Online Filing Is Latest Electronic Tool To Speed Inter-Insurer Arbitration Process

Will Cut Turnaround Time by 15 Percent; Improve Data Quality

TAMPA - The inter-company arbitration process is picking up even more speed with the introduction of Online Filing by Arbitration Forums, Inc. (AF), the nation's largest nonprofit provider of inter-insurance dispute resolution services.

Online Filing allows insurers and self-insured companies to file their arbitration cases via AF's web site reducing turnaround time from filing to hearing by 15 percent.

Cases will go to hearings five to ten days sooner since the customer dynamically schedules their own cases live on the web site.

Users also can verify online evidence materials received by AF's data center, confirming what and when materials were received. Online filing also reduces data entry errors since information is entered directly by the user online and does not require manual entry of paper materials received by AF staff.

AF's future plan is to introduce online submission of imaged evidence. This will enable AF to eventually hold "virtual" hearings conducted by arbitrators in locations otherwise too remote to travel.

AF's online filing service is available for its Automobile and Property insurance programs as well as MedPay, PIP - Special and Uninsured Motorists' soon will follow.

The only software needed to utilize Online Filing is a web browser and Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded at no charge.

"The Online Filing Program is an electronic filing process to fulfill the industry's need for a quick and easy inter-company arbitration process ," said D. Kay Smith, chief executive officer of AF. "The speedier process will allow claims representatives to resolve more subro disputes in less time, resulting in a lower overall claim cost and faster recovery time."

Later this year AF will introduce the E-Subro Hub, an electronic clearinghouse that will significantly speed up the subrogation process and further reduce costs. The web-based subrogation technology will allow thousands of insurers, self-insureds, Third Party Administrators and claims service organizations to streamline the subrogation process and interactively manage both demands and responses.

Founded in 1943, the Tampa-based AF has a membership of more than 3,700 insurers and self-insureds nationwide.

Source: Arbitration Forums, Inc.