Meeting - Thursday, March 1, 2001 from 9:30 - 11:30 A.M. FSCO - Room 3, 14th Floor

AGENDA

1. Review and Approval of Minutes from Previous Meeting – December 13, 2000
2. Statistics
3. FSCO Cost Recovery Program
4. New Fee Agreements with Health Providers
5. Dispute Resolution Case Directory -- Update
6. DRG Practice Code -- Update
7. Performance Measures
8. Other Business

*Next Meeting: Wednesday, June 6, 2001 @ 9:30 A.M.

Dispute Resolution Group Company's Forum Minutes of Meeting December 13, 2000

Members:
Leanne Lagana Dominion of Canada
Mavis Haws Dominion of Canada
Cassandra Phillips AXA
Debbie Diamanti Zurich
Ann Shewchuk Economical
Mike DeLaHaye Wawanesa
J Leger Kingsway
Brad Barber Allstate
Martine Sliva ING-Halifax
Mary Wright Royal & SunAlliance

Regrets:
Rohit Trivedi Temple Insurance
Phil Thorpe The Co-operators

Attendees:
Asfaw Seife FSCO-DRG
Shonna Neil FSCO-DRG
Barbara Dudzinski FSCO-DRG

The Dispute Resolution Group Companies Forum (Companies Forum)- includes representatives from auto insurance companies dealing with disputes before the Commission involving motor vehicle accident claims and statutory accident benefits. It consults with the Dispute Resolution Group of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario on issues relating to the dispute resolution system.

1. Minutes
   
   The minutes of the September 6, 2000 meeting were distributed and approved.
   
   
2. Staffing and Workload Issues:
   
   Barbara Dudzinski advised the group of the following staffing changes:
   
   ·Janice Mackintosh, Acting Director of Arbitrations moved to MAG - Office of the Chief Justice on Sept. 29/00;
   
   ·Director of Arbitrations position filled on acting basis by Appeals Delegate David Draper leaving Susan Naylor and Stewart McMahon in Appeals;
   
   ·Asfaw Seife acting as Senior Arbitrator pending conclusion of Sr. Arbitrator competition proceeding in January;
   
   ·Recruiting for second Mediation Team Leader in January;
   
   ·Currently have 33 mediators and 18 arbitrators - a copy of staff list was distributed;
   
   ·Recruiting for permanent and contract mediators in new year;
   
   ·Actuarial projections indicate that activity levels expected to increase meaning staffing resources will need comparable increases;
   
   ·Increases in exposure, claims frequency and proportion of claims entering mediation system largely attributable for overall activity increase.
   
   ·For Fiscal 00/01 projecting 11,142 mediations and 1,360 arbitrations; (this compares to 9,275 mediations and 1,226 arbitrations in 99/00)
   
   Barbara further advised that the fourth and final session of the Educational Outreach Program (Updating Dispute Resolution at the Financial Services Commission) sponsored jointly by the LSUC and FSCO was held in Thunder Bay on Nov. 17/00 and the program was successful drawing 28 registrants. A common theme expressed during and after the session was that attendees would like to see both mediators and arbitrators come to Thunder Bay for face-to-face mediations, pre-hearings and settlement discussions.
   
   The FSCO representatives indicated that this issues was being looked at in the Mediation Flexibility Project.
   
   
3. Statistics
   
   Barbara Dudzinski advised the group that on Oct. 23/00 the Mediation and Arbitration Registration System (MARS) was successfully converted to Visual FoxPro producing MARS 4 (forth version of MARS). The new system has more capacity, flexibility and provides a better platform for ongoing development. The package distributed to the group is the first statistics package from the new MARS 4 system reflecting the new features.
   
   Mediation Statistics:
   
   Shonna Neil indicated to the group that the pending cases were up slightly, and that there was the typical distribution of files between the three Bills. Of interest was that the DRG cut-over to their new case management system mid-Oct and this has lead to some changes in the reporting on the Statistics report. New on the report was a breakdown of the No Jurisdiction files however the report was not yet gathering the information correctly (as indicated by the 50 NJ files).
   
