Samplemed reveals all the secrets of its new Underwriting Manual
Samplemed has been offering specialized risk underwriting services for over 30 years. On this journey focused on innovation and technology, it has developed products for all types of risks and today has a complete ecosystem for insurers and reinsurers.
This is the revolutionary s.360, which in addition to underwriting solutions, has a Samplemed Underwriting Manual.
With simple and clear language, the Manual has articles on the 80% most frequent underwriting conditions.
Graduated in Medicine from Unifesp – Federal University of São Paulo – as well as Pharmacy, specializing in intensive care, anesthesiology and medical auditing, in addition to many other postgraduate degrees and certifications, Simone Melnick is one of the important academics within Samplemed who brings for you in the interview a little bit of her path in the world of Underwriting and the construction of the Samplemed’s Underwriting Manual.
How did you get into Samplemed?
– It was in 2015, to conduct medical interviews in the home of life insurance applicants. After 6 months I was invited to join the Samplemed team, I was hired as an underwriter and for the purposes of medical advice in our Underwriting area, such as giving training to insurance companies. Etc. This is where I received my LOMA certificate.
What is your experience with Sample, what does the company mean to you today?
– Samplemed is an insurance school. Because we have here in everyday life a very rich material. There are over 300,000 cases from interviews alone. We participate in a process of putting together questionnaires that is dynamic, we have very specialized systems that enhance the underwriter’s work. Always dealing with underwriting medical advice, carrying out and preparing to apply training, participating in the process of developing a new life insurance product – it’s all very rich. We are in contact with several manuals, different views, and over the last few years we have even created our own Underwriting Manual. On the other hand, Samplemed means Care for me. Care for people’s well-being, a special way of serving and working.
As for the department leader, explain a little about the structure of your department today – What are your work dynamics?
– Today I act as a leader and support in the medical area, we also have the coordinator of the area who is also an underwriter, and our underwriters in the health area. We work with degrees of authority to release medical opinions. That is, not only from the point of view of contracted capital, but from the point of view of the complexity of the case, there are layers of permitting cases and double checking. However, these features are present on our underwriting platforms, which prevents these cases from being released without double checking and other functionalities that help us to correctly decide on the risk. It is very important for the IT team to work here and to have systems that give us good working conditions.
What are the biggest challenges you have at work? Home office was a challenge?
– Home office, initially it was a challenge because we at Underwriting work with sensitive information traffic. However, all of our systems were already prepared for the LGPD and the platforms guarantee security. We even got ISO 27001, and this month we also got the certification that we have our processes very well defined, we achieved ISO 9001.
And the Underwriting Manual project, where did this initiative come from – when did it become a Samplemed dream?
– This dream came from Dr. Jairo, of a need to have a more dynamic, clear, easy manual, and aimed at the underwriter. Maybe it was even before, but I started this project in 2019.
How has this trajectory been? How many people were involved?
– From the point of view of medical content, the process was divided into stages. We made an extensive list of selected pathologies and the themes were divided into blocks, from the most to the least common. Each theme went through bibliographical research, content creation, revision… Always with a focus on underwriting!
In this process, we had external assistance, 8 people from the medical area, our Manual team and the IT team.
Leaving the underwriting, the content still goes through layers of taxonomy, translation, and others before integrating the Samplemed.360 system. It is a totally innovative and multidisciplinary project.
We already have a contract signed for the use of the s.360 Manual. Looking back, how do you think this journey has been?
– I see that it really started from a day-to-day underwriting need. Just betting on the project, I confess that I was surprised, in a positive way, throughout the project, with the way it took place, with the different interfaces. And everything matches the company’s mission, of technological innovation and providing means of protection for more and more people. Therefore, this signed contract is a reason for great joy, great pride, a great cause for celebration.
What are the biggest differentials of the Samplemed manual?
– The possibility of integration with all underwriting models, in a single environment, and generating data, essential for monitoring processes, generating opportunities. And the language of the manual.
What do you like most about our manual?
– Certainly, an easier, clearer language, an interesting format, more targeted at underwriting and that will make training and the day-to-day underwriting much easier.
Where do you see the Samplemed underwriting going in the next 5 years?
– I think of 4 points:
- As in medicine, technology will increasingly be incorporated as an ally in the underwriting process.
- We will take a closer look at the increased longevity of the population and, consequently, changes in risk decision-making.
- The use of data will become more and more present in the underwriting area as well as in the medical field. It will see opportunities for improvement, new products that are increasingly personalized, more inclusive and will also help to identify patterns of behavior, deviations, fraud.
- I also see the integration between the areas of life and health, with a focus on disease prevention, which is an advantage for everyone involved. Without ever, of course, failing to have the humanized service that is characteristic of Samplemed.
About Samplemed
For more than 32 years, it has been providing integrated solutions that make health risk analysis and underwriting smarter in Brazil and around the world.
This purpose is only possible by offering processes and tools that contribute to making the personal insurance market increasingly transparent and inclusive. Products are always offered in order to bring the market flow to evolution.
For more information, please contact:
Paulo Andrade
paulo.andrade@samplemed.com.br