VGM Insurance prioritizes automation

WATERLOO, Iowa – Mike Kloos knows VGM Insurance Services, which recently celebrated 30 years in business, is still considered the new kid on the block – and that’s not a bad thing. Here’s what Kloos, president, had to say about how that helps VGM Insurance stay “nimble,” something that’s harder to do for the larger and more established insurance providers. 

HME News: How do you see VGM Insurance’s position in the market?   

Mike Kloos: The future is about being able to bring new ideas and products to market at a much faster pace. For a Hartford or a Travelers, that’s hard. Also, when you’re talking about home health care, specifically, it’s hard for them to understand the nuances and we do. 

HME: Speaking of the future, what does VGM Insurance have in the pipeline? 

Kloos: Commercial insurance is still shopped for primarily through agents and one-on-one interactions. The future is taking more of a path like homeowners and auto insurance – it’s more of a digital experience. So we’re taking a big plunge into that in 2021 by digitizing all of our interactions with the customer, whether that be applications or policy insurance or claims processing.  

HME: What about longer-term?

Kloos: We also believe we can bring our customers not only business insurance products but also other types of insurance products, like health insurance and 401K. That’s on the futuristic drawing board. 

HME: VGM has a reputation for good customer service – how do you balance that with increased automation? 

Kloos: We always want to maintain the customer experience, but we also want to add digital tools to the toolbox. We will give our customers the ability to do things digitally if they choose to, but we will also service them in the same way we have in the past.  

HME: The bulk of your customers are still HME companies, but VGM Insurance has expanded into other markets, particularly in the past five years. Why? 

Kloos: What we saw is HME companies expanding into things like pharmacy or home health or even physical therapy. We think that having multiple health care services under one company is the wave of the future, so we needed to be able to offer products in those other markets. 

HME: What new markets are you looking into next? 

Kloos: We’re looking into expanding into telemedicine. We believe that’s something that will be here to stay – the pandemic has proven that.