   This is being corrected. In the Mediation Success Rate area Shonna pointed out that there were new categories of possible outcomes namely the Partial with Procedural Agreement and Failed with Procedural Agreements. The reporting in these categories is still being tested for accuracy. The Partial category represents only files where some substantive issues resolved and others failed. Previously this statistic picked up Procedural Agreements as resolved issues counting them as Partial settlements.
   
   The Line graph indicates a growing pending caseload but the backlog for assigning files to mediators is at approximately 3 days well within the 15-day standard. The bulk of the files are either part of the current mediator caseload or are classed as incomplete meaning the applicants need to provide some clarification to the caseworkers before the files can be assigned. Barbara Dudzinski noted that approx. 50% of the applications received are incomplete in some way.
   
   Arbitration Statistics:
   
   Asfaw Seife reported that since the last Companies Forum meeting on September 6, 2000, arbitration statistics have continued to show 110 new cases being registered each month, on the average. He indicated that 131 cases were registered in November 2000 alone, representing a 19% increase over November 1999 and a 60% increase over November 1998; 1070 cases were pending in November 2000. This number stood at 1079 over the period April 1, 2000 to December 12, 2000. The present average age of decisions pending is 74 days.
   
   The average age of decisions issued for the period April 1, 2000 to December 12, 2000 is 94 days, while the number for November 2000 is 89. Arbitration continues to offer prehearing and hearing dates within our guidelines: 6-8 weeks for prehearings and 4-6 months for hearings.
   
   
4. Status of Practice Code Revisions
   
   Barbara Dudzinski advised that the English version of the Practice Code will soon be sent to the publisher with the with the intent that it be released within the next couple months. Work on translating the French version is almost complete.
   
   
5. Update on Dispute Resolution Case Directory;
   
   Shonna Neil advised that the directory is proceeding on schedule for implementation with the information and instruction package outlining the directory program scheduled to be forwarded to ADR co-ordinators in mid-January 2001. Each insurer will need to provide a password for their company to the FSCO webmanager to have their own directory sight activated. The directory will provide the information on all of that company's open mediation, arbitration and appeal cases. The FSCO is not able to batch the files under one directory for companies that have amalgamated with other companies. There will have to be separate directories for each company; however, these companies will be able to use one password for all the directories.
   
   
6. FAX Back Sheet - Option to use E-mail
   
   Some companies are still experiencing problems with the FAX Back sheets. There are still situations were the insurer is getting a call from the mediator before they have received it /or when they have just received the Application for Mediation. The DRG will continue to look at ways to eliminate this problem.
   
   Companies now have the option to E-mail their Information to the mediator directly. The e-mail needs to include the name of the claimant, mediation file number, and the person handling the mediation at the insurance company and their phone number. The FSCO email address was circulated with the added advice that the e-mail address could also be found on the FSCO web site or the government site (www.gov.on.ca Webster under "Telephone Directory" using the keyword "Mediator" and organization - "Finance".) For now, e-mail communications should be restricted to the FAX back sheet purpose only.
   
   
7. DO NOT E-MAIL OTHER DOCUMENTS TO THE MEDIATORS.
   
   A mediation scheduling system, for all parties, via e-mail is being considered for the future.
   
   
8. Assessment Regulation Change Introducing $500/Mediation Fee
   
   We discussed the introduction of the Assessment Regulation change introducing a $500 /mediation fee in the new year. Group members expressed concern that they hadn't received notice that this had been finalized and that it was proceeding in the new year. Barbara Dudzinski gave some background on the FSCO funding changes and assessment regulation process and provided a copy of the letter that went out to the CEO's in November 2000 updating them on the 2000/01 FSCO cost recovery and assessment changes process. Please see attachment following the minutes. There were a number of concerns raised regarding the change and the potential for its abuse.
   
   New Committee Members
   
   Leanne Lagana has replaced Mavis Haws as Dominion of Canada's committee representative and Scott MacDonald will be replacing Phil Thorpe as The Co-operators' committee representative.
   
   On behalf of the committee I would like to thank Phil & Mavis for their hard work and the valuable contribution that they have made to the committee and we wish them all the best in their new positions.

Next Meeting(s): March 1, 2001 @ 9:30 June 6, 2001 @ 9:30