Description: The CSTEP 'Cluster Sampling for Tail Estimation of Probability' system is a desktop-based application to assist actuaries in efficient stochastic modeling through the implementation of Representative Scenario approaches. Its goal is to provide actuaries with an open-source HPC 'High Performance Computation' research platform to select a sample set of representative 'pivot' risk scenarios through user-specified or user-researched distance definitions.

Description: This is a research project on possible replacement indices for the 30 year treasury rates used to value current liability for defined benefit pension plans in the US.

Description: Disease management [DM] is a health care intervention targeted to individuals with chronic diseases chronics. To justify the investment by payers in DM, it is important to demonstrate beneficial clinical and financial outcomes. This paper analyzes the health cost trends between the chronic and non-chronic populations. Paper 7 of an 8 paper series on 'An Introduction to Care Management Interventions and Their Implications for Actuaries'.

Description: Statistics show that the risk of fatality associated with motorcycle crashes far exceeds that of automobiles hereby Connecticut introduced mandatory motorcycle safety training. This paper develops a unifying framework to quantify the effectiveness of such mandatory programs and to translate this in terms of a possible insurance rate reduction.

Description: This report compares health care utilization and expenditures between individuals with Crohn’s disease who had used infliximab and those who had not. Claims data from the 1999-2003 Thomson Reuters MarketScan commercial claims and encounters databases and inpatient, outpatient, and prescription drug claims data of individuals older than 18 years of age with a diagnosis of Crohn’s were included.

Description: Software vendors participating in the A Comparative Analysis of Claims–Based Tools for Health Risk Assessment study were invited to submit comments on the study. In this document, Ingenix explains their contribution to the study's source data, and raises some questions about methodolgy.

Description: A fuzzy random variable [FRV] has been conceptualized as a vague perception of a crisp but unobservable random variable [RV] and also as a random fuzzy set. Since actuaries seem receptive to these notions of FRV, and there are sources of uncertainty that RVs can not accommodate, but FRVs can, one would expect FRVs to be a component of the actuarial arsenal, but generally this is not the case. Assuming that the reason for this is that potential users are not sufficiently familiar with FRV methodology, the purpose of this article is to help alleviate this situation by presenting a FRV primer.

Description: This outline was used to guide the discussions with each participant of an automated underwriting study.

Description: This report is to estimate the burden of chronic disability on the U.S. elderly population, using unisex and sex-specific measures of long-term care service use, intensity and costs. It discusses disability prevalence, incidence, duration, and long-term care intensity and cost.

Description: This paper describes an actuarial methodology for evaluating disease management outcomes. We address several important issues in this paper: • Control of exposure, • Identification of measured populations, and • Ensuring equivalence between baseline and intervention populations. - Paper 6 of an 8 paper series on 'An Introduction to Care Management Interventions and Their Implications for Actuaries'.