Claims Business: Hi Marley, PainWorth, Field Pros Direct and SimpliSafe

Insurance companies can’t afford to tell claimants, “don’t call us, we’ll call you.” But a new app announced by Hi Marley gives claims adjusters the option of communicating with policyholders without revealing their personal cell phone numbers.

The Boston-based insurtech said Marley Mobile will protect adjusters’ privacy while speeding up the claims process by allowing them to communicate with customers from the field by sending text messages. The app also also allows adjusters to schedule visits, upload photos and appraisals and log conversations.

Amy Finn, director of marketing for Hi Marley, said adjusters don’t really have the option to block their cell phone numbers when they make a call or send a text.

“Most of us don’t pick up calls or answer text messages from blocked and unknown numbers, especially in a situation where a policy holder will be sharing personal information like their driver’s license photo, their address and phone number and other detail they would not want in the wrong hands,” she explained in an email.

Hi Marley said in a press release that adjusters who use Hi Marley from their personal devices will be able to avoid waiting to get back to their work desk to make a call. That will speed claim resolution and relieve supervisors of the chore of chasing down adjusters to remind them to log data into the insurer’s claims management system, the company said.

Hi Marley said its product will improve insurers’ customer service scores by allowing consumers to communicate in the manner they choose, whether via email, voice or text. The app is available in the Apple and Android app stores, Hi Marley said.

Competition in the claimant-oriented data analytics space is heating up.

PainWorth, a Canadian company that built an app that allows accident victims to estimate the value of their bodily injury claims has acquired California-based legal-tech provider, ProSe Claims.

“Our goal is simple: we want to democratize and modernize a slow, biased, and antiquated justice system,” PainWorth Chief Executive Officer Mike Zouhri stated in a press release. “We want everybody to be able to get justice, regardless of their age, sex, race, or economic situation.”

PainWorth, based in Edmonton, Alberta, provides a free app that allows claimants to estimate the value of their bodily injury claims and create a demand letter that can be mailed to an insurer. ProSe Claims, based in Los Angeles, guides users to search for alternatives to traditional legal representation, allowing clients to self-represent.

ProSe Claims founder and CEO Justin MacFayden will join the PainWorth team.

“Americans pay the highest medical costs in the world, so the ProSe Claims and PainWorth technologies together are urgently needed to help people involved in car accidents, medical malpractice suits, or even assault and battery cases―simply and through an app,” he said in the press release.

PainWorth said it intends to purse investors in a “seed round” to fund its expansion into the US market and expand product offerings.

The Claims Journal in an article last month chronicled the emergence of data-analytics providers, long used by insurers to calculate potential damages, that are oriented toward claimants instead. Injury Claims Express charges claimants 3% of any bodily injury award, up to $500, for an app that estimates the value of minor injury claims. Justpoint gives consumers an estimate as to what their malpractice claim is worth and refers claimants to qualified attorneys.

Field Pros Direct, an Atlanta-based claims administrator founded in 2017, has acquired London-based Bridgewater Group.

Field Pros said the merger will allow both companies to accelerate their property, liability, and third-party administration services, expanding the lines of insurance where it can offer its technology-based claims services.

“Bridgewater Group, Inc. is well-established in the London market, which complimented our history of innovating through Lloyd’s Lab,” stated Field Pros Chief Executive Officer Matthew Anderson.

The company did not disclose terms of the transaction.

Farmers Insurance is offering the SimpliSafe home security system to owners of homes that it insures in Ohio, Iowa and Alabama as a pilot project.

Customers who bind a new Smart Plan Home policy in those states from April 1 to May 32 will qualified to receive a seven-piece security system at no extra charge, the Boston-based tech company said in a press release. The system includes a camera, motion detectors, window and door sensors, water leak detectors and one month of professional security monitoring. Customers can extend the monitoring for $14.99 a month, Farmers said.

“At Farmers, our determination to adopt and offer the latest technology to benefit customers continues to grow,” stated Carolyn Wald, head of innovation integration at Farmers Insurance.

SimpliSafe announced a similar partnership with home insurer Hippo last year.