd like to think we're playing a part in understanding how we can leverage those new technologies and approaches in our industry,” says Day. “We have been helping executives in the claims organization make sense of data and trends for years now. At this conference, we're trying to highlight some examples where we can use claims data for generating insights and trends that may also be interesting and helpful for the underwriting side of the house.” The company has also studied the effects of several other trends that will likely continue into the future, such as the use of aluminum body parts and the dramatic growth of hybrid vehicle sales. In both cases, the company saw increases in average repair costs. “If the overarching market trends continue into the future, we expect the underlying trends in claims to continue — something the underwriting organizations may want to weigh as they think about future pricing," says Day. Mitchell Medical will also present its own set of trend analysis and results at the conference. Tom McCarthy will address how inflation in the cost of medical care is impacting auto bodily injury claim severity. McCarthy will also share information with insurers on how they can combat this phenomenon and effectively control costs using a comprehensive medical management system. “It is critical for insurers to be aware of the importance of streamlining cost controls and improving performance,” says McCarthy. “If insurers understand just how important a total medical management system is to the injury claims process, they will be better able to serve their customers by efficiently handling the review process.” | 
