Munich Re Life US and The Claim Lab Partner to Uncover Hidden Mental Health Complexity in Claims

_{April 13, 2023}

Munich Re Life US (Munich Re) continuously pursues innovative technologies and solutions by looking across the insurtech community to identify partner companies that help us address our clients’ biggest challenges. Adjudicating claims with hidden mental health complexities is one challenge disability carriers face. To enable our clients to better address these types of disability claims, Munich Re is proud to announce a new partnership with The Claim Lab, a company identifying underlying claim complexity and motivation using data analytics.

Tackling hidden mental health complexity in claims through a deeper understanding of claimant psychosocial data

According to public data from the Society of Actuaries, only about 7-8% of long term disability claims reflect a primary diagnosis related to mental health – though the problem is much larger.¹ Through its experience, The Claim Lab has found that nearly 50% of physical claims have underlying evidence of depression and/or anxiety, which increases claim durations by 25% or longer.² Capturing the totality of mental health components affecting claims is often challenging for disability claims organizations because documentation practices are inconsistent across physicians, and carrier systems and processes often have limitations.

Leveraging The Claim Lab’s psychosocial questionnaires, insurers can gather a deeper understanding of their claimant’s situation – regardless of whether the diagnosis includes a mental health component. Collecting detailed claimant psychosocial data can help drive better claims outcomes including:

• Reduced claim durations
• Fewer reopened claims
• More appropriate claim approvals

The solution also provides carriers with greater insights into the overall impact of mental health factors on their blocks of business and team caseloads while amplifying their staff’s mental health expertise.

Munich Re and The Claim Lab: A powerful combination of rich claims expertise and insights

By combining The Claim Lab’s proprietary questionnaires and Munich Re’s deep disability claims expertise, we aim to help our clients improve the management of claim resources, better manage new and stable claims, and release reserves when appropriate. Munich Re’s partnership with The Claim Lab also enables us to provide preferential pricing for clients looking to improve their claims management.

Munich Re is committed to providing our clients with innovative solutions that power their ambition. In the coming weeks, we look forward to introducing Munich Re’s Claim Suite, a collection of innovative risk management solutions including The Claim Lab. In the meantime, contact us to learn how you can take advantage of The Claim Lab’s innovative claim solution and join their fast-growing list of North American disability clients.