Claims (July 01, 2009)

ONTARIO’S NEW ELECTRONIC CLAIMS PROCESSING SYSTEM, HCAI, TO BE RE-INTRODUCED IN STAGES

Health Claims for Auto Insurance (HCAI), an electronic system for processing auto insurance claims, is once again entering a pilot phase, starting on Sept. 1, 2009.

HCAI was shut down in April 2008 at the request of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). At the time, insurers said they were experiencing serious disruptions in their claims adjustment process as a result of technical problems encountered by HCAI.

This time, HCAI’s pilot phase will follow a staged approach, designed to test the capacity of the system at each implementation step.

“The rollout process is driven by a series of control gates that are designed to ensure a positive user experience and avoid adoption problems,” IBC said in a press release. “Each rollout phase will use a control point to confirm that the system is capable of adopting the next group of users.”

All things going well, the full, regulated adoption of HCAI by insurers is planned to begin in March 2010.