Legal & General has become the first to adopt a new solution that provides General Practitioners (GPs) with software that drastically improves the process of producing and underwriting insurance reports.
The system, Intelligent GP Reporting (iGPR), will enable GPs to automate their third party reporting processes by redacting non-permitted patient information. The GP then reviews this information in electronic form before securely and electronically sending it to enabled insurers. All types of medical reports for any insurer can be created using the software and once adopted by an insurer, the secure electronic delivery method is available.
The solution, which has been developed by Niche Health and Inchware, companies specialising in providing efficiency enhancing products and services to the UK primary healthcare market, has already been proven to dramatically reduce the time that GPs and administrators spend on each insurance report from around 73 minutes to 10 minutes.
Following the explicit consent of the patient, GPs can provide insurers with information electronically from a patient record in a safe, secure manner that complies with the Data Protection Act and NHS security standards.
Russ Whitworth, underwriting and claims director for Legal & General said: “GPs and insurers alike have a clear responsibility to protect the information of patients. iGPR instigates a positive change to an outdated process that has affected customer satisfaction rates for many insurance companies for years.”
“As a responsible insurer we have supported the development of this process to protect patient confidentiality, ease pressure on GPs, meanwhile providing the best possible service and the quickest response to applications for our customers.”
The launch follows a pilot of iGPR in GP practices across the country, which highlighted a significant time saving that will enable doctors to use their time more efficiently. In addition, non-permitted information was automatically redacted in every insurance request.
As the end-to-end process is fully electronic, the software will benefit GPs that find it difficult to meet deadlines set by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Guy Bridgewater, managing director of Niche Health added: “iGPR will be adopted by other major insurers over the coming months and Niche Health is excited about the enormous benefits that iGPR will bring to patients, GPs and insurers alike.
“Legal & General are the first of many third party organisations that recognise the importance of making reporting as secure, simple and effective for GPs as possible, whilst responsibly serving their customers’ needs as quickly as possible.”
Wide-scale deployment of iGPR will be offered to all GP Practices in UK and Northern Ireland with iGPR set to become the de facto standard for all third party reporting.
A statement from the ABI said: “The ABI welcomes today’s launch of the Niche Health system for accessing medical information as it has the potential to benefit customers, GPs, and insurers.
“It has the potential to speed up offering insurance to customers whilst also reducing the risks of non-disclosure and of any claim subsequently being declined. It will save GPs valuable time when dealing with requests for medical information, whilst maintaining the security of patients’ medical details.”
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