What actually arrives in claims mail
A claim file is not a tidy stack of one carrier's forms. It is assembled from whoever sent paper: the insured, the agency, the adjuster, a body shop or contractor, a police department, a hospital, a law firm, a tow company. Each has its own layout, and the mailroom receives them mixed together.
- DocumentFirst notice of loss (FNOL)
- Usually fromCarrier or agency
- Identifiers it usually carriesClaim number, policy number, insured, date of loss
- DocumentProof of loss
- Usually fromInsured
- Identifiers it usually carriesClaim and policy number, amount claimed (often handwritten)
- DocumentAdjuster report
- Usually fromAdjuster
- Identifiers it usually carriesClaim number on every page
- DocumentRepair estimate and supplements
- Usually fromBody shop or contractor
- Identifiers it usually carriesClaim number, estimate number, line items
- DocumentPolice report
- Usually fromLaw enforcement
- Identifiers it usually carriesReport number; often no claim number at all
- DocumentWitness statement
- Usually fromWitness
- Identifiers it usually carriesSometimes a claim number written by hand
- DocumentMedical bill or authorization
- Usually fromProvider or claimant
- Identifiers it usually carriesPatient details; claim number not always present
- DocumentLetters and printed emails
- Usually fromCarrier, attorneys, claimant
- Identifiers it usually carriesClaim number in a reference line
- DocumentVendor invoice
- Usually fromTow, rental, mitigation vendor
- Identifiers it usually carriesClaim number, invoice number, amounts
| Document | Usually from | Identifiers it usually carries |
|---|---|---|
| First notice of loss (FNOL) | Carrier or agency | Claim number, policy number, insured, date of loss |
| Proof of loss | Insured | Claim and policy number, amount claimed (often handwritten) |
| Adjuster report | Adjuster | Claim number on every page |
| Repair estimate and supplements | Body shop or contractor | Claim number, estimate number, line items |
| Police report | Law enforcement | Report number; often no claim number at all |
| Witness statement | Witness | Sometimes a claim number written by hand |
| Medical bill or authorization | Provider or claimant | Patient details; claim number not always present |
| Letters and printed emails | Carrier, attorneys, claimant | Claim number in a reference line |
| Vendor invoice | Tow, rental, mitigation vendor | Claim number, invoice number, amounts |
Underwriting mail is different: applications, declarations pages, certificates of insurance and endorsements carry a policy number, not a claim number. Keep the two streams separate from the start, even if the same team opens the mail.
The index fields that matter
Index for how adjusters and examiners look things up. For most claim operations that is a short list:
- Claim number: the primary key for everything claim-side.
- Policy number: the second key, and the way to find the claim when the claim number is missing.
- Insured name and date of loss: useful to confirm a match, never enough on their own.
- Document type and document date: so an examiner can find "the latest estimate" without opening ten files.
- Amounts on estimates, invoices and proofs of loss, captured as line items where the payment depends on them.
A worked example
These three documents come from one fictional claim file in the Claims sample documents that ship with CapturePoint 6. They arrived on different days from three different senders, and they all belong in one place.
- DocumentFirst notice of loss
- Claim numberNGM-2026-004140-01
- Policy numberPA 5961402-69
- Document date03/09/2026
- DocumentWitness statement
- Claim numberNGM-2026-004140-01
- Policy numberPA 5961402-69
- Document date03/11/2026
- DocumentField adjuster report
- Claim numberNGM-2026-004140-01
- Policy numberPA 5961402-69
- Document date03/29/2026
| Document | Claim number | Policy number | Document date |
|---|---|---|---|
| First notice of loss | NGM-2026-004140-01 | PA 5961402-69 | 03/09/2026 |
| Witness statement | NGM-2026-004140-01 | PA 5961402-69 | 03/11/2026 |
| Field adjuster report | NGM-2026-004140-01 | PA 5961402-69 | 03/29/2026 |
Insured: Marcus Whitfield. Carrier: Northgate Mutual Insurance Company. Line: personal auto. Date of loss: 03/06/2026.
Getting claim and policy numbers right
A claim number that is read slightly wrong is worse than one that is not read at all, because it files the page to the wrong claim silently. Protect against that in three ways.
- Define the shape. Write down what your numbers look like (for example, three letters, a year, six digits and a two-digit suffix) and reject anything that does not fit. In CapturePoint 6 each field has a value type and an optional expected pattern.
- Normalize before you compare. Senders write the same number with dashes, spaces or none. Compare on letters and digits only.
- Check against the claims list. A number that has the right shape but is not an open claim should wait for a person.
Splitting a claim file into documents
Claim files are one of the hardest stacks to split, because the usual signals are misleading:
- Runs of one-page documents. The correspondence section is several letters and printed emails in a row, all on the same letterhead with the claim number in the same place.
- Continuation pages that look like first pages. Claim systems print the letterhead and claim strip on every page of a multi-page report.
