Mitchell, a leading provider of technology, connectivity and information solutions to the Property & Casualty (P&C) claims and Collision Repair industries, held its annual Property and Casualty Conference September 30—October 2, 2019, in Boca Raton, Florida. During the gathering of experts in auto physical damage, auto casualty and workers' compensation insurance claims, Mitchell's president and CEO Alex Sun announced the winners of the third annual Mitchell mPower Awards.
The program is designed to highlight and celebrate those customers who are delivering better outcomes through innovative technology or business transformations. Congratulations to Westfield and The Black Car Fund for their outstanding efforts this year.
“It's our mission to empower our clients to deliver the best possible outcomes to restore their customers' lives after a challenging event,” said Alex Sun, president and CEO. “It's a privilege year after year to recognize industry leaders for the incredible work they are doing.”
Westfield Improves Employee and Customer Satisfaction by Transforming the Claims Workflow
What initially began in 1848 as a company to protect Ohio farmers has grown into one of the nation's leading property and casualty carriers. Despite the dramatic changes that Westfield Insurance has undergone in the last 170 years, it remains committed to an ongoing journey of building better relationships through technical innovation.
Knowing that decreasing claims cycle time dramatically affects the customer experience, the auto casualty and workers' compensation business units within Westfield set their sights on automating the claims workflow. The casualty department focused on predictive analytics, straight-through processing, and the ability to make faster payments to resolve claims more quickly. The transformation led to skyrocketing customer satisfaction scores and beneficial insights into customers' businesses.
For the workers' compensation department, the ultimate goal was to free up time for claims professionals to focus on more complex cases and customers. By developing a method for a high percentage of bills to flow through the review process from start to finish with minimal to no intervention, the team has exceeded their expectations. Self-service claims handling has resulted in accurate straight-through processing capabilities that are expected to help Westfield reach 70 percent of workers' compensation medical bills in the near future. What once took weeks or months is now done substantially faster. Due to the efforts of these process improvement initiatives, claims professionals throughout the entire organization are now spending more of their time where it matters most, with customers.
Read more about this project.
The Black Car Fund Delivers the Future of Benefits to Independent Workers Today
How do you provide a safety net for over 100,000 workers who are not your employees without their contact information? For nearly two decades, The Black Car Fund (The Fund) has found a way through innovative solutions and remaining relevant with the changing times. In the last few years, The Fund has been a strong advocate for legislation that protects ride-sharing service drivers of companies such as Uber and Lyft
This new market increased its participant base by more than 1,000 percent in approximately five years. Today, The Fund has nearly 400 member bases and collectively, more than 130,000 affiliated drivers covered by workers' compensation. As gig work becomes ever more prevalent, The Fund continues to expand their portable workers' compensation benefits by offering additional wellness and safety services that look after drivers and their families
While there are physical risks associated with being on the road, The Fund recognized that it also takes its toll on psychological well-being. In response to high rates of depression, stress and anxiety and a notable increase in for-hire vehicle driver suicides, The Fund introduced a host of additional benefits to provide drivers with much-needed support. The multi-pronged program was tailored to meet drivers where they are—physically, mentally and in their language. In turn, The Fund covered drivers provide a higher level of safety and service to their riders.
Read more about this project.
For further collision repair and property casualty industry updates and perspectives, follow Mitchell on Twitter @Mitchell_Intl, @MitchellClaims, @MitchellRepair, @MitchellPBM and LinkedIn.
About Mitchell International
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Mitchell International, Inc. delivers smart technology solutions that simplify and accelerate claims handling, repair processes and pharmacy transactions, driving more accurate, consistent and cost-effective resolutions. Mitchell integrates deep industry expertise into its workflow solutions, providing unparalleled access to data, advanced analytics and decision support tools. Mitchell's comprehensive solution portfolio and robust SaaS infrastructure connect its customers in ways that enable tens of millions of electronic transactions to be processed each month for more than 300 insurance providers, over 65,000 pharmacies and 30,000 collision repair facilities, as well as countless other Property & Casualty industry supply partners across the Americas and Europe. For more information, please visit Mitchell.com.
About Westfield
Westfield was founded in 1848 by a small group of hard-working farmers who believed in the promise of the future and the power of the individual. Today, as one of the nation's leading property and casualty (P&C) companies, Westfield remains true to their vision and are dedicated to making a positive difference in their customers' lives. In 2019, J.D. Power ranked Westfield #1 in customer satisfaction among auto insurers in the North Central Region. For more information, please visit Westfieldinsurance.com.
About The Black Car Fund
The New York Black Car Operators' Injury Compensation Fund, known simply as "The Black Car Fund" is a non-profit organization created by New York State statute in 1999 with the purpose of providing Workers' Compensation coverage to Black Car operators in the State of New York. The statute covers all drivers dispatched by The Black Car Fund's Member Bases in the state of New York. The Fund derives its income from a 2.5% passenger surcharge, assessed on top of the fare, which is billed and collected by Member Bases from their clients and then remitted to The Fund. Today, The Fund has over 400 Member Bases and covers more than 140,000 drivers, providing them with Workers' Compensation benefits as well as additional health related benefits that independent contractors throughout the rest of the country traditionally do not receive. For more information, please visit Nybcf.org.