Description: The Society of Actuaries (“SOA”) Research Institute is the research arm of the SOA, providing objective, data-driven research that brings together tried and true practices and future-focused approaches to address societal challenges and business needs. The Institute provides trusted knowledge, extensive experience and new technologies to help effectively identify, predict and manage risks.

Description: This article discusses the causes of the 1918 influenza pandemic, the reasons it occurred and the likelihood that it could happen again. In addition, the author discussed ways, in general, to model and manage risks that occur infrequently, yet have a significant impact.

Description: This article describes some of the traditional profit measurement standards for direct marketing and then presents a more comprehensive and up-to-date foundation for insurance direct marketers and actuaries to use when reviewing individual direct marketing campaigns or total marketing programs.

Description: This article describes the functions of the National Center for Health Statistics which serves as the focal points for U.S. health statistics. The NCHS data collection program goes beyond the important vital statistics. The Center produces data on the extent of illness and disability in the population.

Description: Article reviews the data a year into the unwinding of continuous coverage provisions in Medicaid, the impact on enrollment counts, how capitation rates have been adjusted, and compares those results to what has been modeled with the SOA Mediciad Unwinding model.

Description: Is your development team or IT staff growing tired of last-minute requests to include additional functionality? Have you strained to explain challenging actuarial topics to non-actuarial staff for implementation? Do your teams find themselves revisiting deadlines & timelines when building solutions? During this interactive panel discussion, three technologists (two software engineering managers and one data scientist) along with three actuaries will discuss real world problems and approaches using experience from previous projects. Although the challenge of running efficient software teams is not unique to actuarial science, this webcast will discuss best practices on how to organize teams to reduce friction and context switching. Presenters will also explore unique actuarial challenges and concepts including how to address standards on data quality when building software, how to build intuitive software that meets actuarial standards and how test-driven development makes it easier to meet actuarial standards of practice.

Description: Planning for retirement is at the top of many minds. How do I save? When is the right time? What are my plans? But what are the impacts of your health on retirement? Learn more about the effects of a healthy lifestyle on retirement in order to maximize life span. Review more in-depth findings from a recent report sponsored by the SOA Research Institute’s Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program and conducted by the Vitality Group, as well as other expert insights.

Description: This is the complete January 2012 issue of Health Watch.

Description: This session discussion is about claim processing technology. Its artificial intelligence, medical expert systems, optical scanning and electronic claim submission. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 15, No. 1.

Description: Report to give actuaries practical information and guidance on LTD claim credibility for case level pricing and underwriting. Stage 2 of the GLTD Credibility Study, this analysis was expanded using the industry data gathered during Stage 1.