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In baseball's bygone era, vendors would shout out, "You can't tell the players without a scorecard," as fans filed into ballparks across the country.

Mike Riney believes it's easy to say your company delivers great customer service. After all, most have it printed on their brochures or posted on their websites.

When it comes to ocean marine coverage, price may be the initial attraction, but problem solving--in the form of added value and services--will, in the end, help keep an insured's bottom line strong.

The heat is on the risk management profession today.

Researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) have once again provided their annual forecast for the 2010 hurricane season. The CSU team is currently predicting 18 named storms, 10 of which are estimated to develop into hurricanes. The research team, led by Dr. William Gray and Dr. Philip Klotzbach, estimate a 76 percent likelihood that a major hurricane, with winds of 111 mph (178 kph) or greater, will strike the U.S. This is a 24 percent increase over the average for the past century.

From day one, data has been the insurance industry's lifeblood. It doesn't matter if you are talking about making the best underwriting decisions for large commercial properties/risks or how to boost the number of auto insurance customers or how to grow the long-term disability customer base, it takes the most accurate, timely data to build the bottom line.

DAVID Corporation's NavRisk software solutions automate processes on many levels for client IPMG

No matter which experts are doing the predicting, the consensus is that 2010 is shaping up as a very busy hurricane season.

Since the beginning of 2010, earthquakes have taken center stage globally. Massive, devastating quakes hit both Haiti and Chile, and the media coverage and relief efforts have been extensive.

When Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson University Physicians shifted management of its workers' compensation program from human resources to risk management in 2005 as part of a larger business plan, this Philadelphia academic medical center quickly realized it had a tremendous opportunity to reduce costs, without reducing employee care.

A successful risk management strategy requires an array of smart, effective strategies, though some may be more critical than others. Data is one of those critical success factors, and it is arguably the most critical in today's complex world.

From year to year, the workers compensation landscape changes. But one thing remains constant: Payers are challenged to balance cost reduction with the best care for injured workers.

In the world of workers' compensation claims, it's critical to use all available tools--from predictive modeling to early alerts to direct intervention by key experts--to bring about the best possible outcomes for injured employees and their employers.

When it comes to technology in today's workers' compensation world, "real time" often can have more than a single meaning, but only one really works. And while technology has evolved to where it is a fairly common service offered by many PBM's and ancillary medical services providers, the difference between how "real time" is applied becomes the primary variable to determine the ultimate benefit and value of these tools. Many new Web portals may offer a slick interface, but not all of them have the power "under the skin" to provide what payers need to maximize program savings and overcome the key challenges associated with managing these types of services.

When it comes to compounded prescription drugs, it's a fairly good bet that payers in the workers' compensation market are paying more than they should. In fact, according to pharmacy experts at Healthcare Solutions, the parent company of pharmacy benefit manager Cypress Care, compounded drugs are an area in which payers are often in the dark in terms of what is being billed as part of a workers' compensation claim.