Tips for cutting CI waiting times

Axa's protection guru Graham Harvey outlines what advisers can do to speed up turnaround times on critical illness (CI) applications...

The British Medical Association (BMA) has issued a statement letting its members know that the GP fee agreement it held with the ABI will no longer be in force.

This could lead to some GPs increasing their fees for providing insurance medical reports on their patients.

The BMA still recommends fees for the work doctors do for providers. They also provide their members with joint guidelines between the ABI and BMA on how doctors and providers should work together.

This got me thinking about the relationship between GPs, providers and IFAs.

This threesome is dependent on each other to get their jobs done correctly and quickly. "Quickly"? I hear you shout. I know the one thing that really gripes advisers is turnaround times on applications that need more medical evidence.

Sometimes turnaround times can take up to six weeks and, understandably, that's frustrating. Getting medical reports isn't always straightforward. Sometimes the reports don't contain quite the right information or some of the information is missing.

Meanwhile, some providers ask for handwritten reports because the information is more accurate. Annoyingly for underwriters, they often get back electronic print outs which offer more generic information on a customer's health. Providers have to go back and forth to GPs until the whole picture of a customer's health is presented and can be assessed.

So what can providers do to sort this out? The most obvious idea is to work out how best to communicate with doctors. What do doctors need from us so we get the right information back first time round?

Do we need to educate doctors on the role of the underwriter? What strikes me as odd is that if an underwriter can't make a decision on the basis of the information they've been given, this doesn't just affect their customer or the adviser's client but also the doctor's patient - do people forget that we're all working to get the same person insured against critical illness for instance?

But what can advisers do to help providers speed up the process? At times, advisers forget or don't send underwriters a signed AMRA, (Access to Medical Reports Acts document), allowing underwriters to get hold of vital information.

It's easy to forget to do paperwork when so many applications are done online but remembering could save up to a week in the turnaround time. Advisers and clients could speed things up by chasing the doctors too.

Maybe the solution lies in technology. In the future could providers have access to a centralised system where they can access medical reports? Time is precious and being more efficient is something all MDs want out of their business. If some GPs choose to up their fees then providers need to get smarter on how they get the right medical information.

Graham Harvey is managing director, protection, at Axa UK