Navigating Complexity: The Strategic Advantage of Partnering with Managed Repair Providers

The insurance industry is known for its complexities, which can prove overwhelming even to the most well-managed providers and brokers. Managing insurance claims can be a complicated process that involves a wide range of tasks. Providers must coordinate documentation, oversee the repair process, handle paperwork, communicate with policyholders, check for fraud, and perform other duties.

Partnering with managed repair providers often has significant benefits and can help minimize the complexities involved in administering claims. Providers like Accuserve have years of experience in the field of claim and home restoration, offering concierge-style services that can leave all parties satisfied with the results of the restoration work that has been completed.

Handling Complex Insurance Processes

The process involved with managing insurance claims is incredibly complex. In the course of doing business, your company must:

• Process claims and confirm their authenticity.
• Ensure that any estimates are accurate and manage legitimate change orders that emerge.
• Confirm that work is done to the satisfaction of your customers and within the guidelines set by a policy.
• Protect your reputation and ensure that all work is of the highest quality.

In the insurance business, you deal with risk management, adjustments, and financial protection. Your business model is best served by working with managed repair providers who coordinate work between policyholders, contractors, and customers. By outsourcing this work, you can concentrate on your core business model and manage repair providers to work with contractors to ensure the smooth execution of any repairs.

From a contractor perspective, working with insurance companies can be intensely frustrating - mainly if insurance companies are unfamiliar with their business model or with the specifics of the work provided. To that end, many contractors prefer working with managed repair providers.  

Contractors who work with managed repair providers often find more success by engaging in numerous best practices. Contractors can communicate freely with managed repair providers who are experts in the specific field of restoration or repair work they may be doing, thus ensuring that the managed repair provider can fully understand what a contractor is doing. With this open communication comes added benefits: Managed repair providers can keep insurance companies informed about the progress of a job and advocate for any potential change orders. Furthermore, contractors can be extremely clear about job expectations, letting managed repair providers know how long a job may take and offering warranties about the quality of work. Allowing managed repair providers to deal with insurance companies frees contractors to concentrate on the repair work instead of on paperwork or claims execution.  

Mitigating Risks and Legal Compliance

Consider the following scenario: Your insurance company hires Jimmy's Restoration to complete work on a row home damaged by a flooded boiler and caused extensive damage to the basement. Unfortunately, Jimmy's Restoration has never completed work in a basement like this and is thus unfamiliar with how to repair shared walls and foundations. As a result, they damaged the neighboring home, resulting in a lawsuit against both the contractor and the insurer that hired them - you.

This risk is one of many that your business may face when hiring an insurer. Consider the various dangers that contractors - and insurers - may encounter during an insurance project:

• There may be an accident or an error during the work, resulting in injuries or further damage to the property.
• Work may be more expensive than initially estimated, causing significant cost overruns or delays.

• Restoration work may damage a nearby property.

In these instances, insurers may face increasing costs and rising premium rates. Fortunately, managed repair providers can help reduce the possibility of these issues occurring and can handle any potential problems that ultimately arise.

Managed repair providers have years of experience in managing complex restoration projects. They know what red flags to look for in contractors, what processes contractors should take to minimize the risk of causing additional damage, and how to work on complicated restoration projects. To that end, the right managed repair provider can stop a potential issue before it starts. In such instances, managed repair providers can guide contractors on what work must be done. Alternatively, they can find contractors who are better equipped to handle a specific job.  

Fostering Long-Term Client Relationships

Managed repair providers have a suite of contractors with whom they have worked. They know which contractors are good for what job and understand specific jobs' challenges. As such, they understand which contractors are best suited for specific jobs and each contractor's various strengths and weaknesses. These many years of experience ensure that a job gets done right and in line with client expectations.

Furthermore, managed repair providers understand how to keep clients happy. The right provider is open, honest, and transparent with clients, giving them reasonable expectations and communicating if and when things go wrong. These traits result in clients who better understand what is happening with a restoration job, creating open lines of communication that ultimately lead to happier clients already in one of the most stressful periods of their lives.

Contractors can work with managed repair providers to enhance client trust and loyalty by engaging in numerous strategies, including:

• Building a relationship with managed care providers ensures that providers know what jobs contractors are experts in.
• Regularly communicating with managed care providers during a job allows providers to communicate client expectations.
• Earning certification with providers in specific areas, thus guaranteeing the opportunity to complete specific jobs.
• Offering rate discounts for the opportunity to complete work. Doing so will likely allow contractors to be more competitive than the competition, take on more jobs, and ultimately make more money.  

The complexity of the claims handling process, the need to mitigate risks, and the desire to foster long-term relationships all mean that your insurance carrier needs an expert who can understand these areas and successfully navigate any challenges. At Accuserve, we're here to help. We have perfected a system that can completely manage and coordinate claims and a roster of industry experts who can ensure a customer's work gets done to everyone's satisfaction.

Ready to learn more? Contact us today.

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