The OIC Portal, designed to streamline injury claims, is facing some speed bumps on its journey. After the House of Commons Justice Committee’s recently published report on the Whiplash Reforms and the Official Injury Claim (OIC) Portal, one of their main concerns was the delays in which injured claimants are waiting to receive their settlements.
- Average claim settlement time: 251 days (and increasing!)
- Backlogged cases: 349,000
The portal seems to have taken a scenic route instead of the expressway the government had in mind, with Committee Chair, Sir Bob Neill, stating “the portal was not meeting the government’s aims to simplify and speed up the claim process”.
Another concern was the number of unrepresented claimants that continue to use the Portal, which remains at circa. 10% of all claims. And compounding these concerns is the pending Supreme Court Case in Rabiot on the valuation of mixed injury claims, which is delaying the settlement of injury claims that incur both tariff and non-tariff type injuries.
Adding to the challenge, The Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) are claiming the claimants are “layering” their claims to increase level of damages. Defendant Solicitors are saying there is extra incentive to “layer” up claims with non-whiplash type injures because these types of injures are not subject to a fixed tariff.
The example they provided was that claims for psychological injuring have significantly increased since the Whiplash Reforms, with warning signs that the increase is bringing with it exaggeration and fraud.
Enter 360Globalnet’s unstructured data technology, 360Retrieve. It doesn't just ingest data like a hungry Pac-Man; it offers insights, identifies quick-settle claims, and even spots those cheeky "layered" ones. It's like having Sherlock Holmes, but for injury claims. And the best part? It's always on the job, 24/7/365.
So, how does it work?
Firstly, 360Retrieve ingests all unstructured data – FNOL data, all OICP documents (as well as MOJ documents), emails, letters, medical reports, all the relevant damage reports, image metadata and many others document types. This makes 100% of available data searchable and capable of analysis.
Then, by analysing the type of accident and injuries, it swiftly identifies claims that can be settled more quickly, thereby reducing the overall claim lifecycle.
With regards to different types of injuries being claimed – either on the Small Claim Notification Form, medical reports or the accusation of “layering” – 360Retrieve informs the nature of any medical condition or injury, together with any associated conditions. The technology understands prognoses and rehabilitation periods and identifies under-reserved claims.
It’s then able to profile the Solicitors (or Third-Party Representatives) based on the type of injuries being claimed. This enables Insurers to change their strategies, processes and best practice models at a macro level and at speed. And it does all this 24/7/365 and throughout the claim’s lifecycle.
In addition to managing personal injury claims, 360Retrieve has established fraud rules and search routines, which run in tandem with managing the injury claims. These rules and search routines are supported by a deployment of watchlists and internal and external data sources, to automate manual fraud checks.
If you would like to discuss how 360Globalnet can help you with the challenges associated with the Whiplash Reforms and the Official Injury Claim (OIC) Portal, get in touch today. It’s time to deliver analytical and profiling capability for any type of claim across 100% of your available data.
