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Insurer steps up rehab push after hailing success

Published 02/05/2008

Unum has bolstered its proactive vocational rehabilitation offering for clients in a bid to further reduce the number of sickness absences resulting in claims and cut claims duration.

Originally launched in 2000, Unum’s active key account management services for group income protection clients will now be known as Premier. Extensive client research last year has led to a greater emphasis on flexibility; improved reporting and benchmarking; less paperwork; greater access to medical intervention services where appropriate; and more effective linkage with other stakeholders, such as employee benefit providers and medical insurers.

Stuart Shaw, national accounts manager, said vocational rehab referrals under the offering have doubled since 2003, hitting just over 1000 in 2007, with Premier clients now forming the bulk of these referrals “whereas before it was from our claims team”.

He added that Premier’s tailored early intervention resource is aimed at encouraging clients to consider absence long before a claim is even intimated and would be of interest to any company claiming more than three or four times a year on its GIP scheme.

Between 2003 and 2006, the disability insurer’s in-house vocational rehabilitation experts worked with more than 2800 people referred through AKAM for early support, resulting in a successful return to work rate in excess of 70%.

The improved reporting facility will now allow peer group comparisons and can identify exactly who is claiming within an organisation, filtering by factors such as age, sex, division and geographical location.

“What is becoming clear is that companies taking a proactive approach to managing sickness absence have a much better time with their claims experience; those who don’t are struggling more and more,” said Mr Shaw. “There is now an expectation on companies to do something to combat this problem, but quite a lot of uncertainty remains about what steps to take. Therefore, Premier is much more explicit about how it can help.”

He said some companies with significant problems have been able to achieve a 40% reduction in insurance claims but stressed that this should not be “set out as an expectation”. The most important aim was to reduce the time and money associated with high absence and low return to work rates.

This article has been reprinted with permission of the Claims Standards Council

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