Health Claims for Auto Insurance (HCAI) system to be re-introduced using a staged approach

Health Claims for Auto Insurance (HCAI), an electronic system for processing auto insurance claims, is once again entering a pilot phase, starting on Sept.1, 2009.
HCAI was shut down in April 2008 at the request of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). At the time, insurers said they were experiencing serious disruptions in their claims adjustment process as a result of technical problems encountered by HCAI.
This time, HCAI’s pilot phase will follow a staged approach, designed to test the capacity of the system at each implementation step.
“The rollout process is driven by a series of control gates that are designed to ensure a positive user experience and avoid adoption problems,” IBC said in a press release. “Each rollout phase will use a control point to confirm that the system is capable of adopting the next group of users.”
During the initial startup of the pilot phase, two insurers and a handful of health care facilities (HCF) will use the new HCAI system to ensure the production environment operates as tested.
In early October 2009, the process will be opened up to a larger community of insurers and HCFs, creating a user base reflecting 25% of the HCAI transaction volume by the end of the pilot phase (anticipated to end in February 2010).
All things going well, the full, regulated adoption of HCAI by insurers is planned to begin in March 2010.
In the best-case scenario, assuming there are no glitches in the pilot phase, all insurers would adopt HCAI no later than Mar. 31, 2010.
Health care facilities (HCF) would adopt HCAI in three phased periods (500 in the first phase, from April to May 2010; 1,500 between June and August 2010; and the remaining HCFs in September to November 2010).
The current system will be decommissioned and turned off as of July 31, 2009.
Once the current system is shut off, insurer setup information and claim/claimant information will be migrated to the new HCAI environment, as insurers enroll in accordance with the adoption schedule.
All insurer data extracts scheduled on or before July 30 will be processed prior to the system being decommissioned.