Researching Insurance Claims Recent disasters such as the catastrophic 911 terrorist attacks and the widespread physical devastation of Hurricane Katrina have underscored the importance of researching insurance claims in a timely and efficient manner. The common process in these instances instances is for an individual or business to file a claim with a local insurance company representative. These claims usually involve some type of liability, injury, or damage to property (Commercial Insurance, 2007). The details of the claim must then be researched and investigated to ensure accuracy before any payments are made. A claim adjuster researches or investigates the claim to verify that estimates are accurate and that there is no evidence of fraud. For instance, sometimes bill amounts are inflated in order to increase the amount of compensation received. Insurance claims departments also research claims in order to determine whether a third party is responsible for payment in accident or work-related claims, a procedure known as subrogation. Typically, after a claim is sufficiently researched, insurance companies accept the claim adjuster’s assessment and then proceed based upon the recommendation of what type of settlement and claimant payments should be authorized (Commercial Insurance, 2007). Once upon a time, researching insurance claims was an extremely rigorous and painstaking process. Claims departments are responsible for determining how much monetary compensation a claimant should receive for loss, based upon the policy’s loss coverage and other provisions such as the sharing of risk, co-payments, and deductibles (Commercial Insurance, 2007). Research may involve interviews with the claimant, witnesses, police; on-site property damage inspections; consultations with other experts connected with the claim including physicians, attorneys, accountants, engineers, architects, and construction wor