The Client and Its Challenge
For many years, a large teaching hospital had used third-party administrators to handle its claims management. The result was inefficient claims administration workflow, incomplete workers' compensation records, a disconnect between internal business systems and risk management, and haphazard data management.

When the hospital decided to move its claims management system in-house, it needed a full-featured risk management solution with tools for expediting claims, streamlining data management, and integrating the claims administration system with accounts payable and human resources systems. The hospital consulted with a number of vendors and then selected STARS Claims Administration solution as it best met the claims-management system requirements.

The Risk Consulting Solution
The client selected STARS because of two distinct, information-sharing features of its software. First, Marsh experts installed Accounts Payable (AP) Check Invoice, STARS' solution for importing financial account data into an accounts payable system. AP Check Invoice collects and stores any new accounts payable changes for the hospital and then exports it to its accounts payable system every two weeks. In this way, checks for all employees, consultants, and vendors can be accurately cut every pay period.

Second, to reduce claims processing time and to synchronize data with the hospital's human resource system, STARS' Human Resource Lookup solution was implemented. On a nightly schedule, HR Lookup extracts employee data from the client's HR system and imports it into the STARS Claims Administration system. When a new claim is entered, an administrator simply can type in the employee's Social Security number to populate the claim record with the employee's information.

Results
The client has been successfully administering its own claims since February 2003. The improved processes keep internal systems in sync, reduce processing time, and improve data accuracy. Workers' compensation claims-handling, in particular, has become much more efficient. Furthermore, employees and insureds are much more satisfied with the way claims are handled.