June 03, 2024 — Gallagher Bassett is excited to announce the continued enhancement of our industry-leading Waypoint decision-support system in the form of two new products: Waypoint Litigation Avoidance and Waypoint Return to Work. Both are designed to address some of the key workers' compensation (WC) challenges and positively impact TCOR for our clients.
These two Waypoint products also benefit from the newly launched Waypoint Alert Hub, an aggregator engine that powers the Waypoint product suite. The hub synchronizes alerts and prioritizes recommendations to streamline resolution manager (RM) workflow, which allows RMs to focus on delivering superior service to clients and claimants.
Waypoint Litigation Avoidance: Litigated WC claims account for about 10% of all claims, but they represent as much as 60% of the total cost of WC claims. Additionally, attorney-involved WC indemnity claims cost approximately six times as much as non-attorney-involved claims. This highlights the importance of minimizing claim litigation and attorney-involvement.
Waypoint Litigation Avoidance is an AI-enabled product that aims to reduce the litigated claims. Our model continuously measures various claim attributes to identify claims with a higher potential to trigger attorney involvement and present effective relevant and customized mitigation strategies to reduce the number of litigated claims. Over the past year, we ran a pilot program for this product, which is now ready for general release by June 2024.
Across the pilot program, the results of implementing Waypoint Litigation Avoidance have been very favorable:
- 8% reduction in attorney-involved claims
- 16% reduction in total incurred costs
- 15% reduction in total paid costs
Waypoint Return to Work: Additionally, we are introducing Waypoint Return to Work, a decision-support tool aimed at minimizing lost workdays. In WC, the longer an injured worker stays off work, the less likely they are to return to work. Furthermore, claims with lost workdays that exceed best practices are nearly twice as costly. With Waypoint Return to Work, we focus on identifying the roadblocks that hinder injured workers from returning to work, accelerating their transition back to the workforce, and, ultimately, minimizing lost workdays.
Leveraging our extensive claims experience and historical data, GB has developed this AI-enabled product that effectively flags return-to-work (RTW) opportunities. By evaluating claim complexity, expected disability duration, and RTW feasibility, we can identify claims that require enhanced attention. In cases where it is appropriate, we recommend assigning RTW Coordinators who specialize in overcoming barriers to successful return to work. The combined power of predictive modeling and timely interventions by our specialist RTW coordinators ensures reduced lost time, faster recoveries, and lower costs for your organization.
We are confident that Waypoint Litigation Avoidance and Waypoint Return to Work will significantly enhance the efficiency of your WC program. These solutions have been developed with your organization's success in mind, and we are committed to providing key decisions early in the claim life cycle to achieve optimal outcomes.
If you would like to learn more about Waypoint and these innovative solutions, please reach out to your client service manager or contact our team.
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