The Hartford ClaimPlus Team(SM) Provides the Third Alternative in Claims Handling New claim services model offers account knowledge, flexibility HARTFORD, Conn., April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Good claim handling is increasingly complex, costly and important to a company's bottom line. For accounts with unique handling requirements, the right service model that lies somewhere between standard claim handling and a third party administrator (TPA) is now available at The Hartford. The Hartford ClaimPlus Team(SM) provides accounts with a designated team of claim professionals that handle only these unique accounts. The structure promotes intimate knowledge of the account and provides flexibility to meet its specific needs. The claim process brings appropriate resources to the claim for better communication and results. "The Hartford really understands what risk managers want, and built a new service model that responds. Its cornerstone is our proprietary triage tool that uses a predictive model to quickly identify the level of claims expertise required and route it to the right team member," said Sean Faherty, assistant vice president of claim account management at The Hartford. "Experience shows that immediately aligning a claim to the appropriate resource optimizes claim outcomes." Standard insurance claim handling works fine for most small and mid-size companies with straightforward claim needs. TPAs are often a good choice for large firms that want to pick and choose among unbundled services -- and pay for their choices. A certain segment of businesses with unique handling requirements, though, have largely been underserved. To effectively address their requirements, The Hartford ClaimPlus Team services all property-casualty claims for The Hartford insurance customers with complex needs, including geographically dispersed losses and a minimum of $400,000 in premium. This is a threshold below the traditional TPA focus. To meet these needs, The Hartford has established a dedicated ClaimPlus team in each of its claim centers that specializes in larger accounts. Each team ClaimPlus team is staffed with the following members: * A claim service consultant (CSC) who serves as primary point of contact with the client company and develops a service plan; * A team manager to execute the claim service plan and ensure adherence to pre-determined special procedures; * A team leader to manage the process; * A complement of claim handlers who specialize in different lines of business and different levels of claim complexity. The structure of The ClaimPlus Team enables use of The Hartford's specialization and segmentation capabilities to align each claim with a professional who has the appropriate claim expertise. The Hartford ClaimPlus model emphasizes communication, flexibility and comprehensive claim handling and account knowledge. "We designed ClaimPlus with our customers' high expectations in mind. There are other good insurers doing some of what we're doing here, but we've put all pieces together in a way that really differentiates our claim handling," Faherty said. Risk manager feedback has been very positive. "After 44 years in risk management, I appreciate the value of a responsive team that understands my business needs and works with me," said Larry Garman, risk manager at Riggs Industry in Boswell, Penn. "The ClaimPlus team gets me involved at every level, even with Medical Only claims to keep them from escalating into lost-time cases. Sometimes a claim's needs will go up or down, but since the claim stays within the team it works well." For further information, Hartford agents should contact their local underwriter. The Hartford is one of the nation's largest financial services and insurance companies, with 2004 revenues of $22.7 billion. The company is a leading provider of investment products, life insurance and group benefits; automobile and homeowners products; and business property-casualty insurance. The Hartford's Internet address is http://www.thehartford.com/. Some of the statements in this release may be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution investors that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially. Investors should consider the important risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. These important risks and uncertainties include those discussed in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our 2004 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update this release, which speaks as of the date issued. Contacts: Sue Honeyman 860-547-4976 Victoria Gallant 860-547-4938 DATASOURCE: The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. CONTACT: Sue Honeyman, +1-860-547-4976, , or Victoria Gallant, +1-860-547-4938, , both of The Hartford Web site: http://www.thehartford.com/

Copyright