ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Guest Bio
Erick Enriquez | CEO and Co-Founder, InQuery
- Built InQuery, a venture-backed technology company working to cut administrative waste in workers’ compensation
- About 2.5 years leading the company from New York City, working closely with clinical and legal operators
- Focused on structuring medical records so claims professionals can spend more of their time on judgment, not paperwork
The Conversation
When AI cuts record reviews from hours to minutes, do adjusters get more time for critical thinking? Or does management expect them to take on more files? Erick brings a clear answer and a few surprises to the conversation. He came into workers' compensation through his sister, a California claim adjuster who absorbed 20 or 30 extra claims on top of her own when her company lost adjusters. Something we've heard before.
Key Discussion Points
Does Anyone Actually Get Time Back?
Medical records are the source of truth for how a claim is handled, and a thousand-page file can take 10 to 20 hours to rebuild by hand. Erick explains how AI pulls medications, ICD-9 codes, and the injury timeline from that pile so professionals can start much sooner with a judgment call.
No More Writing Chronologies!
Erick talks about a nursing team that used to spend around 40 hours a week writing medical chronologies. Now they give feedback on the system that produces them, process more volume, and have time for a level of clinical thinking they didn’t have before. Erick believes there is always more work to do, especially at the edge of what technology hasn’t solved yet.
Who Makes the Final Call?
Erick says he doesn’t want an algorithm to make the final call or conclusion for an injured worker. He makes the case for AI as support, with a human in charge, using an "Iron Man" comparison. Whether you agree with that framing or not, every claims leader is facing the same question right now.
Can Faster Responses Win Back Trust?
Erick explains that injured workers often arrive already believing TPAs and carriers are the enemy. Erick and Rafael argue that a quick, personal response from an adjuster can change that narrative. If admin work shrinks, adjusters may finally have more time to return calls from injured workers and answer their questions. We need to make sure that happens.
Erick is a Deconstructing Comp Podcast fan who started listening long before he was ever a guest. He also has a side project that has nothing to do with claims or coding. Listen to the end to find out what he’s been "spinning" on the weekends.
Hasta pronto!
¡Muchas Gracias! Thank you for listening. We would appreciate you sharing our podcast with your friends on social media. Find Yvonne and Rafael on Linked In or follow us on Twitter @deconstructcomp
