Initial Education Program

Courses and Descriptions

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

2009 Course Descriptions

Circulatory Disease Rx

So many different medications are now used to treat all varieties of circulatory disease. This course will address them so that underwriters will understand all risk-significant implications of their use.

Connective Tissue Disorder

We will cover lupus erythematosus, Raynaud disease/syndrome, Sjögren syndrome and all other connective tissue diseases. The concept of autoimmunity will also be presented, along with the markers for its presence.

Female Reproductive System Cancers

This course will focus on preinvasive and invasive carcinomas of the cervix, uterus and ovaries. Everything a new underwriter needs to understand these prevalent malignancies will be included.

Acute Coronary Syndrome

ACS includes both heart attack (myocardial infarction) and unstable angina. These are the most significant common consequences of coronary disease and other causes. This course will cover all aspects including symptoms, diagnostic tests, medical and surgical interventions, and outcomes.

Drunk Driving and Other Driving Issues

Impaired driving is a major cause of early mortality and morbidity in high-risk individuals. This course will provide what underwriters must know to identify high-risk individuals based not only on driving records but also a wide range of risk factors. All risk-significant driving factors will be covered including those seen in the elderly.

Pregnancy-Related Impairments

Here we will look at a range of conditions impacting the mother including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, postpartum cardiomyopathy, postpartum psychiatric disorders and pregnancy in the presence of various diseases.

Cardiac Disease Markers

The range of markers for circulatory disease is growing by leaps and bounds, and underwriters need to stay fully informed as these tests are now showing up in medical records. We will cover all of the important ones including troponin, BNP, NT-proBNP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, homocysteine, fibrinogen, etc.

Disorders of the Liver

This course complements our earlier HEPATITIS course, delving into a wide range of liver conditions including alcoholic liver damage, hemochromatosis, Wilson’s disease, early forms of cirrhosis, cholestasis, Gilbert syndrome and other disorders related to bilirubin, benign and malignant tumors, etc.

 

Thyroid Disorders

Here we will cover hypo– and hyperthyroidism, autoimmune thyroid diseases, nodules and tumors. Given that these impairments are so often seen in our work, underwriters need to understand how they relate to risk.

Blood Malignancies and Their Precursors

The myeloproliferative disorders (polycythemia vera, etc.) and the myelodysplastic syndrome are preleukemic diseases. We will cover them along with the various forms of leukemia as well as monoclonal gammopathy. A key focus will be on recognizing lab results, early symptoms and suspicious physical findings associated with these disorders.

Colon Polyps and Colon Cancer

As the name implies, this course will explore all forms of colon polyps as well as preinvasive and invasive carcinoma of the large bowel.

Neurological Disorders

Many important neurologic conditions have yet to be addressed in our IE program including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, peripheral neuropathy, Bell palsy, etc. This course will review these and other common neurologic impairments.

2008 Course Descriptions

Benign Tumors

We will cover the pathological distinctions between benignancy vs. malignancy, as well as a wide range of common benign tumors (colorectal polyps, thyroid adenomas, prolactinomas, uterine fibroids, breast fibroadenomas and many others), discussing their main features, the risk of cancer associated with them and other aspects related to underwriting.

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Clinical Diagnostic Testing I: Blood and Other Fluids

Clinical Diagnostic Testing; Not Insurance Screening

This course will explain and discuss of underwriting implications of prevalent lab tests used clinically, such as ANA and other autoantibodies, tumor markers; GI, liver and kidney-related tests, iron overload markers, d-dimer for venous thrombosis and many others. It will focus those not used in insurance screening and reflexive testing, thus being an excellent review for experienced underwriters as well.

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The Anemias

All diagnostic aspects of anemia will be covered, plus iron, vitamin B-12 and folate deficiency anemias; thalassemia, anemia of chronic disease, how low-grade anemia related to other risks, etc.

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Obesity, Underweight, Weight Loss and the Metabolic Syndrome

As the title implies, we will review the ways of demarcating weight (build, BMI and the anthropometric indices), all basic underwriting aspects of overweight/obesity, marked underweight and weight loss; and interventions for obesity including bariatric surgery. Plus, we will also explain and review the metabolic syndrome.

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Eating Disorders: Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa will be dissected, along with other pathological patterns of food consumption and their implications for insurability.

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Blood Pressure

This comprehensive course will provide a firm understanding every aspect of blood pressure and hypertension relevant to risk appraisal, including the latest diagnostic criteria, treatment and the implications of comorbid disorders.

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Sleep-Related Disorders: Sleep Apnea, Insomnia, etc.

