Malvern, Pa. (July 23, 2013) – Data overload weighs down workers’ compensation claims staff, causing delays in decisions that impact the bottom line, according to Acrometis’ President Jerry D. Poole.  Poole will share ways to manage voluminous claims data during the “Savings Isn’t Everything: What Is Your Data Really Telling You about Quality?” panel at WCI’s Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference on Aug. 19.

“Claims handlers are already overwhelmed, and now the industry is collecting and pushing more and more data at them,” Poole said. “When too much information hits at once, decisions don’t get made or they’re made too late to impact the bottom line.”

This proved true in a CLAIMExpert analysis of 80,000 bills for treatment occurring during the first week of an injury.  Data showed the highest medical spend and lowest percentage of savings came from physicians, a trend that continued through subsequent weeks of the claim.

“If the payer recognized this early on and negotiated for better fees, it could have saved thousands of dollars on physician costs over the course of these claims,” Poole said.

He will also discuss cures to data overload, including using claims systems that review bills and approve those that fit payers’ business rules and automatically return ineligible or incomplete bills. “Adjusters shouldn’t have to touch 75 percent of the bills.  Turning the data fire hose down to a trickle frees them to focus on claims that really require human intervention,” he added.

Joining Poole on the panel are Jeffrey White, director of medical management practices and strategy for Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. and president and CEO of Great White Software, LLC; George Furlong, senior vice president of managed care program outcomes analysis for Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc.; and Moderator Jenn Hermann, director of data analytics for MedRisk, Inc.

WCI’s WCEC will be held at the Orlando World Center Marriott from Aug. 18-21. For more information, please see www.wci360.com.

About Acrometis Acrometis offers the most complete and automated claim processing platform designed specifically for the workers’ compensation industry. Acrometis’ CLAIMExpert® is a rules-based claim processing platform that deterministically routes claims documents and bills, allowing for meaningful changes to the claims processing environment that in turn leads to maximized cost savings, efficiency, and productivity gains over the lifecycle of a claim. For more information about Acrometis and the CLAIMExpert platform, please visit www.acrometis.com, its blog at http://wcinsights.com or call 855.282.1476.

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Media Contacts: Helen Knight, 813-690-4787; helen@kingknight.com Lee Mikles, 610-674-0676; Lee.Mikles@acrometis.com