Patent ID: 8612262

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of recommending a service provider to an insurance customer, comprising: (a) receiving at a processing unit a first notice of loss from the customer, the first notice of loss including customer geographic data and service requirements data; (b) configuring at the processing unit a local market based on the customer geographic data and the service requirements data, wherein the configuring comprises determining at the processing unit whether the customer's policy requires use of a particular service provider; (c) determining at the processing unit a service provider performance rating for each service provider in the local market; (d) sorting at the processing unit the service providers based on the service provider performance rating; and (e) providing by the processing unit a recommendation of a service provider based on the sorted service providers, wherein providing a recommendation of a service provider in (e) further comprises: (i) identifying at the processing unit at least one case attribute for the first notice of loss; (ii) querying by the processing unit historical claim case files to identify desirable case outcomes for historical cases having the same at least one case attribute; (iii) determining by the processing unit a historical recommended service provider based on the query in (ii); and (iv) providing a recommendation of a service provider based on the service provider performance rating and the historical recommended service provider.