Government Technology
Government Technology: State & Local Government News Articles

Florida CFO Announces Initiative to Improve Recordkeeping



Print
Comment
Florida CFO Alex Sink

Jul 31, 2007, News Report

Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announced Friday her plan to improve the Department of Financial Services' recordkeeping of civil remedy notices and the resolutions of these disputes between policyholders and insurance companies. Currently, the system consists of cumbersome paper-files of hundreds of thousands of medical, legal and insurance documents. CFO Sink has ordered her department to begin working on a more accessible electronic database, allowing consumers or their attorneys the opportunity to fulfill their statutory obligations entirely online.

CFO Sink's revamp of the civil remedy notice compliance requirements comes on the heels of concerns over the recordkeeping practices established under the previous administration. After being made aware of growing concerns, CFO Sink immediately ordered the protection of all public records and a full review of her department's role in the receipt of civil remedy notices and the resolutions of the disputes.

"I am pleased that despite initial concerns, it has always been the policy of the Department of Financial Services to retain all civil remedy notices, materials included with the initial filings and the final resolutions," said CFO Sink, who oversees the department. "But I am not satisfied that these records have been used to the benefit of Florida consumers. We will be upgrading our systems with the goal of helping regulators quickly spot trends in market conduct."

Floridians wanting to take legal action against an insurance company first must file a civil remedy notice with the department, which is also required to keep a record of the resolution of the consumer's dispute. Last year, the department received more than 16,719 individual filings of civil remedy notices.

By creating an electronic, web-based system for consumers having to file civil remedy notices, CFO Sink is simplifying the requirements for Floridians and eliminating the unwieldy paper-based system that currently prevents the swift observation of insurance marketplace trends. The future streamlined database will enable the CFO to generate reports about the types of legal action consumers are planning to file against insurance companies, and it is CFO Sink's intention to share this data with the Office of Insurance Regulation and Insurance Consumer Advocate, General Bob Milligan.

In many instances, lawyers have also sent extraneous legal documents after the civil remedy notice was filed with the department, which often contain consumers' personal medical and insurance information. CFO Sink's electronic system will ensure that Floridians' confidential information is protected, while providing essential information about consumer disputes. 


If You Liked This Article, You May Also Like...

Related Products and Services


Latest Government Technology News


Industry Solutions for Government

Read real world deployments of technology in government from our sponsors.

View All Industry Solutions

Marketplace


This section
brought to you by:
Ca - Transforming IT Management

Identity and Access Management Survey
Take the survey to:
  • Win 1 of 10 $25 Amazon Gift Cards!
  • Download the Center for Digital Government's: I Am Who I Say I Am whitepaper
Take the Survey Now!

SF Health Plan

  Yes! I would like more information about CA's solutions for Government.

Security Management

The Evolution of Identity and Access Management IAM has become a key tool in the organization’s security and risk management efforts. Many Govt. organizations however, are not realizing the potential of a fully evolved IAM solution. This paper helps them achieve that goal.

How can a comprehensive IAM solution help me reduce security risk and achieve easier compliance? Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions help you manage users and their access to your IT resources while acheving more effective compliance.

IT Governance

IT Governance: Making the Difference in Cities, Counties and States Project and portfolio management helps government respond to old and new challenges. Featuring case studies from California Department of Agriculture, New York City, and Oakland County, Michigan.

CA Information Governance Solution Brief The CA Information Governance solution helps you solve an array of challenges with unique offerings including federated records management, email management, retention management and business process automation.

Enterprise Management

IT Network Management: State and Local Governments Face New Challenges Network and voice management tools help agancies get optimum performance from today's increasingly complex networks.

Success Stories: San Francisco Health Plan San Francisco Health Plan helps more people access affordable healthcare by simplifying IT management

Success Stories: Social Services Agency, County of Santa Clara County of Santa Clara improves the quality of social services with simplified IT management

CA Network & Voice Management Solution Brief Integrated, fault and performance management for end-to-end service assurance of multi-vendor, multi-technology converged networks.

Risk Compliance and Best Practices

Key Trends in the IAM Market and how CA's R12 Suite Addresses these Trends Identity and Access Management (IAM) has been a major force in the enterprise IT marketplace for years now.This paper will address the question: What's driving interest in IAM solutions?

Network and VoiceManagement for Evolving Business IT management specialist CA provides a foundation for delivering the value of unified network and voice management

A Vision for Dynamic Business Service Management By applying new levels of consolidation, automation and insight, dynamic Business Svc Mgt delivers improved service levels and cost controls

Deploying the CMDB for Change & Configuration Management The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) plays a critical role within the ITIL framework.

The Changing Face of Network Management Automated NCCM tools reduce the downtime and degradation caused by configuration changes.