Claims Business: CCC, Travelers, Envista Forensics and Fourstone

CCC Acquires Safekeep

CCC Intelligent Solutions has acquired Safekeep, a New York City-based tech firm that developed an enterprise platform that uses artificial intelligence to manage the subrogation process for property and casualty claims.

The acquisition will expand CCC’s claims software to include subrogation, which is “a critical function in achieving claims resolution,” the company said in press release. The subrogation management software is avialable to any of the more than 300 carriers that use CCC.

“Subrogation is a largely manual, time-intensive process impacting every insurer across every line of business,” stated Marc Fredman, chief strategy officer for CCC. “Our insurance customers have been asking for an intelligent way to automate the subrogation process, which accounts for billions of dollars in administrative costs annually.”

Safekeep applies machine-learning, natural language processing, rules and predictive models to score and prioritize claims for more efficient subrogation management, CCC said. The Safekeep technology also digitally packages documents and automates workflows to accelerate and improve subrogation outcomes.

Travelers Acquires Trōv’s Technology

Travelers Companies has acquired the technology developed by Trōv, a Danville, Calif.-based company that developed on-demand insurance, micro-duration policies, “claims-chat” and other digital products for the insurance industry.

Travelers said in a press release that Trōv’s digital solutions have inspired the transformation of the insurance industry over the last several years. Most recently, the company launched its embedded insurance platform, application programming interface (API) and developer support tools to enable insurers to distribute their insurance products within their existing digital applications.

Many of Trōv’s staff members will become Travelers employees, the carrier said.

“Travelers is the ideal company to harness our experience and take our technology to the next level. All of us are leaning into this opportunity with enthusiasm,” stated Trōv founder and Chief Executive Officer Scott Walchek.

Envista Opens Materials Science Lab

Envista Forensics has opened an in-house materials science laboratory that can identify defects in materials that may have resulted in failure.

The company, headquartered in Chicago, said it is offering Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, the first service of four new offerings that will launch this year. FTIR is a testing technique typically used to identify materials such as plastics, paints, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, and organic acids, the company said in a press release.

“This type of analysis is used to identify materials and help determine a material’s chemical characteristics,” stated Kristin Striber, a forensic laboratory rechnician for Envista “We can then use the identity of the material to determine if that material was correct for the application and identify contaminates in the material or degradation.”

Envista said it intends to begin three other laboratory services during the course of the year:

• Ionic contamination testing, which his used to detect potential contamination of electrical/mechanical equipment often caused by water or smoke damage via ion chromatography.
• Shingle desaturation, used to determine the potential cause of roofing damage, via vapor degreasing.
• Fire debris analysis, used for fire investigations to analyze fire debris for potential ignitable liquid residues, via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

FourStone Acquires Cordant’s WC Division

FourStone Partners has acquired the workers’ compensation division of Cordant Health Solutions, which provides drug testing and specialized pharmacy services.

The new acquisition has been branded as FourStone Health, the West Chester, Pa.-based company said in a press release. FourStone and Cordant have entered into a long-term lab supplier agreement.

Fourstone, a privately held consulting firm specializing in the workers’ compensation industry, was founded in 2012 by Thomas P. Shivers.

FourStone currently offers lab management services focused on toxicology and pharmacogenomics, which is the study of how a person’s genes affect his or her response to medications. The company also offers post-surgical accelerated recovery services, network development solutions and revenue cycle management.