5 Questions with Jason Caravella

Welcome to the second installment of 5 Questions, a blog series where a team member from Xceedance shares their insights on important trends in insurance, technology, and business while also sharing a bit about themselves and their life outside of work. (Check out episode one with Jai Kumar here).

For this episode of 5 Questions, we spoke with Jason Caravella, VP of claims TPA operations at Xceedance. Below, Jason shares his thoughts on the impact of technology on the claims practice, why a “digital-first” approach to claims administration is important, and why not everyone wants a tech-driven claims experience.

Q1: The claims arena has seen significant change in the 20 years you’ve worked in the space – what do you see as the most important or substantial change in how claims are managed over that time?

Jason: One of the biggest impacts has been the availability of data to all levels of the organization.  Before dashboards and tools like Power BI became widely available, if users wanted to see their outcomes or do any type of analysis, they would often have to request the data from the reporting function and hope that the information they needed was available. Now users across the organization have access to relevant information at their fingertips to improve workflows and claim outcomes.

Q2: How is technology changing the claims world?

Jason: Claims tech is taking a lot of the hassle of claims away from the policyholder and improving the overall customer experience. Now an insured can often report a claim on their phone and receive payment electronically within hours. The entire process can be completed simply and with just the policyholder’s cell phone, and without them needing to take any time out of their day.    

Q3: Xceedance recently launched a “digital-first” claims TPA… what is a digital-first TPA, and how does it differ from a traditional claims administrator?

Jason: Being digital-first means leveraging technology and operational capabilities to deliver seamless claims management and customer experience. Traditional TPAs face significant challenges with limited strategies, underutilization of claims systems, often underwhelming service levels, adjuster attrition, and limited capacity resulting in poor policyholder and broker experiences. Our goal is to be an extension of every client and provide a digital-first, customized claims TPA solution to meet both the client’s needs and their policyholder’s needs – all while delivering first-in-class results.

Q4: What trend in the claims space worries you the most?

Jason: As the industry moves toward ‘no touch’ claim handling we need to keep the policyholder who prefers a more traditional claim experience in mind.  We need to be able to deliver services that match the policyholder’s preference and comfort level. In some instances that will mean technology-first, in other cases it means a friendly voice on the phone ready to guide them through the process.

 Q5: The claims function is sometimes viewed negatively as individuals needing to file a claim have just experienced a loss – what is one thing about claims that you’d like people to know?

Jason: Experiencing a loss can be challenging for policyholders, and claims service is part of what they purchased to help them move beyond that loss.  Our job as claims professionals is to be there for the policyholder during that difficult time and deliver the best claim experience we can within the terms of their coverage.

Thanks to Jason Caravella for sharing his thoughts and watch for the next installment of 5 Questions coming soon!