What Happens If P/C Industry Catches the Flu; Program Best Practices; Giant Program Guide Highlight IJ Magazine

What Happens If P/C Industry Catches the Flu; Program Best Practices; Giant ProgrWhat Happens If P/C Industry Catches the Flu; Program Best Practices; Giant Program Guide Highlight IJ Magazine
May 23, 2006
The potential exposures for the property casualty insurance industry have fallen under the radar in the discussions of the effects of an Avian flu or other pandemic. Most people keeping watch on the possible effects have had their eye on the life insurance industry. But how could P/C insurers and their agents and brokers be affected? What should U.S. businesses do to prepare?
In the May 22 issue of Insurance Journal, Robert Meder and Frank Scott of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs of New York City offer insight on why businesses and their insurance partners should be evaluating their property/casualty coverages and business continuity plans.
"The main issue for most businesses is continuity of operations," write Meder and Scott. However, they advise insurance buyers to look beyond the obvious. "In our litigious society, it is conceivable that lawsuits may arise from claimants alleging that they contracted the flu from premises or activities of third parties," they continue. They further argue that there is even the potential for workers' compensation claims that the flu was contracted in a workplace environment.
Best PracticeInsurance Journal's May 22 issue also has the story of the world's first certified Best Practice program administrator. The Target Markets Program Administrators Association has launched the TMPAA Best Practice designation.
A First for Program Managers
Click here for interview John Solari and his Professional Underwriters did and made history by earning the first Best Practice Program Administrator designation. Here's how and why he did it.
Although it's brand new, TMPAA already has its first designee. Professional Underwriters Inc. of Exton, Penn., has earned the distinction of being the first program administrator in the country, perhaps the world, to be certified as a Best Practice Program Administrator and able to use the coveted seal and logo. John Solari, president of Professional Underwriters, recently discussed the Best Practice process and what the designation means to his firm in an interview with Insurance Journal's Andrew Simpson.
"I think we learned a few things in the process. I think we learned we do an awful lot of things pretty well, which we believed that would be the case. But for our organization there were a couple of areas where we actually learned that we could probably do a little better in," says Solari in the May 22 magazine. (For the complete interview with Solari click on the link above.)
The issue also contains Insurance am Guide Highlight IJ Magazine