The Hooper Holmes Story A history of helping the insurance industry manage and mitigate risk. In 1899, William DeMattos Hooper and Bayard P. Holmes founded The National Insurance Information Bureau, which would eventually become Hooper Holmes, Inc. From our inception, we have proven to be the industry leader in innovation, employing an important basic principle: aggressive pursuit of the future—anticipation rather than reaction.
Creating something new. As early as 1904, Hooper Holmes was developing a new way of doing things—our clearing house was not only the most important resource in insurance information, but our ‘sound alike’ cross-referencing method allowed insurance companies to prevent fraud in cases where regular claims searches failed.
Anticipating growth. As America moved forward into the 20th century with rapid innovation in transportation and increase in personal wealth, Hooper Holmes anticipated the new American sense of mobility by creating a unique branch system that is still in operation today — opening offices in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Des Moines, Omaha, Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Boston, and San Francisco.
Finding stability in movement. During both the Great Depression and World War II, Hooper Holmes was one of the only companies in the insurance industry to actually experience growth — providing important services for the banking industry and the War Department. Throughout this period we continued to develop new ideas, using our resources to extend into new sectors and maintain stability for our clients through the crises.
Committing to the future. Throughout our history we have been a leader in exploring new technology to create efficiencies and meet changing needs. In 1959, we were among the first to research computerized options for storing and sharing our wealth of insurance information. We were also the first company to employ independent paramedical examiners, engineer portable EKGs for home visits, and use a paperless electronic transmission system for reporting examination information from the field.
This commitment to advancement has led to the gradual development of a fully integrated system for risk assessment: Portamedic, Heritage Laboratories, Underwriting Solutions, and Health & Wellness. As we face the future, our vision is to be the best at every step of the process: from collecting personal health data to reading and interpreting results, and, most importantly, providing information that enables our clients to make confident decisions to manage and mitigate risk.
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