I spent last week at the annual Risk & Insurance Management Society annual meeting in Philadelphia last week. This is one of the single largest events in the property and casualty industry, attracting thousands of attendees and exhibitors. A quick snapshot of the show reflects an industry in turmoil. When I reflect the first RIMS I attended in Orlando more than a decade ago, the changes are boggling. Industry giants from those days have disappeared, victims of consolidations or outright insolvencies; new, less-familiar players have emerged. It’s a challenging environment for risk managers. This year, in the wake of the Spitzer investigations shaking the broker world, the buzzword at the show was transparency and all the talk was about ethics and open customer communications. RIMS leadership called for members to take responsibility in the issue of disclosure.
The Terrorism Risk and Insurance Act was also of some concern. TRIA renewal was much on the minds of attendees and the subject of several sessions.
Rising workers comp severity trends and high medical costs were another issue of great concern. While frequency is down, the cost of claims keep increasing, largely driven by skyrocketing medical expenses. This concern was in evidence by the plethora of medical specialty services that dominated the exhibitor hall. Our friend and fellow blogger Joe Paduda reports on the trend to medical risk management, with particular observations on Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).
The annual benchmark survey of risk managers produced for the Risk and Insurance Management Society by Advisen was just released, and shows that the property casualty market softened in 2004, although the high cost of WC and professional liability kept overall risk cost 3% higher than the prior year. For more information, read Michael Bradford’s report of the survey in Business Insurance.
Congratulations are in order. We were very pleased to open our mailbox last week to see that James D. Hinton of HCA, Inc. was gracing the front cover of the pre-RIMS Business Insurance issue. Jim was named 2005 risk manager of the year in the publication’s annual award. Some of us at Lynch Ryan remember working with Jim in the early 90s when he was implementing workers comp programs at Humana – he was very progressive and ahead of the curve back then, so we are pleased to see him getting some well-deserved recognition.
And more kudos – Susan Meltzer, assistant vice president, risk management for Sun Life Financial in Toronto won the Goodell Award, the highest award that RIMS bestows. Congratulations are also in order for Ellen Vinck, vice president of risk management, benefits and safety for CA-based U.S. Marine Repair Inc. who begins her tenure as new President of RIMS. On a personal note, it was nice to see so many prominent women rising in the ranks of an industry that has been largely male-dominated until the last decade
