CAMBRIDGE INTEGRATED SERVICES
Greenwich, CT, December 27, 2007 — Laidlaw International Inc., recently acquired by First Group PLC, is the leading operator of school and bus transportation services in North America. Laidlaw handles all of its claims management services internally, but Cambridge Integrated Services has provided auditing services to the company for many years.
As Vice President of Risk Management for Laidlaw, it’s Jeff Cassell’s responsibility to ensure that all of the company’s claims are being handled as efficiently and effectively as possible. Cassell initially hired Cambridge to conduct an audit of all of Laidlaw’s claims and look for any lost economic opportunities or leakage.
“Cambridge was brought in to provide an independent and comprehensive look at how Laidlaw’s claims management system was being implemented and what the financial results of that system were,” said Brad Lipscomb, Cambridge’s Vice President of Business Practices.
The results, however, were not what Cassell was expecting.
“We believed that we were handling our claims extremely well,” he said. “Firms I’ve worked with in the past used to come in and say, ‘You’re only at 3 percent leakage’; the numbers were always low. When Cambridge told us that we were really at 16 percent, I was astounded. But they explained exactly what they found and convinced me that we needed to make some fundamental changes.”
Using an outcomes-based approach, Lipscomb and his team began working with Laidlaw to design and implement a system of best practices and steadfast metrics that would hold adjusters accountable for what they achieve, not just what process steps they follow.
“Every client is different,” Lipscomb said. “Because Cambridge’s recommendations are focused on our clients’ desired outcomes, we can develop customized procedures and metrics that help their adjusters make the right decisions, ask the right questions and get the best results.”
Lipscomb’s team worked closely with Cassell to ensure that the adjusters understood the company’s expectations and developed a system of checks and balances where files are double reviewed and scoring is constantly calibrated for accuracy.
“Our measurement technology measures desktop behaviors to ensure each claim produces the proper outcome,” Lipscomb explained. “It’s not about paying less on a claim, it’s about paying the right amount. That’s where the leakage occurs.”
Though it took nearly two years to implement all of Cambridge’s recommendations, Cassell feels that the investment in time and money was well worth the return. “We have now a 43-item audit that we consistently use,” Cassell said. “Cambridge taught us what we needed to do to achieve our goals, and now we require every adjuster to go through that same training and follow through on every claim they handle.
“When we invited them back to re-audit, they found that our leakage had dropped from 16 percent to 7 percent,” he continued. “That nine-point drop translated into $9 million saved. There’s no doubt that hiring Cambridge resulted in exceptional cost savings.”
About Cambridge Integrated Services
Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Cambridge Integrated Services, a subsidiary of Cambridge Solutions Ltd., is one of the leading independently owned property and casualty claims and risk management services providers. Cambridge serves Fortune 500 self-insured employers, insurance carriers and public entities in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Claims services span workers' compensation; general, auto, professional and product liability; property and assumed/ceded reinsurance. Cambridge also offers a wide array of specialty risk management services including outcomes management and audit consulting, managed care, special investigations, structured settlements and subrogation/recovery services.
About Cambridge Solutions Ltd.
Cambridge Solutions Ltd. (USHQ: Greenwich, CT.) is a strategic global outsourcing firm with deep expertise in:
The company employs more than 4,400 professionals serving customers on four continents through more than 60 locations worldwide. With offices in the U.S., Europe, India, Singapore and Australia, Cambridge serves Fortune 500 firms, insurance and financial services companies, and public entities around the world. The company’s BPO subsidiary was named one of the top three best performing BPO companies by Global Services media and neoIT in 2006 and 2007, ranked as one of the top three leaders in human capital management, and ranked as the 28th leading outsourcing company in the world in the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP)’s “2006 Global Outsourcing 100” list, that appeared in a special advertising section in Fortune magazine. The company is listed on the major stock exchanges of India (BSE, NSE, MSE & ASE) under the ticker “CAMBRIDGE”. For more information, visit: www.cambridgeworldwide.com.
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