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According to the Florida department of Insurance, $.10 of every dollar paid out in auto claims is fraudulent. A scary number indeed. But where can an insurance company or third party administrator turn to get solid help in determining which of its thousands of claims are fraudulent. The answer is quite simple:
Premier Medical Review.

This national company provides independent medical evaluations, peer reviews, bill reviews and expert radiology reviews for the insurance industry.
Their goal is simple, to determine if injuries stated by a claimant are legitimate and if treatment is necessary. This saves companies and ultimately insurance consumers across the country money.

Premier Medical is the brainchild of Neil Herbst and Michael Kennedy. They founded the company literally at Herbst's kitchen table!
"We knew our company would he successful given our experience and understanding of what the insurance companies are in need of," explained Herbst. "We were so excited we thought we could get it started in a week!" Once Herbst and Kennedy's enthusiasm ebbed a hit they realized the hard truth of any successful business, that it takes years to build one.
"To borrow a phrase from 'Field of Dreams' if you build it they will come," said Herhst. "We knew that if we had the right infrastructure in place, insurers, TPAs and lawyers would come to us for help."

So Herbst and Kennedy have since brought together a staff of medical and insurance personnel who are fully educated on customer service, turnaround time and independent medical exams. The service supplies medical experts

(L to R)
Neil Herbst, President
Michael Kennedy, Vice President

who can stand up in a courtroom and testify on behalf of Premier Medical's clients. The result has been the creation of a new, high quality product that can benefit companies and consumers greatly yet remain very cost-effective for companies.

"By having this avenue open for clients we can help them maintain their loss ratios," said Herbst. "Though honest independent medical exams we couldn't care less if the exam is positive or negative only that the doctor provides an honest opinion and would make a great witness in a court of law," said Herbst.

What it comes down to is Premier Medical does the things an insurer or TPA just doesn't have the man power to do, but needs to in order to avoid paying fraudulent or exaggerated claims.

"We have a licensed doctor on our panel review the medical records and legal documents provided to us and they perform an IME or peer review to aid the insurance company in understanding the full extent of what the injuries really are," said Herbst.

"I believe that everyone who is legitimately injured should receive the proper medical coverage," continued Herbst. "We are here to help find those who are abusing the system and thus hurting everyone in the process."

Although Premier is a young company, it is one that has grown tremendously in a short time. In 1997 when Herbst and Kennedy first opened shop they only had two employees. Today, that number has ballooned to over 30 in their Florida office. They offer their services nationwide as well as in Canada and Puerto Rico; with regional hubs in Florida, New York and Michigan. Premier will open a hub in Texas by the end of this year and a Western hub in Oregon by 2001. Also in 2001, Herbst and Kennedy will open a new path by starting their own investigative company to give Premier the added service of surveillance a claimant to and from an IME along with providing a recorded statement.

After Premier's expansion is complete, Herbst and Kennedy expect their growing company to be a $50 million dollar operation. Their growth in personnel and locations has followed their growth in technology. Through their Internet site -
-www.premiermedicalreview.com

Potential clients can go over the services that Premier Medical provides and conduct business with the company.

"All of this just enhances our service by speeding up our turnaround time," said Herbst. "We are rapidly moving to a paperless work environment with all of our business moving to the Internet."

Speed is essential in this line of business. Many times insurers have little time to respond to a claim and often they need a second opinion quickly. For Premier Medical synergy is very important for the operation and growth of their business. With their hubs in various parts of the country they can employ people who thoroughly understand the varied insurance markets throughout the nation. As anyone can tell you the Florida insurance market is a completely different beast from the market you would find in other parts of the country.

Even though the hubs function in very different market environments, through networking cap abilities all of their information is always available to each other. This lends itself greatly to Premier Medical's tracking service which can follow a claimant as he moves from location to location around the country.

With their many beneficial services, including independent medical exams, peer reviews, state-of-the-art tracking services, court appearance and radiology exams; combined with their unsurpassed turnaround time, quality staff and cost effectiveness you have a company with the ability to save its clients endless amounts of time and manpower. "Through our services the insurance company will have greater knowledge of the injuries being claimed thus allowing the company to handle each case in a timely and effective manner. In doing so this will allow the truly injured to receive the care they deserve," said Kennedy.