In addition to sleep apnea, we will also provide a fundamental underwriting-focused background on insomnia and other impairments now recognized clinically as within the “sleep disorder spectrum.”

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Clinical Diagnostic Testing II: Scans and Endoscopy

This course on clinical testing focuses on ultrasound, radionuclide and other kinds of organ and body scans, as well as endoscopic assessments from laryngoscopy to coloscopy (and all points in-between!). This is essential knowledge which new underwriters seldom get from this perspective.

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Abnormal Physical Findings: Palpable Liver, Enlarged Lymph Nodes, Neurological Abnormalities, etc.

Abnormal physical findings are prevalent in teleunderwriting disclosures and on medical reports. We will explain many of these in a way new underwriters will understand and be able to use in day-to-day underwriting.

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Underwriters and Agents (Brokers, Intermediaries)
A Primer on Dealing Successfully with Insurance Salespersons

This is far too often overlooked when developing underwriters. The author has uncommon expertise here, having done over 500 agency visits and producer presentations, three Million Dollar Round Table lectures; major agent events in Australia/New Zealand, Singapore, the Philippines, the Caribbean, etc., as well as coauthoring the only book ever written for brokers about underwriting (which sold over 30,000 copies in 2 editions). Count on this being a unique tutorial on an essential subject for all underwriters.

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Cognitive Impairments

Early clues to cognitive dysfunction, diagnostic testing and Alzheimer’s disease and other neurocognitive disorders will be explored, providing a solid framework for understanding and underwriting this growing aspect of medical risk selection.

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2007 Course Descriptions

Underwriting Tobacco Use

Review of all aspects of tobacco use from an underwriting perspective, including cotinine testing and nicotine-based treatments for smokers.

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Medical Terminology from an Underwriting Perspective

A very different approach to learning and understanding medical terminology.

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Financial Underwriting: Does It Make Sense

Financial underwriting is an integral part of life underwriting. This course reviews the terminology and underwriting approaches to assessing the financial implications of insurability.

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These four conditions – irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and temporomadibular joint disease – are widely known as “functional impairments.” Their cause is not known and they often overlap. This course examines the main features of each condition, focusing on what matters most in underwriting.

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Occupation Underwriting

One’s occupation may have significant implications for mortality and morbidity risk. This may relate directly to job duties as well as hazards in the workplace. This course covers the full range of occupation-related risk assessment implications.

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TIA, Stroke and Peripheral Arterial Disease

Most underwriters know far more about coronary artery disease than they do about the other two main forms of atherosclerotic disease: cerebrovascular disease and peripheral arterial disease affecting the lower extremities. It examines the key terminology and concepts related to assessing transient ischemic attack (TIA), stroke and obstructed blood flow to the arteries in the legs and feet.

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Claims Management: What The Underwriter Must Know

This is a virtual tour of how claims work related to case underwriting. It focuses on those aspects of what underwriters do every day that impact the claims assessment process.

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This is a comprehensive introduction to skin malignancies. It covers the key underwriting aspects of malignant melanoma as well as basal cell and squamous cell skin carcinomas.

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Foreign Travel and Residence

Insurability issues related to both foreign travel and overseas residence have become big news of late in the US because of actions taken by certain groups and regulatory bodies to restrict how we may use this information in determining insurability. This course looks at the fundamental basis for risk assessment in these two related domains, as well as the factors used for underwriting these risks.

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Breast Disease (including Cancer)

This is a basic course on fibrocystic breast disease including those forms that are associated with an increased risk of subsequent breast cancer. It also covers both non-invasive (carcinoma in situ) and invasive breast cancer, including pathology, diagnosis, treatment and key prognostic factors related to insurability for all lines of insurance.

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Many avocations involve factors that may increase mortality and/or morbidity risk. This course reviews the most prevalent avocations, including scuba diving, auto racing, mountain climbing and more, highlighting those factors of each which impact insurability. It also includes a special section devoted to the hazards associated with so-called “extreme sports” such as bunge jumping.

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In this course, we look at the insurability issues related to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), stomach and duodenal ulcers, gastritis and infestation with the helicobacter pylori bacteria (the primary cause of peptic ulceration) as well as premalignant conditions such as Barrett’s esophagus. The student will come away with a well-grounded understanding of these common and risk-significant conditions.

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2006 Course Descriptions

ECG Impairments

Although the use of screening electrocardiograms (ECG, EKG) is declining in insurance, they remain a major part of the diagnostic evaluation of persons with known and suspected cardiac and related diseases. This course assures that the underwriter understands of all the major abnormalities found on ECGs.

