SHN RISK Summit: Taking Control of Your Property Loss Recovery

This article is sponsored by OneRallyPoint. This article is based on a Senior Housing News discussion with Wade Miller, President of OneRallyPoint, Bette McNamara, Risk Services Manager at Brookdale Senior Living, and Mike DiModica, Senior Vice President at Marsh. The discussion took place virtually on November 16, 2022 during the SHN Risk Summit. The article below has been edited for length and clarity.

Senior Housing News: Today we’re going to tackle a topic that touches the entire industry. If you’ve worked in senior living, you’ve probably talked about this at some point, Taking Control of Your Property Loss Recovery.

Wade, you’ve got some information to start us with so I’ll pass the mic to you. Why don’t you help set the stage?

Wade Miller: Have you ever had or worked on a recovery project that took longer than expected? How about a project that costs more than originally planned? Have you ever felt overloaded with work trying to manage the recovery and rebuild plus maintain your existing job duties at the same time? Perhaps you felt stretched too thin.

OneRallyPoint is here to help you close claims faster, and get your properties back up and in full operation as quickly and safely as possible.

This is accomplished by achieving the correct scope with the correct costs, and reduced internal stress. OneRallyPoint is here to save you time, save you money, and save you effort while at the same time, maintaining quality throughout the entire recovery. Let’s look at a typical loss recovery process focusing on the many players involved, something you’re all familiar with.

You’re notified of a loss. You engage a contractor and notify your insurance carrier. The carrier calls in an adjuster, who brings in consultants and other experts. Naturally, these people all begin talking with one another and coming up with solutions, sometimes inadvertently excluding others from the group including you. This linear communication needs to be dynamic, and that’s what we do by creating a centralized communication hub.

It brings you back to the center of the conversation and makes certain all your goals and objectives remain number one. Contractors and adjusters are no longer just doing things the way they normally do it but they’re doing it with your specific goals in the forefront.

In a nutshell, OneRallyPoint will save you time, money, and effort, reduce overall cost, 10% to 15% on the jobs, reduce claim cycle time up to 25%, produce an optimal outcome for all stakeholders, and bring calm to the chaos.

SHN: Thanks for that introduction. Is there anything else that you would want to unpack about what exactly OneRallyPoint offers?

Miller: One good way to look at it is we’re known as an owner’s representative firm. Similar to the way a construction manager works on a new build, we are to disaster recovery. We work on behalf of the insured, overseeing the contractor and other vendors to make sure the jobs are performed with maximum efficiency. We interface with the insurance team and make sure they received the data they require, keeping everyone on the same page.

We view every stakeholder as a member of the same team with the end goal of getting your building back to full operation as quickly and safely as possible with minimal out-of-pocket expense. Essentially, we’re the client’s representative on the job site saving time, money, and effort to help bring back the best result all the way around.

SHN: Can you tell us more about why you started this service?

Miller: Yes, originally, I was a disaster recovery contractor. I had a firm that specialized in health care. One of our clients was a big player in the hospital and surgical care space. We were having a meeting after a substantial multi-seven-figure loss.

The CFO and I ended up walking back to his office. He was a large man with a big presence who was always in charge. We sat down and he asked me something in a vulnerable way, which sort of caught me off guard. He said, “I don’t know who represents me through these loss recoveries. You guys do a great job as a contractor, but I have so much work after you’re finished. I think we’re losing millions of dollars, because I don’t understand how to settle claims properly, or I don’t have time to do it. We must keep moving on. We’re a growing company.”

I realized at that moment that, as a contractor, I really couldn’t meet his needs as he was describing them. I decided to pivot and become an owner’s representative firm. That way, I could help my client facilitate the full recovery process from the event all the way through the final funds’ reimbursement.

SHN:I want to bring in our other panelists, Bette and Mike. Bette, you are with Brookdale, the nation’s largest senior living operator. You have a lot of scale. Can you talk about the experiences that you have had as an operator with OneRallyPoint?

Bette McNamara: Yes, going back to many other points that Wade spoke to, the key is that they anticipate issues, and they can take those and bring the answers that I can take back to either the adjuster team or to other corporate departments that need to understand how the claims are going. They definitely speed up the recovery process. Having someone on site that can speak to city officials, code officials, and work one-on-one with the contractors and our asset management team.

As he says, we all must continue our day-to-day operations. They can coordinate those meetings and phone calls with management. I’ve been working with Wade now, I think almost 10 years. I would say that my claims are closing probably 30 to 40 at least percent quicker than they did before I used his services.

SHN: Great. Earlier that slide with all the different stakeholders in a process. It seems like there’s a real way to do this, and a way maybe not to do this. Can you flesh out how you work with OneRallyPoint to do it the right way, so to speak?

