The cure: innovation and empathy Science, artificial intelligence and a fresh approach are helping QBE make a difference for injured customers By Bernice Han
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irefighters had to cut Jane Black (not her real name) out of the wreckage of her car after a road accident, but just hours later she was discharged from hospital. She thought she’d been lucky to get off so lightly, but that changed when the extent of her whiplash injury made itself clear. What followed was a long period of constant severe pain that called an end to her favourite outdoor activities, long walks and cycling. The pain and discomfort meant she could only dream of taking up those pursuits again. All Jane wanted was for her nightmare to end. Thanks to a project QBE started two years ago, the nightmare did end. The Sydney resident has recently resumed walking and riding her bike, free from pain. Jane’s recovery is an example of the ways science and technology can be used by insurers to achieve dramatic results for injured customers. The case manager at QBE who was handling Jane’s compulsory third party (CTP) claim referred her for treatment with Active Recovery Clinics, an injury rehabilitation specialist. At her first consultation a clinical team – which included an orthopaedic surgeon, a psychologist and a physiotherapist – ran medical checks and recommended her for the company’s whiplash treatment plan. Patients in the recovery program engage in customised home-based exercises, which are supervised remotely via a computer program that tracks their progress using motion sensors and tablets. David Bacon, QBE’s General Manager for People
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Risk Claims, tells Insurance News Jane’s program was “a combination of bio-sensors to monitor her exercise program and a psychological monitoring program to ensure that she was recovering well”. The whiplash program is part of the QBE project that Mr Bacon has been overseeing since its launch two years ago. Improving innovation in claims practices through the application of science, artificial intelligence (AI), analytics and other hi-tech variants is the over-arching aim of the exercise. Its development stems from the “Brilliant Basics” program that QBE Group Chief Executive Pat Regan introduced when he took up the role at the start of 2018. Underwriting, pricing and claims, the three pillars of an insurer’s business, form the focus of the Brilliant Basics program. In People Risk Claims, it was clear to Mr Bacon and his team where they should be directing their efforts. “The approach we chose to take was to significantly enhance the application of the science and analytics in our business to be able to work towards helping people get their lives back together,” he says. The initiative wasn’t just about cost savings for QBE, but also about working more closely with the injured customer. “We observed that a lot of the academic work around injury recovery was very well established and very well researched, but really there was no effectively practical application of that in workers’ compensation or CTP.”
