icare executive says provider is on-track to deliver improvements
icare Group Executive Prevention and Underwriting, Andrew Ziolkowski, has reflected on his first 12 months at the organisation and says while things haven’t always gone according to plan, he believes icare is on the right track in delivering improvements.
“We’ve been transforming a system that was recognised as being adversarial and unbalanced with an inconsistent customer experience. We’re now focused on delivering a fairer, sustainable system which provides a better experience for everyone,” he says.
“When our new claims model was introduced in early 2018 our large business customers told us that while they wanted a consistent service, they also wanted some flexibility and choice to meet their unique needs.
“In response, we developed the Authorised Provider (AP) model. The AP model is underpinned by the icare claims service model to ensure we are delivering a consistent customer experience whilst offering choice to large employers that have unique claims management requirements.
“We also know our small to medium-sized customers want better and more tailored information and services to help manage their workers insurance. We’ve started rolling out the first of our online industry hubs (ihubs), which aim to provide tailored advice to our customers.
“We’ve also taken on board feedback from our customers about the complexity of premium calculations and we’ve enhanced our website to include all aspects of premiums, along with a video on the yearly cycle of a policy to help small employers and experience-rated employers understand the many factors that impact headline premiums.
“On the claims side, we’ve worked closely with our service partners to implement improvements which have supported accurate decision making and after a dip in our return-to-work (RTW) rates, we’re now trending upwards, with the 26-week RTW rate at 81 per cent as at September 2019.
“The work certainly isn’t over, and we’ll continue to listen, learn and adapt to ensure we’re meeting the needs of all our customers now and into the future.”
Read the full statement on icare’s website.