McNamara: Yes, I love that slide where we were all going in many directions, then, all of a sudden, the owner gets in the middle because that’s exactly how I feel they are. They’re an integral part of my team. They have experts that have a construction background that I don’t. Their knowledge gives me a clear scope.

We have a schedule that we can follow, and they hold everyone’s feet to the fire. It’s the physical recovery timeline that is sped up and the fact that it’s fully reimbursable under our insurance policy for claims prep, that makes it a no-brainer to use their services.

SHN: I want to bring Mike into the discussion here. Mike, I want to ask you, at Marsh, what are one of the most significant issues that trouble your clients during disaster recovery? I can think of so many things that can go wrong. What are some of the big ones?

Mike DiModica: Well, first off, I know of those out there; there are many people who are familiar with recovering from a disaster. You know the recovery process presents issues from the beginning to the end. The reality is most senior housing owners and operators have finite resources and staff. Their first focus is on their primary business operations and responsibilities. Thank God, most operations don’t have a material fire every day, we don’t have a hurricane cat event, or a flood that comes through. When we do, when the operators do, the key is being prepared in pre-loss planning.

When you’re talking about rebuild, restore, and repair, you’ve got to do this all while the operators are handling their primary responsibilities. Remember, their primary responsibility every day is caring for frail, fragile, elderly people. Many of these people have ambulatory issues, cognitive issues, and balance issues. It’s not like you might experience in a hotel or apartment building where people can be moved up and about.

With senior housing, all of those things are a critical factor; it’s always people first, and protecting the residence. We’ve got operators whose plates are overflowing. We’re busy, to begin with, and then you have the fire, then the hurricane hits. That’s where you really need someone to come in and manage the process with you, as Wade outlined.

SHN: Bette, I want to bring you in here since you’re closest to some of this stuff. Obviously, I know as the nation’s largest operator for Brookdale had its fair share of emergencies to deal with over the years, wildfires, hurricanes, and obviously, those hit when you plan for them, right?

McNamara: Absolutely.

SHN: Tell us more about what you’ve experienced.

McNamara: Well, it is when we’re in 41 states. We hit four time zones, and I can’t remember the last time a hurricane or any of our real disasters hit at two o’clock in the afternoon on a Tuesday. Just when you think that hurricane is heading to Tampa, it decides to take a 90-degree turn and go into Fort Myers. We had six hours’ notice for Hurricane Ian to evacuate seven communities in the Fort Myers area. You have to be able to pivot and to be able to have a team that can help behind us is what OneRallyPoint has done for me.

SHN: Bette, this is something I’m curious about, have you ever experienced multiple disaster recovery jobs overlapping with one another?

McNamara: Every day. Maybe six weeks ago when Ian affected 83 out of Brookdale’s 110 communities in Florida, and six weeks later, hurricane Nicole came up the east coast and re-damaged almost 40 more. Thankfully, I have the OneRallyPoint Team to help me manage them all and keep my stress level at a manageable point.

SHN: Mike, what can a property owner do to prepare? Are there any steps you would suggest they take?

DiModica: Yes, it really is all about pre-loss planning. It’s hard to be too prepared or over-prepared. It is critical to select your recovery partners in advance and have them prepared. I work on the claim side, so we really love acronyms. Bette and Wade mentioned a few of them, like MSAs. What we’re really talking about is a master service agreement – having contracts in place, so you’re not looking for a recovery partner when the hurricane is going to hit tomorrow, having generators ready to go, substitute powers, substitute transportation, all of those things.

When we’re talking about ROMs as an acronym, we’re talking about rough order of magnitude. What is the extent of the damage? What is the cost? Again, being a little familiar with those terms, we talk through them because we hear them every week, but for those who are out there, you’ll pick them up fast. If you have someone who already knows the game, if you have someone who knows the language, the terms, and can quarterback this thing the way someone like OneRallyPoint can, you’re just ahead of the game.

Again, the way you can better select your recovery partner. You want someone who can provide a one-touch solution. You want someone who has the resources and experience in large losses in senior housing. It really helps if you have some understanding of the insurance claim process. If you have someone who understands the workflow and the terminology, things will be so much faster and better for the owner and the stakeholders. There is certain documentation and communication that the insurance company is going to require. All of this helps you get your insurance recovery, and your reimbursements moving faster.

You need someone who can do that. You need someone who has industry certifications or is versed in that. Has familiarity with national, state, and local environmental laws. Really, really key. Hard to be prepared for everything, but as much as you can, you really need to be.

OneRallyPoint creates a structure to give flow and control to the chaos of recovery while also allowing a way to tailor to each client and each job. They make disaster recovery easier for clients. To learn more, visit: https://www.onerallypoint.com/.

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