ClaimDOC relocated from downtown to West Des Moines in mid-2021 because there wasn’t enough space for its growing workforce.

Four years later, the company is nearly out of space again.

In early May, ClaimDOC acquired property at 1500 30th St. in West Des Moines for $850,000, Polk County real estate records show. The 2.2-acre parcel abuts the northeast corner of ClaimDOC’s headquarters at 3200 Westown Parkway, which is quickly running out of parking.

Plans include upgrading the parking at the 30th Street site and installing a walkway to connect the properties, ClaimDOC officials said.

“The things we’re worrying about – have a place for our employees to park and to work – are good worries,” said Ben Krambeck, ClaimDOC’s CEO. “Almost all of our problems are good problems to have when you’re growing. … We’re able to get out ahead of those problems.”

During the next two years, the newly acquired property primarily will be used for parking. The nearly 10,000-square-foot office building on the site will be updated and begin to be used sometime in 2027, ClaimDOC officials said.

ClaimDOC, founded in 2013, is a national medical benefits company that helps its clients remove costly networks from their medical plans and build direct arrangements with doctors and hospitals. 

In July 2021, ClaimDOC and its nearly 80 employees relocated into a building that the company had converted from a fitness center into offices.

Since the move, ClaimDOC has grown to 153 employees. Company leaders expect an additional 43 employees to be hired in the next two years. In the past year, the company remodeled the lower level of its Westown Parkway office, adding 45 workstations for employees and a break area.

Within the next five years, ClaimDOC will have 300 employees, too many to fit comfortably at 3200 Westown Parkway, Krambeck said. When the property on 30th Street became available “it was too good an opportunity for us to pass up,” he said.

ClaimDOC averages adding 35 to 50 new companies as clients a year, Krambeck said. “In 2024, we added 35 new clients with an average of 350 employees,” he said.

A few years ago, ClaimDOC clients included mostly companies whose employees worked in blue- and gray-collar jobs, Krambeck said. Now, ClaimDOC clients include more businesses with white-collar workers. Also, a growing number of clients are in the retail sector, he said.

“The premium pressure is getting to the point where larger employers are going, ‘We’ve got to do something,’” he said.

ClaimDOC, through what is known as reference-based pricing, is able to lower the cost of health care plans for employers and their employees. Most ClaimDOC clients save between 25% and 35% within the first year of switching to ClaimDOC from a traditional carrier or network program, according to the company’s website. ClaimDOC is able to create savings by auditing medical claims, paying fair prices for services and guiding plan members through the process of not having to follow a defined network.

In addition to adding new clients annually, ClaimDOC keeps about 90% of its existing customers, Krambeck said.

“In our industry that is extremely rare,” Krambeck said. “We’re taking care of our customers, the employees and their families and it’s showing because we’re achieving 20% net growth of the business every year for the past five years. … We’re on pace to do that for the foreseeable future.”

One thing that sets ClaimDOC apart from its competitors is the customer service it provides, Krambeck said. When a customer calls the ClaimDOC call center, they speak to a person and stay with that person until an issue is resolved, he said. The customers are provided the ClaimDOC employee’s direct phone number and direct email. Competitors may put customers on hold for several minutes; competitors’ customers also may get transferred to several different people, requiring the customers to re-explain their question or issue, he said.

“We don’t do it that way,” Krambeck said. “Once [a customer] has connected with someone at ClaimDOC, that’s who they will continue to speak with. When you’re sick or having an issue … you want to talk to somebody that knows you and your family.”

ClaimDOC also builds relationships with employee benefits brokers and consultants, Krambeck said.

As ClaimDOC adds employees, Krambeck said it’s important for the company to retain its culture and the connections that exist between its work groups.

“We will have to be very thoughtful about what teams we put in the new building,” he said. “We have a fitness center and showers in the main building so there will be reasons for people to be here. … We don’t want to lose all the connections we’ve built.”

ClaimDOC claims desk used by NBC during caucuses

A black steel staircase winds up to mezzanine space near the lobby of ClaimDOC’s offices at 3200 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines. The mezzanine, or loft, is where ClaimDOC films its podcasts. Hosts and guests of the podcasts sit behind a desk used by NBC during the 2020 Iowa caucuses, said Ben Krambeck, ClaimDOC CEO. NBC broadcast “Today,” “Meet the Press” and other shows from West End Architectural Salvage, 22 Ninth St. in Des Moines, during the caucuses. The desk, which was made by West End, stayed at the coffee bar and reclaimed furniture shop after the caucuses. ClaimDOC acquired the desk, which was lifted to the loft area with a cherry picker. The NBC logo, which includes peacock feathers, is visible under the desk. “We show that in our podcast and we’re hoping to get a cease-and-desist letter from NBC,” Krambeck joked. “We’ll put it on the wall” next to a “Meet the Press” sign made from reclaimed wood.

– Kathy A. Bolten