When I recently scheduled an OB-GYN appointment, the first available opening was nearly two months out. Many women already wait months to see a physician for routine care. The critical nature of the aging OB-GYN workforce is clear, and this crisis will force some substantial changes for both patients and insurers.

How does an organization protect itself from reputational risk? Purchasing cyber liability coverage, adding safeguards to its IT systems, ensuring its employees behave in a professional manner both inside and outside the company walls and paying close attention to social media platforms come to mind. But are all of these even enough? Most organizations understand they must plan ahead and be prepared to get out in front of an adverse event to reassure their audiences that business will go on as usual.

In our fast-paced consulting environment, we need to be quick-witted and use our strong analytical backgrounds. But what if the challenge is physical – are we up for it? Four Seasons Health Club (FSHC) in Bloomington, Illinois recently held Battle 4 BloNo, a community-based fitness competition, to raise money for the Humane Society of Central Illinois (HSCI), Special Olympics and Boys & Girls Club. Pinnacle sent Team “Risky Business,” to participate in the event, which would put our speed and strength to the test. 

Climate change made headlines this week as a key government decision sparked renewed debates among politicians. It’s a topic that has also sparked serious discussion within the insurance industry and actuaries are being asked to evaluate the potentially serious implications. Our previous blog post examines how climate change could impact the insurance industry and discusses what actuaries are doing to provide unbiased tools to analyze climate data. The Actuaries Climate Index (ACI) measures the changes in climate over time in a single index score. Scores greater than 0 indicate a greater than average frequency of extreme weather such as high temperatures and rising sea levels. The ACI provides a wealth of information from which we can gain key insights into the behavior and impact of climate change that has already been observed.

It’s concerning that many indicators of climate change like global temperature or sea levels continue to rise. Fortunately for the insurance industry, actuaries are also rising to the challenges posed by climate change. One recent example is the creation of the Actuaries Climate Index (ACI) and the forthcoming Actuaries Climate Risk Index (ACRI). These indices were created jointly by the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA), Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA), Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and Society of Actuaries (SOA) to help actuaries address the challenges climate change has created.