In its first week, the Claim Mobile App launched on October 5 by the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) to serve workers compensation claimants, has gotten over 1,000 downloads, according to Gaurav Vasisht, executive director and CEO of NYSIF.
That launch is just the start, he added. "We're really pleased with the initial rollout," Vasisht said. "We want to be able to build on that momentum. The app is very well positioned to have a significant impact, both in terms of accessibility and usability."
NYSIF has about 200,000 policyholders, with $1.9 billion in annual premiums and over $20 billion in invested assets. It is the largest workers compensation insurer in New York State and in the top 10 of U.S.
NYSIF's goal for the Claim Mobile App is to improve communication with injured workers about their claims, put necessary information at the claimants' fingertips and save them time and worry, according to Vasisht.
"It will have a huge impact on people to give them some level of assurance and comfort that yes, they are going to be receiving a benefit check from NYSIF soon," he said.
The Claim Mobile App provides claim numbers, claim status, contact information for claims managers, benefit payment dates and amounts, and a schedule of upcoming events concerning claims.
"It leverages technology to more effectively communicate with injured workers to give them access to crucial information about their claims at their fingertips, during what can be a very difficult time in their life," Vasisht said. "It goes back to our desire to refocus our attention on the injured worker, to deploy the technology, and to make and facilitate exchange of information easily with our injured worker population."
NYSIF developed the app by surveying its claimants and analyzing contact center data to learn what the most common claim inquiries are, according to Vasisht. The surveys found that 86% of NYSIF claimants have smartphones, and so the app is positioned to scale with the size of NYSIF's customer base.
"We want to be able to enroll as many of our claimants as possible. It will be up to them to sign up. But to the extent they do sign up, it'll provide a very significant service to them by facilitating that information exchange," Vasisht said. "This is not a short term endeavor. We've launched it, and I think over time, we will achieve that critical mass."
The app will be useful for most claimants and types of claims, he added. "Some claims are relatively short. So there may not be a need to download an app and have this level of detail, but there's a good subset of the 86% [with
