Copyright © 2001 Business Insurance

"Vendors Sign On To PRDP Plan" December 4, 2000

by Dave Lenckus

 

 COLUMBIA, Md. -  Five technology vendors have committed to offering information systems that would allow risk managers at public entities to collect general liability claims data and submit it to the Public Risk Database Project's data warehouse, using the organization's recently released data standard.

In addition, eight more vendors have indicated that they also are considering giving public entity risk managers that option, said Cathy Spain, executive director of the Columbia, Md.-based PRDP.

The PRDP was created with $5.2 million of seed money from the 1994 settlement of a massive antitrust lawsuit against the insurance industry. The project's ultimate goal is to provide a database that public entity risk managers can draw on in managing their organizations' exposures and risk-financing costs.

Public entity risk managers can use the database to benchmark metrics, such as tort liability claims experience and risk-financing costs. They also could use the database to determine the best practices for minimizing risks and costs.

Synergistic Solution Technologies Inc. of Austin, Texas, will be maintain ing the data warehouse.

Before risk managers could begin transmitting data to the warehouse and benchmarking from the database, the PRDP had to come up with a data standard. The PRDP completed a feasibility study on the standard in 1997, and it began the development of a general liability data standard in 1998.

The PRDP released the standard in March. While the data standard was designed specifically with public-sector exposures in mind, the PRDP has authorized the New York-based Insurance Data Management Assn. to use it, at no cost, in its efforts to develop a data standard for private-sector risk managers.

Ms. Spain said that support for the standard from technology vendors is ``so important'' for the project to succeed.

The five technology vendors that have committed to offering systems that would allow public entity risk managers to collect and transmit data using the PRDP's data standard are:

* Claims Online of New York.

* Envision Technology Solutions Inc. of Midvale, Utah.

* Gallagher Bassett Services Inc. of Itasca, Ill.

* Pyramid Services Inc. of Danbury, Conn.

* Valley Oak Systems of Alamo, Calif.

The commitments came in response to letters that the PRDP sent recently to vendors, asking whether they would make their systems compatible with the PRDP's data standard and if the vendors would charge clients extra for that option.

The PRDP plans to publish in January the details from vendors' responses.

To date, 23 public entity pools have agreed to send data to the warehouse, according to Ms. Spain.

 

© Copyright Business Insurance 2000, 2001