A Smarter Approach to Property & Casualty Claims Management

APRIL 1, 2025

The insurance landscape is evolving, making effective claims management more important than ever. Rising costs, increasing litigation, and changing regulations require organizations to use proactive measures when it comes to claims resolution. These key trends underscore the need for a new approach:

Costly workers’ compensation claims. Multiple factors — such as worker shortages and understaffing, an aging workforce, and medical cost inflation — are driving up expenses for many employers.

Rising property claims. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, property claims have increased 16.3%, more than twice the Consumer Price Index.¹

Mounting litigation costs and higher jury awards. General liability claims have increased by 57% over the past decade,² with median auto liability nuclear verdicts climbing 63.2% since 2010 to reach $24.8 million.³

Growing errors and omissions (E&O) exposure. Increased litigation, staff turnover, and regulatory scrutiny are driving more E&O claims.⁴

At USI, we combine technology-driven risk analysis with strategic claims advocacy to help clients better manage costs and optimize coverage. The support and guidance required for different insurance lines, such as workers’ compensation or property, can vary significantly. However, the ultimate goals are often the same: to ensure fair, prompt, and efficient resolutions of claims while maximizing benefits for policyholders.   

Workers’ Compensation: Reducing Reserves and Premiums

Workers' compensation claims are becoming increasingly complex due to rising medical costs, inexperienced workers, and evolving regulations. Delays in claim resolution and ineffective claim management can drive up costs, impacting an employer’s financial stability and operational efficiency. Organizations that take a proactive stance — reducing reserves on open claims, closing existing claims quickly, and implementing aggressive claim mitigation strategies — can better control expenses as well as enhance employee morale and productivity.

Implementing aggressive claim management strategies — such as effectively managing medical treatment, engaging management, reducing time off work, and minimizing attorney involvement — can lead to faster claim closures and lower costs. Claim reviews help both the carrier and insured focus on the claims that are off-track.

For example, a custom manufacturer of high-end leather furniture retained USI after struggling with frequent workplace injuries and a backlog of open claims, some of which had been unresolved for years. Without a clear reporting process or accountability measures in place, claims were left lingering, resulting in higher claim costs and premiums.

By implementing an ongoing quarterly claims review process, USI worked with company leadership to track, report, and resolve claims efficiently, ensuring that claims were closed at least six months prior to renewal. Next, we overhauled the medical treatment strategy and enhanced the use of managed care services to ensure injured employees received proper medical treatment, shortening recovery periods. This helped reduce total claim reserves by $442,000, and lowered the renewal premium by $25,000 in the first year.

Property: Ensuring Fair Valuations

Property claims are posing difficulties for insureds as they face more frequent and severe weather events, supply chain issues, and undervaluation of properties, among other challenges. Proper incident response and claim preparation, accurate loss measurement of property claims, and an aggressive claims resolution strategy are essential to securing fair settlements.

A real estate company retained USI after experiencing these challenges firsthand, with a 35% surge in property claims over a six-month period due to severe weather and flooding. The initial valuations of these claims were often conservative, leaving the company financially exposed. USI worked closely with senior claims and underwriting management to resolve difficult claims negotiations. The team reassessed and optimized the methodologies for measuring property losses to improve understanding of both the losses and the applicable coverage. USI also leveraged advanced damage assessment tools along with proprietary benchmarking and analytics to identify patterns and anomalies in claims data.

By taking a data-driven approach and advocating aggressively for fair valuations, USI secured an average increase of 24% in claim valuations of property claims, resulting in an additional $15,000 per claim in payouts.