Risk Management Solutions has released the RMS Infectious Disease Model, the first commercially available probabilistic model for assessing the risk of influenza pandemics across multiple countries.
The RMS model allows life/health insurers and corporate risk managers to quantify mortality and morbidity from nearly 2,000 potential pandemic influenza scenarios and covers 31 different countries that collectively comprise over 95% of the global life insurance market.
Insurers can incorporate detailed analysis of their own specific portfolio, allowing the unique characteristics of their respective policyholders to play an important role in the risk assessment process. Similarly, the model can also be leveraged to allow corporate risk managers to understand the operational impact and estimated economic loss associated with a full range of influenza pandemic scenarios at the company-specific level.
"Interest in pandemic flu has increased significantly due to the spread and lethality of the active H5N1 avian flu virus, and many fear that a reassortment may occur, resulting in a human-to-human transmissible virus and global pandemic," said Derek Blum, vice president of emerging risk models for RMS. "We are excited to offer a complete solution for the business and insurance sector, including a product that can quantify the direct consequences of an influenza outbreak and consulting services to understand the associated business continuity and investment impacts."
