Where's All the Paper?

American Mining Insurance Company has grown from a handful of employees back in 1989 working on policies to a company that has over 50 employees with many, many filing cabinets filled with policies. Long gone are the days when someone could quietly ask everyone in the room about the location of a file.

With that in mind, AMIC formed a team to investigate the industry trend toward paperless files. AMIC has been imaging our documents for years, but until recently, there had not been a concerted effort to use the imaging as a way to improve company workflow. What follows is a discussion of the imaging software and processes with the members of the team, Donna Shenesky, Greg Pierre and Corey Chambliss.

Looking back, the imaging process all started with the Pennsylvania office as a way to cut down on paperwork and satisfy Alabama’s regulatory requirements. The Alabama Department of Insurance requires an exact copy of all policies and claims to be on Alabama soil since our home office is located in Alabama. Alabama law recognizes, as do other states, the validity of the image version as equivalent to an actual paper copy.  Before imaging, all files were photocopied and mailed to the home office. Both branch and home office had filing cabinets with duplicate files.

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Underwriting Department Reorganized

American Mining Insurance Company has reorganized its Underwriting Department.  Previously, underwriting responsibilities were assigned by line of coverage (i.e. Workers Compensation, all other lines). Now, Underwriting responsibilities will be divided by state. Each Underwriting team will be responsible for all lines of coverage in their territory. Moving to a territory underwriting structure will allow us to be more “account focused” and serve our agents and policyholders more efficiently.  Effective September 1, 2006 territory assignments are as follows:

Kaye Phillips – Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Mississippi, Maryland, Nevada and
                            New Mexico.
Steve Glenn – Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

Charlene Betz will be assisting Kaye in underwriting new and renewal business in her territory.  Dora Williams will serve as Steve’s Underwriting Assistant.

In Pennsylvania, Durbin Christner will assume direct responsibility for underwriting Workers Compensation.  Dora Williams will also assist Durbin.  Kaye Phillips will continue to underwrite all other lines of business in Pennsylvania.

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A History of Workers Compensation

Workers Compensation (WC) is the oldest social insurance system in the United States of America, predating the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs by decades.

As more and more Americans took industrial jobs in the early 1900s the frequency and severity of US work injuries became unacceptable to society. Injured workers often had to sue their employers to recover medical expenses, lost wages, and loss of future earning capacity. Needless to say, this had a chilling effect on the employer/employee relationship. Workers lost most of these cases under the laws of that time, and, as a result, serious injuries routinely left them and their families destitute, completely dependent on extended family and charity.

When workers did win these lawsuits, employers often paid unexpectedly large verdicts. The difficulty predicting the ultimate cost of employee injuries disrupted business development and sometimes limited employment opportunities for workers.

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