installed a direct claims line for the electronic transfer of hospital in-patient and out-patient claims information.

The Island's hospitals will transmit the 500 to 1,000 claims destined for the insurer each week, by way of electronic transfer, creating savings for both sides in what had been a labour intensive job.

Vice president, life operations, Ms Judy Panchaud-White, said: "We are hoping to be able to extend the concept to doctors' and dentists' offices as well, eventually. We are working on that for 1996. It would gradually reduce the large volume of paper being used. There are long term savings for all parties.

"I think other insurance companies will soon follow on. We are ahead of the game because our claims manager, Gina Bradshaw, just followed up so quickly on it. We have some 40 percent of the insured market outside of government workers.

"Looking down the road at getting doctors and dentists on line, we will use EDI to do that and there have already been initial talks with a firm about accomplishing that.'' Some 80 percent of all services rendered at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital can be filed on-line, without manual intervention. There will be efforts in the future to get the remaining 20 percent of the service claims on line.

The changes mean an improvement in the hospitals' cash flow.

The Hospitals Board's director of finance and information services Mrs.

Annarita Woolridge-Marion C.A., said: "The ability to transfer claims electronically has been a goal of the Bermuda Hospitals Board for the past year. We are pleased to have been able to accomplish this through the joint efforts of the staff of the board and BF&M.

"The success of this project demonstrates our commitment as a centre of excellence.'' Prior to electronic claims transfer (ECT), paper claims were submitted by the hospital to BF&M, who inputted the claims from the hospital claims forms into its database.

The development of the programme took a year, and BF&M had to hire someone for six months to modify the software programme. The Hospitals Board also made changes to its system.

Some retraining of staff is required, but the insurer said that the long term savings will be significant.

systems analyst Ms Kath Dodds, claims manager Ms Gina Bradshaw, and vice president Mrs. Judy Panchaud-White from BF&M Life Insurance Company Ltd., and, from the Hospitals Board accounts receivable manager Mr. Charles Abraham, director of finance Mrs. Annarita Woolridge-Marion and Katyna Rabain.