Remote Claims Adjuster Improvement in One Area During Pandemic
Being a remote claims adjuster leaves quite a bit of self-motivation to accomplish the daily adjuster tasks. When we performed our file and reserve reviews for our employer, carrier, TPA, and agency clients, a trend was noticed that would have made my first claims manager very happy.
Remote Claims Adjuster work assigns the adjuster with more time management responsibilities than when in an office. As most of us learned, the separation between personal and professional responsibilities becomes more difficult when working from home. One huge issue that claims adjusters expressed to me over the last three years concerned connectivity issues when they began remotely logging in to the claims system.
One cannot blame the IT departments fully. Over the period of two weeks in 2020, the work changed from a few remote workers to everyone telecommuting. This change strained and slowed most systems temporarily. We experienced it in our claims and reserve reviews.
Remote Claim Adjuster Improvement In Critical Area
Usually, when the word improvement is mentioned when referring to work performance, the dreaded yearly supervisory review has that box on the review sheet. However, this positive trend developed in a critical area.
We used to see the initial three-point contact not accomplished within 24 – 48 business hours. During the pandemic, for some reason, the immediate responsibility of making contact with the employer, employee, and physician was accomplished timely on almost all files.
Making contact ASAP will always result in lower reserves because most of the claim happens in the first 48 hours, Investigating and controlling the claim in the first few days will result in lower reserves and a better claim outcome for the injured employee.
Findings From My Remote Claims Adjuster Interviews
I decided to call the three claims adjusters that will allow me to bother them now and then with questions. My calls with them have appeared before in a few articles. I was told four things that may have better facilitated their immediate action on new lost time claims.
They are:
- Privacy – when making the three-point contact, a quiet room to work means no background noises or interruptions. Taking a recorded statement with background noise does not occur in a home-based office.
- Concentration – adjusting priorities was much easier when the adjusters had no disturbances. With three-point contact as the highest priority, an incoming claim assignment could be fully handled immediately.
- Meetings – an impromptu meeting did not occur that often. Most meetings had to be scheduled during their workday. Working remotely allowed the adjusters to have more control of their prioritizing tasks.
- Time freedom – the adjuster did not have to commute to an office. If they wanted to work on a file at 8 PM, they could do it very easily.
Bottom Line
Remote claims adjusters have more control over their workday. When allowed to adjust their priorities as they saw fit, the most critical of all tasks – three-point contact-improved greatly. Independent thinking = improvement.
Related: All Lines Claims Adjusters – Generalist Replaced By The Specialist
