HCAI in stable condition: IBC

The Health Claims for Auto Insurance (HCAI) system is stable, with no new processing issues identified, according to Insurance Bureau of Canada.
The HCAI pilot was re-launched on Sept. 28, 2009, with two insurers and nine health care facilities.
After the three-month mark of the re-launch, 12 insurers are now participating in the HCAI pilot, representing more than 25% of Ontario’s automobile direct written premium.
In addition, 235 health care facilities are participating in the HCAI pilot.
Transactions are being processed in an accurate and timely manner, and any processing issues raised have been confirmed to be configuration-related or due to a problem at the end user’s site, according to IBC.
In order for the full rollout to continue, the following conditions must be met, the IBC says:
• the system must be successful in processing auto insurance claims forms (OCFs);
• insurer adoption must represent 25% of the direct written premium of automobile insurance sold in Ontario; and
• data entry centre processes have been validated to support users that choose not to submit OCF information to HCAI electronically. Evidence from the pilot will be summarized next month; following that, a recommendation will be presented to governance groups.
“It is anticipated that the evidence will suggest that HCAI move from the pilot phase to rollout, beginning with full adoption by insurers in March 2010,” IBC says. “Adoption by health care facilities is scheduled to begin in April 2010, and will be driven by a selection process that identifies those that had processed the most HCAI transactions during the initial introduction.”