According to John Gever, Editor of MedPage Today, plaintiffs just aren’t winning that many lawsuits against physicians. It is widely reported amongst the main medical malpractice insurance companies in the country that most  Malpractice Cases settle in favor of the physician. In fact, only 4.5 % of the claims foiled ever to a jury verdict. And, of the claims that do go to a jury, the great majority (approximately 80 % ) settle in favor of the physician, MedPage analyzed more than 10,000 closed claims from around the United States and proved that over 50 % of the claims filed in court settled, most in favor of the physicians, early dismissals or nominal expenses paid. Most malpractice cases do drag on however,  they just don’t ‘go away’ and, if you are with a company that is quoting you inexpensive premiums to attract your business, downplaying the importance of the complicated and detailed process of paying claims, stop, read, ask questions and pay attention. There is a r ...

Malpractice Insurance Carriers, Companies will change some of the language in their insurance contracts governing claims against Hospitals.  These bundle of claims (bundling nurses, surgery centers, the hospital itself, the physicians, and other entities within the hospital care system) have driven up the ‘per claim’  settlement or demand, and these high costs of claims comes at a time when the hospitals are boldly handling a lot of this insurance themselves,  many of them carry high, $ 3 Million and up, limit the impact and effectiveness off actual insurance policies, the transfer of risk vehicle used by so many to protect their finances.  Suddenly, these hospitals find themselves cutting right through their layer of self insurance, reaching the hospitals ‘insurance policy (re insurance policy) much later. As Hospitals realize that this is a very costly way to do business, they will do two things;  they will reduce, somehow limit the hospitals insurance, possibly ...

In an article posted in their online Newsletter recently, Anreini and Company (an employee benefits and risk management firm) wrote that almost 75 % of all legal issues against companies, whether it is a manufacturing, importing, retail or healthcare company, involves employee disputes.  Based on recent data, it appears that taking a good look, spending some time studying and understanding employment practices, trends, and risky hot spots (things that are likely to result in a claim) makes a lot of sense for all business owners. And, in our experience of writing insurance effort physicians and healthcare providers is that the professionals are even more at risk because he value that they bring to the company is their own personal mastery.  In other words, professionals and skilled craftspeople who build a business around their talent are less likely to spend the necessary time avoiding or understanding the risk. It is a fact that an employer is more likely to have an employment practices liabilit ...

What if you are asked to sign a new contract with a new medical entity after all of these years of practicing solo; or, of practicing with a familiar group of physicians. There are so many business issues to consider (we use some expert health care consultants to help our physicians become informed and instantly savy to putting their own business contracts together), Call us, we can refer you to one of our expert consultants. This ‘blog’ this entry today is to just specifically talk about the perils of not planning properly for the inevitable issue of tail insurance. The cost of providing ongoing insurance protection for any lawsuit that might be presented in the future based upon the many services that you’ve provided during the time with the group that is now merging. Or, you might have a question about how a Nurse Practitioner or Physicians’ Assistant handles the cost of tail insurance. Our brilliant Doctors’ Company Business Development expert, underwriter, marketer, claim ...

The Doctors’ Insurance Agency can insure Urgent Care Facilities that are staffed by physicians, medical assistants, mid level providers and an integrated team of  Allied Health Providers by working with our experienced underwriting team at The Doctors’ Company. For over 20 years we’ve been working on showing our policyholders how much we care about their business and managing the risks.  We research risk nuances to insure all of the ‘moving parts’…and, there are many ways to insure and there are many components of running a practice which need help and attention and professional partnership. We work with our underwriters to rate the urgent care, family practice, occupational medical group fairly according to how many hours and which types of procedures.  We rate according to the level of training and certification of  each health care provider.  Our goal is to provide your urgent care facility with a professional liability policy that rates you a ...

In this environment of integrated delivery systems, it is widely reported that hospitals will start to look for risk management and diversification methods of spreading the risk among different malpractice, professional liability insurance carriers.  It is, perhaps improbable to retain all of the risk and expense and indemnity for the hospitals, the employed ancillary medical providers, the entity, the facilities, in patient, rehab, specialty care, imaging centers, tertiary care units and physicians all with the same insurance carrier.  This is the kind of single basket strategy that pushed the insurance companies far below the profit line in the early 2000’s. The Doctors’ Insurance has been working hard to develop relationships with excess and surplus lines carriers, Lloyd’s and of course, The Doctors’ Company, which can handle many of the above.  We can help hospitals find the specialty niche insurance carriers to cut their cost and not set each insurance company up f ...

Hospitals are aligning in many different ways with physicians, surgicenters, labs and imaging centers.  Alternative healthcare providers, integrated delivery systems, independent physicians and hospital employed physicians can use their leverage of belonging to a medical group to allow them to purchase individual limits that provide comprehensive medical malpractice insurance at greatly reduced, discounted premiums.   With 10 dedicated agents, national alliances with consultants, financial and clinical healthcare managers and administrators, connections to carriers in just this area of insurance, The Doctors Insurance Agency can help you.  If you are not or if you are underrepresented to your carrier, we should start this process.  The Doctors Insurance Agency works tirelessly to approve and apply rates and discounts.  We know when to split the risk and protect your physician malpractice limit and loss experience.  Do not be underrepresented.  If you are a medical group, pe ...

We insure so many healthcare providers, we have been remiss lately in not underscoring the importance of taking the proper time and allocation of resources to insure our ability to work.  The income derived from the services provided is completely dependent on your health, and often physical skill. Whether you stand for hours at a time, or you use your hands to manipulate and adjust patients, having physical health and strength is mandatory to earning a living as a healthcare provider. For years, our agency has provided disability insurance to replace the income that you depend upon if you can’t work. Disability insurance is purchased by monthly benefit amounts, is underwritten according to your health and work and income history and variables, and often once you lock in a low rate, the policy will remain priced at that rate.  This means that the earlier you act to purchase this important insurance, the less you will pay each year for this protection. Disability Insurance policies protect su ...

One of the benefits of obtaining your (discounted) medical malpractice insurance through The Doctors’ Insurance Agency/The Doctors’ Company is: you receive important business and ‘boss’ liability insurance for great discounted prices as well.  Underwriting and management at TDC have worked for years with NAS insurance Services to bring these complementary products to our physicians. It seems that almost every practice is confronted with the threat of one employee, or co owner, junior or senior person or partner who feels neglected or picked on  or both. Recently, a Pediatrician made an innocent comment to one of the visiting nurses, working there on contract only. He said, yes, it would be nice to get together with everyone off site to work on all of our relationships.  Finally, reducing some of that communication to an email and pulling it out of context, it was made to look like an invitation to meet off site, away from the office.  The group had to defend thi ...

With the rise of hospital employment offers in the country, The Doctors’ Insurance Agency is happy to assist physicians with the important purchase of a ‘stand alone’ tail insurance policy. Tail Insurance Covers you for claims not yet known or reported, based on events that occurred in the past.  A tail insurance policy can run for 18 months, or as long as indefinitely.  The reason we describe this as a ‘stand alone’ policy is that normally, these policies are purchased when the last policy in force is cancelled and the tail cost is triggered (normally within the first 60 days).  The timing of purchasing tail is integral to the product acquisition.  This is because the longer you wait, the more likely there is (or at least, the perception is) that an event has already occurred.  This theory is what underlies the idea of a 60 day window.  Like everything in the world of medical malpractice insurance, timing is key.  The quicker you respond, the ...