METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FULFILLING ANCILLARY NEEDS RESULTING FROM PROPERTY AND OTHER SIMILAR LOSSES

• US 20120095788A1
• Filed: 12/23/2011
• Published: 04/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Simpson, Douglas, Aleia, Alan, Pierce, Donald, Cadden, Donald, Carvalko, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US13/336,105
• Publication Number:
  US 20120095788A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A method to fulfill ancillary needs acquired as a result of property and other similar losses includes the steps of receiving insurance claims data input by claimants, storing and analyzing the insurance claims data, aggregating ancillary services and transmitting them to the claimants, and enabling claimants to communicate directly with ancillary services providers. Ancillary needs may include emergency auto rental, emergency housing, or loss prevention services. In addition, a system to fulfill ancillary needs includes a web server generating a site that allows claimants to input insurance claims data, a data warehouse for storing the insurance claims data, the application server including a claim data analyzing component for identifying claimants and verifying insurance coverage and an ancillary services component for aggregating ancillary services and transmitting them to claimants, and wherein the servers enable claimants to communicate directly with ancillary services providers.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a web server for generating a site that allows claimants to directly input, on microprocessor-based devices, insurance claims data for sustained losses via a computer network;

a data warehouse for storing the insurance claims data, the data warehouse in communication with the web server and an application server;

wherein the application server includes

a claim data analyzing component for analyzing inputted insurance claims data and identifying the claimants and verifying insurance coverage based on the analyzing; and

an ancillary services component for aggregating services that are ancillary to loss recovery and automatically transmitting the aggregated ancillary services to the claimants via the computer network; and

wherein the web server and the application server enable the claimants to communicate, via the computer network using the microprocessor-based devices, directly with providers of ancillary services.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the claim data analyzing component is further for summarizing the claims based on the analyzing.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the services aggregated by the ancillary services component of the application server comprise one of emergency services and loss prevention services.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the emergency services aggregated by the ancillary services component of the application server comprise at least one of emergency housing and emergency automobile rental services.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the emergency automobile rental services aggregated by the ancillary services component of the application server comprise automobile rental agencies carrying rental vehicles within the claimant'"'"'s insurance coverage.

6. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the loss prevention services aggregated by the ancillary services component of the application server comprises smoke detector vendors.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein

the site on the computer network further allows rehabilitation vendors to directly input, on the microprocessor-based devices, rehabilitation services data for the sustained losses;

the rehabilitation services data is stored in the data warehouse; and

the application server further comprises a claim rehabilitation component for aggregating rehabilitation services relating to the loss recovery and for automatically transmitting the aggregated rehabilitation services to the claimants via the computer network for display on the microprocessor-based devices.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the site includes a claim tracking component that enables the claimants to view data relating to loss rehabilitation in the data warehouse, thereby enabling the claimants to track loss rehabilitation on the microprocessor-based devices via the computer network.

9. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the claim rehabilitation component provides, on the site, hot buttons for certain of said aggregated rehabilitation services, wherein selection of one of the hot buttons on the microprocessor-based devices enables the claimants to make real-time contact with a rehabilitation service vendor via the computer network, web server, and application server to expedite the loss recovery.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the site further comprises a gift menu that enables the claimants to select a gift for using the site, thereby incentivizing the claimants to report claims via the site.

11. A computer-implemented method for processing insurance claims comprising the steps of:

receiving at a server, via a computer network, insurance claims data input by claimants for sustained losses;

storing the insurance claims data in a data warehouse;

analyzing, by the server, the inputted insurance claims data to identify the claimants and verify insurance coverage based on the analyzing;

aggregating, by the server, ancillary services related to loss recovery; and

transmitting to the claimants, via the computer network, aggregated ancillary services;

wherein the server enables the claimants, via the computer network, to communicate directly with providers of ancillary services relating to the loss recovery.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein analyzing, by the server, further comprises analyzing the inputted insurance claims data and summarizing the claims based on the analyzing.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein transmitting aggregated ancillary services comprises transmitting to the claimants, via the computer network for display on microprocessor-based devices, emergency services or loss prevention services.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein transmitting the emergency services comprises transmitting, via the computer network for display on the microprocessor-based devices, emergency housing or emergency automobile rental services.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein transmitting the emergency automobile rental services comprises transmitting, via the computer network for display on the microprocessor-based devices, automobile rental agencies carrying rental vehicles within the claimants insurance coverage.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein transmitting loss prevention services comprises transmitting, via the computer network for display on the microprocessor-based devices, smoke detector vendors.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving at the server, via the computer network, rehabilitation data input into microprocessor-based devices by rehabilitation vendors, related to the sustained losses;

storing the rehabilitation data in the data warehouse;

aggregating, by the server, rehabilitation services related to the loss recovery; and

transmitting to the claimants, via the computer network, the aggregated rehabilitation services.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting to the claimants, via the computer network for display on the microprocessor-based devices, data in the data warehouse relating to loss rehabilitation, thereby enabling the claimants to track progress of the loss recovery.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting to the claimants, via the computer network for display on the microprocessor-based devices, a hot button that, when selected, enables the claimants to have real-time contact, through the microprocessor-based devices and the computer network, with a rehabilitation service vendor to expedite the loss recovery.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising transmitting to the claimants, via the computer network for display on the microprocessor-based devices, a gift menu that enables the claimants to select a gift, thereby incentivizing the claimants to input insurance claims data using the microprocessor-based devices.