Predictive modeling: property/casualty writers can learn to offset rising medical costs by importing a simple profitability tool fromgroup health.(Property/Casualty)

In the race to sustain profitability, property/casualty insurers might take note of the new ways group health is containing ever-escalating medical costs. This could be especially helpful to workers' compensation writers, who have had to accept the line's increasing claims severity.

The medical care portion of lost-time claims--claims serious enough to require time off from work--increased by an estimated 10.5% in 2004, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The average yearly increase for the eight-year period 1996-2003 was 9.3%, compared with 3.9% over the period 1991-1995.

And medical costs are likely to continue rising as newer, more …