Pacific Life Re and UnderwriteMe are pleased to confirm their collaboration with the National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM) at the University of Manchester in the UK.  This project is developing a system which uses artificial intelligence and text mining techniques to process unstructured medical textual data, such as doctors’ reports on life and health insurance applicants and claimants.

The development system has progressed to match human outcomes when identifying pertinent information from health records.  The finished product will be accessible from UnderwriteMe’s suite of technology, now adopted by many insurers in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and rapidly rolling out in Asia.

The emergence of electronic medical reports offers the ability to improve customer service through faster automated processing.  Text mining streamlines the information that the underwriter or claims assessor needs to review and offers the option to fully automate decisions.  Cost savings are potentially very significant, leading to better value for the end customer.

Martin Werth, CEO, UnderwriteMe, commented: “This is an exciting project, which truly reflects our ethos of investing in digital technology to intelligently automate business processes.  By removing existing inefficiencies, we will deliver a superior experience for customers, intermediaries and insurers.”

Professor Sophia Ananiadou, Director, NaCTeM at the University of Manchester, commented: “We have specialised in developing text mining tools for analysing unstructured medical data for over 10 years.  Pacific Life Re and UnderwriteMe are innovative organisations at the cutting edge of using technology to improve their industry.  Our collaboration is showing great potential and we look forward to delivering the first system.”

Warren Copp, Chief Underwriter, Pacific Life Re, commented: “Our focus is on making life and health insurance simpler, faster and fairer through supporting insurers with UnderwriteMe’s transformational digital capability.  The text mining module will be another exciting addition to UnderwriteMe’s technology suite.”