By David Lytle,
Director of Operations
Blue Shield of California, Life & Health Insurance Company
Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company faced a real hiring dilemma. We had been unable to find candidates to fill our individual life underwriting position despite extensive recruiting for a number of months. Our medical underwriting managers indicated this was an industry-wide problem they had experienced on the medical side of our business as well.
The inability to hire was causing service issues and delays in processing applications. We were not able to meet our sales staff and broker’s expectations as far as turnaround time. As a result, we began to explore other options. This included looking at outsourcing opportunities, which would be a first for Blue Shield Life and Health Insurance Company.
When we initiated research to identify organizations that did this kind of work, the name that repeatedly came up was Best Innovative Underwriting Services (BIUS, Inc.) in Santa Clarita, California. We also obtained the names of other organizations and contacted them. When we connected with BIUS, Inc., however, we found the president of the company, Patrick Ramotar, very responsive and eager to work with us. Thus, we asked Patrick to visit us in San Francisco. During this meeting, the confidence and enthusiasm he conveyed impressed us enough to arrange a site visit.