Legal & General has announced it is the first insurer to adopt software which will cut the waiting times for GPs' insurance reports.
Intelligent GP Reporting (iGPR) allows GPs to automate the redacting of confidential patient information, before reviewing it and then sending it to insurers via secure electronic delivery.
The iGPR system has been developed by Niche health and Inchware and has been shown to reduce the time spent by GPs and administrators on insurance reports from 73 minutes to 10 minutes. Explicit permission must be gained from the patient before any records can be disclosed.
Every GP surgery in the UK will be offered the chance to introduce iGPR, which should help surgeries which currently struggle to meet deadlines seat for delivering the information fast while still coplying with Data Protection and NHS security requirements.
Guy Bridgewater, managing director of Niche Health said: "iGPR will be adopted by other major insurers over the coming months and Niche Health is excited about the enormous benefits that iGPR will bring to patients, GPs and insurers alike.
"Legal & General are the first of many third party organisations that recognise the importance of making reporting as secure, simple and effective for GPs as possible, whilst responsibly serving their customers' needs as quickly as possible."
A statement from the ABI said: "The ABI welcomes today's launch of the Niche Health system for accessing medical information as it has the potential to benefit customers, GPs, and insurers.
"It has the potential to speed up offering insurance to customers whilst also reducing the risks of non-disclosure and of any claim subsequently being declined. It will save GPs valuable time when dealing with requests for medical information, whilst maintaining the security of patients' medical details."
