An insurance “field visit isn’t exactly good news. Or, it wasn’t good news before COVID when insureds were asked to meet person-to-person for what was internally managed as “in-person surveillance.” While requests for field rep interviews continue, the manner in which they are conducted leaves some of the major insurance advantages behind.
I’ve written several good articles on the risk management, and interview procedures of field rep interviews. Readers may request my article by sending me an email. This information is proprietary to me and is copyrighted so it cannot be copied or uploaded on the Internet.
However today, field interviews are most often conducted with a “Televisit” computer meeting, which actually removes some of the risk to you and benefitt to the insurance company. In the past, field visits were strategically designed to: 1) give access to the insured’s home and surroundings, 2) intimidation, 3) an opportunity to conduct actual surveillance, 4) instill fear of claim denial, and 5) obtain information that potentially could be used to deny claims for inconsistency of report.
Televisits do little to invade insureds’ homes, and speaking to insurance reps via computer is far less intimidatiing. Since insureds remain at home and feel more relaxed and comfortable speaking to a computer, televisits also encourage having notes to refer to, and gives insureds confidence to answer questions without emotion. In fact, as a Consultant I ask myself “What’s the point? What is the insurance company getting out of this?”
One of the major reasons for conducting field rep interviews is to obtain information that can later be used to deny claims, or challenge the credibility of the information given. Insurance specialists know that when insureds are comfortable and trusting, they will say anything, do anything to get their claims approved. I’ve seen this willingness to “tell all” by insureds many times over the years, and the more information provided by insureds, the more vulnerable to denial the claim is.
Whether field rep meetings are conducted in person or by televisit, insureds need to be cautious about providing more information than what is needed. In truth, there are only four things insurance companies have a right to know in order to administer disability claims – occupation, medical restrictions and limitations, dependent info, and financial information. Questions pertaining to family activities, sleep time, traveling, shopping, gardening etc. have absolutely nothing to do with paying disability claims, but has everything to do with NOT paying them.
Therefore, while televisits reduce deniability risk, there is always the opportunity to OVER SPEAK claims regardless of how the information is obtained. I always recommend that insureds check their Plans or policies to determine if insurers have the authority to conduct interviews either way. Not all policies actually require insureds to submit to field interviews, particularly older IDI contracts
Again, if you want to learn more about the theory behind field visits, you can request my prior article by sending me an email. “Less is more” is a good rule to follow when giving information to any insurance company regardless of how the information is obtained.