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Heart murmurs are often a challenging underwriting problem, even for veterans. This course looks at all the features associated with cardiac murmurs that impact on insurability, as well as reviewing the most commonly-encountered murmurs.

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“Tell me what he’s taking…and I’ll tell you what he’s got” is one of the “truisms” of underwriting. Understanding the implications of pharmaceutical information is especially urgent in teleunderwriting. This unique program provides a firm foundation in clinical pharmacology as it relates to insurability.

This course is based on a lecture program we have presented in dozens companies, worldwide. It is a review of the major aspects of malignant disease that affect insurability: precise pathological diagnosis, disease stage, prognostic factors, anti-cancer therapies and their long-term complications. We believe it is the finest introductory course ever in this vital topic, put together by an expert who wrote the most comprehensive cancer manual in insurance history…a mere 360 pages long!

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Alternative & Complementary medicine is the fastest rising domain of care in the medical field. Most underwriters have a very limited understanding of the major remedies here. This course looks at those remedies, with a special emphasis on herbs and other digestibles.

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Urine and oral fluid testing are staples in insurance screening. Students who complete this course will have a well-grounded understanding of the key components of both test profiles.

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Acute and chronic kidney diseases are not only common but also have profound insurability implications. This program looks at all aspects of these diseases from the perspective of an underwriter.

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The CBC is the most commonly-ordered test in clinical medicine. We see innumerable CBC reports on reports from physicians, often with abnormal findings that are not further evaluated. This course reviews all aspects of the CBC, with a special emphasis on the white blood cell and platelet counts, hemoglobin, hematocrit and mean corpuscular volume red blood cell test.

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There are many types of arthritis, some of which have both morbidity and mortality implications (rheumatoid arthritis, for example). This course explains the basic concepts related to inflammatory joint disease, and then focuses on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, the two most common chronic arthritic disease.

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The anxiety disorders are underappreciated regarding their potential mortality implications. In addition, they have formidable morbidity risk issues. This course covers all of the recognized anxiety disorders from an insurability perspective.

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Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are two common serious diseases with profound insurability issues. This course looks at all aspects of both forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including analysis of pulmonary function tests.

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Substance abuse is a major cause of excess mortality and morbidity, especially age younger ages. This course covers alcohol abuse and well as abuse of various major drugs, focusing on what matters for insurability.

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2005 Course Descriptions

Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in all developed nations. This course reviews the basic terminology and concepts related to CAD, including angina pectoris and myocardial infarction.

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This course examines the major causes and risk implications of diseases and disorders of the vertebral column and spinal cord from both a morbidity and mortality aspect.

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This unique program provides underwriters with a firm foundation in the language and concepts which need to be understood to read and evaluate a pathology report. The emphasis is on cancer. This course is widely used by enrolled companies as a refresher for even the most experienced underwriters because it is so current with regard to the latest concepts in pathology.

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Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading contributors to excess mortality and morbidity, through diabetic complications involving the kidneys and other organs as well as its strong association with atherosclerotic diseases. This course lays a firm foundation in types 1 and 2 diabetes, as well as the two primary precursors of type 2 diabetes: impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glucose.

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In this course, we cover the basic concepts associated with inflammatory liver disease, with a special emphasis on the two most common significant forms of chronic hepatitis: hepatitis B and C.

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All of the basic pathology, symptoms, complications and therapies of acute and chronic asthma are covered here, to assure the student a firm foundation in underwriting asthmatics as risks for all life and health products.

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Screening blood profiles are now routine requirements affecting the majority of life insurance applications. Hence, underwriters see many blood profile reports done directly for insurance as well as in medical records. This course, written by a leading insurance expert, reviews all of the routine blood screening tests, focusing on those aspects that have the greatest significance in underwriting.

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Chest pain is probably the most common symptom where underwriters are keenly interested in the details of each case. This course shows us how to evaluate all aspects of a chest pain history from an insurability perspective.

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Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are often seen in an underwriting context. This course reviews the major aspects of both disease, including symptoms, pathological findings, treatment options, complications and prognosis.

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These are common symptoms underwriters see every day. In this unique course, we look at the features of all three, focusing on aspects that help to determine the degree of risk. This course is especially ideal for underwriters working in a teleunderwriting environment.

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Mood Disorders

The major mood disorders – mild and major depression, bipolar I and II disorders – have profound implications for insurability for all lines of mortality and morbidity risk. This course provides a thorough background in these prevalent psychiatric impairments, based on that latest information in psychiatric medicine.

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Here we review the most prevalent disorders affecting the female reproductive system, as ever with a keen eye to how this conditions impact insurability.

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