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ILTCI 2024 - People and Perspectives

The Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance (“ILTCI”) conference, held from March 17 to 20 in San Diego, was a huge success. This success was driven by the people who prepare for months to plan and organize the event, and the panelists in each education session who share perspectives on challenges, initiatives, and solutions impacting long-term care insurance (“LTCi”). It was also driven by the people who attend ILTCI, are fully engaged, ask probing questions, and take knowledge and fresh ideas back to their organizations to improve what they do for their companies and clients.

 

Fuzion’s attendees were eager to share their perspectives on ILTCI 2024:

 

  • The Live Focus Group Session: Engaging with LTC Policyholders was a favorite of many including Fuzion’s SVP of Communications and Client Engagement, Debbie Maas. A policyholder online focus group was facilitated by an LTCi leader and shown live on screen to a room with several hundred attendees. Many policyholder participants expressed their desire to receive communications from their insurance company in a hard copy format by mail or email so they can print it and respond to it on their own schedule. The discussion on the responsibilities and challenges of caregiving for loved ones was impactful and participants indicated that educational material to inform and support would be welcomed.

 

  • Traci King-Parker, Senior Operations Program Manager, observed a common theme across all conference tracks with presentations and panel discussions on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”). Our industry seems to utilize different definitions of AI and have different views on how AI can help improve service and efficiency. Voice analytics is already being used in many call centers  to assist representatives in handling calls more efficiently. AI in other areas such as fraud detection, auditing, and claim adjudication is in the early stages of design and implementation, with state regulatory requirements changing rapidly. Adoption of AI in LTCi will always require human knowledge and expertise but  technology capabilities will result in greater efficiency and better outcomes.

 

  • Jane Bagley, SVP, General Counsel, and Chief Fraud Officer, appreciated sessions that focused on the industry’s common challenge of achieving closer oversight of block and risk management, especially in light of the large number of closed and legacy LTCi blocks of business. Additionally, with the growth and development of hybrid products, there exists the same need for closer administration of these new products. Session discussions highlighted proactive initiatives to improve block oversight and mitigate instances of fraud, waste, and abuse (“FWA”).

 

  • Speaking of FWA, the session Anti-Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Programs: A Step by Step Guide to Capitalizing on Your Investment struck a chord with Stephen Buccola, Senior Staff Attorney, Director of Legal. Stephen’s biggest conference session takeaway was the reminder about how important it is to have a solid, reliable process to use as a framework when building an FWA program. Once a framework has been established, carriers can take the knowledge and information gained through implementing the framework to continue to refine and improve their FWA mitigation process.

 

  • The challenge of connecting with policyholders via wellness initiatives was a topic that resonated with Megan D’Agostino, Project Manager. In the session Holistic Wellness Programs Engagement: What Does Success Look Like?, Megan’s main takeaway related to the trust that policyholders place in carriers and the accountability of carriers to uphold that trust. Forging a relationship with policyholders depends on developing a connection that is consistent over time and is strengthened by implementing communications that are more intentional and focused on what is important to policyholders.

 

  • As VP of Operations, Julie Peterson engaged in many discussions with carriers about their staffing challenges. The loss of seasoned associates due to high attrition rates and retirement raises concerns industrywide when it comes to effectively administering policies, managing claims, and providing high-touch customer service to insureds. This challenge is increased when needing to train new associates in a remote or hybrid work environment, amplifying the importance of a robust and secure knowledge management system. LTCi carriers should feel reassured that knowledge management systems do not need to be developed with internal resources because there are multiple highly rated tools and established systems readily available.

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