Beacon Independent Medical Examiners is calling for an overhaul of the standard of medical reporting in the UK to help reform the soft tissue injury or whiplash claims process.
The company, which provides evidence-based medicine (EBM) reports to the insurance industry, said that the current UK claims system “reinforces exaggeration and fraud.”
“There is no good reason for people to continue to simply rely upon ‘medical expert opinion’ based on a claimant’s story or an individual doctor’s own experience,” said Beacon CEO Philipp Kizun.
He said the EBM model is a “proven effective tool for settling claims more accurately and giving stakeholders the key facts needed to weed-out exaggeration and fraud.”
“Evidence-based medicine is used to settle insurance claims in other advanced jurisdictions such as Australia, Canada, and the United States,” Kizun said. “Why not here in the UK?”
Kizun said the use of EBM repots to qualify insurance claims “is not being considered seriously” despite the “huge savings on offer.”
In November, the Ministry of Justice launched an 82-page consultation paper outlining plans to scrap the right to compensation, or at the very least, put a cap on the amount people can claim for minor whiplash injuries.
The public consultation will end on January 6 and Beacon hopes that its feedback will not fall on deaf ears.
“If the Ministry of Justice started to take evidence-based medicine seriously this would have a radical and positive impact on insurance claims. We would see premiums reduced considerably in the future and help millions of motorists save their hard-earned cash,” Kizun said.
“There are many shades of fraud and realistically it would be difficult to eradicate completely, however, evidence-based medicine would make the most significant measurable difference in the shortest space of time.”
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