RMS introduces risk model for flu pandemic

NEWARK, Calif.--Risk Management Solutions Inc. on Tuesday released a probabilistic model for assessing the risk of influenza pandemics across multiple countries.

The RMS Infectious Disease Model provides nearly 2,000 potential pandemic scenarios from which risk managers and life and health insurers can quantify mortality, the catastrophe modeler said in a statement. The model covers 31 countries and takes into account factors such as the likelihood of a pandemic happening, the location of an outbreak and how deadly an outbreak is likely to prove.

Newark, Calif.-based RMS said in the statement that the model could be used "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, such as casualty estimates, calculation of workdays lost due to staff sickness and calculation of days lost due to staff caretaker duties."