Workers compensation system for determining a cost of insurance

• US 8,538,781 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2006
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WestGUARD Insurance Co. (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Guard Insurance Group
• Inventors: Richardson, John H., Witkowski, Carl J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kyle, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): KANG, IRENE S
• Application Number:
  US11/381,676
• Publication Number:
  US 20060253306A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,693 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1057 Benefits or employee welfare, e.g. insurance, holiday or retirement packages
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1091 Recording time for administrative or management purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A system for monitoring a business'"'"'s operational characteristics and employee classifications, in real time, to obtain increased amounts of data relating to the total compensation for purposes of providing a more accurate determination of a cost of insurance for the risk, on a real-time basis, and to bill such charges directly to the risk according to their unique finance plan in direct relation to their payroll cycle.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture having a computer readable medium storing computer readable program code that is executed by a computer to implement a method to determine a final premium charge for workers compensation insurance associated with a risk, said medium comprising:

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer establishes communication over a network with said risk'"'"'s payroll processor and receives at said insurance carrier, in real-time over said network, a set of raw data elements, said payroll processor located remote from said insurance carrier and said set of raw data elements associated with an operating state of said risk and any of the following;

said risk'"'"'s employment practice, said risk'"'"'s payroll, or a modification to said risk'"'"'s payroll, said operating state comprising a plurality of the following;

number of employees, job classification, or payroll per employee;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer monitors said set of raw data elements received in real-time over said network;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer identifies and records a subset of said raw data elements among said set of raw data elements received in real-time from said risk'"'"'s payroll processor that have an identified relationship with any of, or a combination of, the following;

said risk'"'"'s business operation, insurability of said risk, character of said risk, or rating parameters associated with said risk'"'"'s policy;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer determines said final premium charge of workers compensation insurance of said risk based on a premium modification that increases or decreases a premium charge based on an evaluation of said recorded subset of raw data elements, wherein said final premium charge is adjustable by relating payroll characteristics obtained in real-time over a network from said risk'"'"'s payroll processor to predetermined actuarial rates; and

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer outputs said determined final premium charge of workers compensation insurance.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein said medium further comprises:

computer readable program code calculating data elements and derived data elements from said raw data elements, and

storing said calculated and derived data elements in a database.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein said medium further comprises:

computer readable program code identifying a trigger event associated with at least one of said raw data elements; and

computer readable program code recording trigger information associated with said trigger event,

computer readable program code wherein said recorded trigger information in combination with said recorded raw data elements with an identified relationship is used to identify said surcharge or discount.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein said medium further comprises computer readable program code interfacing with an existing database associated with said risk to extract additional insurance relevant data.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein said computer-based method is performed over a network.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 5, wherein said network is any of the following:

local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or the Internet.

7. An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable medium storing computer readable program code that is executed by a computer to implement a method to estimate a final premium charge for workers compensation insurance associated with a risk, said medium comprising:

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer establishes communication over a network with said risk'"'"'s payroll processor and receives at said insurance carrier, in real-time over said network, a set of raw data elements, said payroll processor located remote from said insurance carrier and said set of raw data elements associated with an operating state of said risk and any of the following;

said risk'"'"'s employment practice, said risk'"'"'s payroll, or a modification to said risk'"'"'s payroll, said operating state comprising a plurality of the following;

number of employees, job classification, or payroll per employee;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer monitors said set of raw data elements received in real-time over said network;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer identifies and records a subset of said raw data elements among said set of raw data elements received in real-time from said risk'"'"'s payroll processor that have an identified relationship with any of, or a combination of, the following;

said risk'"'"'s business operation, insurability of said risk, character of said risk, or rating parameters associated with said risk'"'"'s policy;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier identifies a trigger event associated with at least one of said raw data elements received in real-time from said payroll processor;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier records trigger information associated with said trigger event;

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer determines said final premium charge of workers compensation insurance of said risk based on a premium modification that increases or decreases a premium charge based on an evaluation of said recorded subset of raw data elements and said recorded trigger information, wherein said final premium charge is adjustable by relating payroll characteristics obtained in real-time over a network from said risk'"'"'s payroll processor to predetermined actuarial rates; and

computer readable program code stored in a storage at said insurance carrier when executed by said computer outputs said determined final premium charge of workers compensation insurance.

8. A business method implemented over a network comprising:

estimating a final premium charge for workers compensation insurance associated with a risk, said estimation implemented by executing computer readable program code stored on an article of manufacture having a computer readable medium storing, said estimation comprising;

executing computer readable program code by said computer to establish a communication over a network with said risk'"'"'s payroll processor and receive at said insurance carrier, in real-time over said network, a set of raw data elements, said payroll processor located remote from said insurance carrier and said set of raw data elements associated with an operating state of said risk and any of the following;

said risk'"'"'s employment practice, said risk'"'"'s payroll, or a modification to said risk'"'"'s payroll, said operating state comprising a plurality of the following;

number of employees, job classification, or payroll per employee;

executing computer readable program code by said computer to monitor said set of raw data elements received in real-time over a network at an insurance carrier from said risk'"'"'s payroll processor;

executing computer readable program code by said computer to identify and record a subset of said raw data elements among said set of raw data elements received in real-time from said risk'"'"'s payroll processor that have an identified relationship with any of, or a combination of, the following;

said risk'"'"'s business operation, insurability of said risk, or rating parameters associated with said risk'"'"'s policy;

executing computer readable program code by said computer to determine said final premium charge of workers compensation insurance of said risk based on a premium modification that increases or decreases a premium charge based on an evaluation of said recorded subset of raw data elements, wherein said final premium charge is adjustable by relating payroll characteristics obtained in real-time over a network from said risk'"'"'s payroll processor to predetermined actuarial rates; and

generating revenue by performing a financial transaction over said network based on said determined final premium charge.

9. The business method of claim 8, wherein said estimation further comprises:

executing computer readable program code by said computer to calculate data elements and derived data elements from said raw data elements, and

executing computer readable program code by said computer to store said calculated and derived data elements in a database.

10. The business method of claim 8, wherein said estimation further comprises:

executing computer readable program code by said computer to identify a trigger event associated with at least one of said raw data elements; and

executing computer readable program code by said computer to record trigger information associated with said trigger event,

wherein said recorded trigger information in combination with said recorded raw data elements with an identified relationship is used to identify said surcharge or discount.

11. The business method of claim 8, wherein said estimation further comprises executing computer readable program code by said computer to interface with an existing database associated with said risk to extract additional insurance relevant data.

12. The business method of claim 8, wherein said business method is performed over a network.

13. The business method of claim 12, wherein said network is any of the following:

local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or the Internet.