- An estimate and its supplement. The supplement reprints the original header and the first lines before listing what was added. Two documents, nearly identical at a glance.
- Rough paper. Faxed medical authorizations, photocopied police reports, pages fed upside down and handwriting.
You have three ways to handle it:
- ApproachSeparator sheets before each document
- Best forHigh-stakes intake where a merged document is unacceptable
- CostPrep time for every document
- ApproachBarcode cover sheets per claim
- Best forMail you already sort by claim before scanning
- CostPrinting and sorting
- ApproachAutomatic separation with review of uncertain calls
- Best forMixed daily mail at volume
- CostA few seconds of review on the documents it is unsure of
| Approach | Best for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Separator sheets before each document | High-stakes intake where a merged document is unacceptable | Prep time for every document |
| Barcode cover sheets per claim | Mail you already sort by claim before scanning | Printing and sorting |
| Automatic separation with review of uncertain calls | Mixed daily mail at volume | A few seconds of review on the documents it is unsure of |
CapturePoint 6 supports all three: it starts documents automatically, at matching barcodes, at both, or only at separator sheets, and it says in plain words why any document is waiting for review.
When the claim number is missing
Police reports, medical bills and some letters arrive with no claim number, or with one written in pen. Do not let those sit in an unindexed pile.
- Look up by policy number. Most of these still carry the policy number or the insured's name and date of loss.
- Use your claims list. Export open claims (claim number, policy number, insured, date of loss) and match against it.
- Refuse to guess. A policy with two open claims is ambiguous. That document needs a person to choose.
CapturePoint 6 does this with lookup lists: import your open-claims export as a CSV, look the captured policy number up in it, and fill the claim number, insured and date of loss from the matching row. When a reading fits more than one row equally well, the lookup does not guess: the document goes to review, with the candidate rows shown as one-click choices.
A filing structure that scales
- LevelClaim folder
- ExampleClaims / NGM-2026-004140-01 /
- LevelFile name
- Example2026-03-09_First notice of loss.pdf
- LevelSecond document
- Example2026-03-29_Field adjuster report.pdf
- LevelMissing claim number
- ExampleClaims / Needs claim number / 2026-03-12_Police report.pdf
- LevelUnderwriting
- ExamplePolicies / PA 5961402-69 / 2026-01-15_Declarations page.pdf
| Level | Example |
|---|---|
| Claim folder | Claims / NGM-2026-004140-01 / |
| File name | 2026-03-09_First notice of loss.pdf |
| Second document | 2026-03-29_Field adjuster report.pdf |
| Missing claim number | Claims / Needs claim number / 2026-03-12_Police report.pdf |
| Underwriting | Policies / PA 5961402-69 / 2026-01-15_Declarations page.pdf |
- Date first, year-month-day, so a claim folder reads as a timeline.
- Document type in the name, so the latest estimate is obvious.
- A clear holding folder for anything without a confirmed claim number, worked daily.
- Searchable PDFs, so the text of every page can be found by search.
CapturePoint 6 names folders and files from captured fields, with your own wording for missing values, and never overwrites a file. It exports to folders (searchable PDF, optional PDF/A, a data file and a text file) or to Ademero Content Central, which adds permissions, an audit trail, retention and legal holds on your own servers.
What a person should always check
- Claim numbers that do not match an open claim, or match more than one.
- Document boundaries the software was unsure of.
- Estimates, supplements and invoices whose lines do not add up to the total.
- Handwritten amounts on proofs of loss, and handwritten claim numbers.
- Anything that looks like a legal notice, such as a reservation of rights, a denial or a subrogation demand, so it reaches the right person the same day.
Checklist
Setting up claims intake
- Separate claims mail from underwriting mail before scanning.
- List your document types and gather real examples of each, including the worst faxes and copies.
- Write down the exact shape of your claim and policy numbers.
- Export an open-claims list to match against, and decide how often to refresh it.
- Choose how documents start: separator sheets, barcode cover sheets, or automatic with review.
- Set what always waits for a person: no match, two matches, uncertain boundaries, totals that do not add up.
- Agree the folder and file naming with the adjusters who will search for documents.
- Decide where finished files live and who can open them.
Where software fits
- Paper claims mail scanned in-house: CapturePoint 6 reads and extracts on the PC itself, so claim files are not sent to a cloud service to be read. It comes with ready-made Claims (adjuster reports, police reports, witness statements) and Insurance (claim forms, applications, policies) sample jobs to try first. Help: help.ademero.com/capturepoint.
- Claim documents arriving as PDFs that should feed a claims system: Paige, Ademero's cloud service on Google Cloud. It splits, sorts and reads documents and returns the data by download, SFTP or webhook. The Paige help library at help.ademero.com/paige explains how to set up jobs, including how Paige separates documents.
More on the insurance side: insurance scanning and indexing. Comparing methods for digital documents? See how to extract data from PDFs.