A doctor who has been negligent may not be the only defendant in a medical malpractice suit. Often the plaintiff names many people in the claim:  The IPA, the  hospital that retained the doctor on its staff, surgery center, the group that hired or contracted can be held vicariously liable for the doctor's negligence under a theory of "respondeat superior."

Respondeat Superior

Respondeat superior is a legal principle that holds an employer liable for the negligence of its employees in certain circumstances.  The negligent act must have occurred within the "scope of employment or supervision” of the health care or employing entity.  The issue that often is at the center of these cases is:   When exactly is an employee acting within the scope of employment?

Regarding Skilled Nursing Facilities/Adult Assisted living Centers

Because the premiums are still varying wildly, it is important to thoroughly present this exposure to the markets specializing in this type of professional and general liability insurance.

Evidence suggests that our nation’s demographics demand these centers evolve, grow and provide the same services available at a hospital.

Rates are increasing in Assisted Living Facilities:

According to American Health Care Association, Professional Liability costs are on the rise for long term care facilities, finds AHCA and Aon.  In the medical malpractice insurance market, physician premiums have remained stable in spite of an average in claims of 5 % per year.  
“Across the country, long term care and post-acute care centers provide care for 1.1 million frail and elderly and employ more than 1.5 million people. Rising liability costs drive up the cost of doing business and not only threaten access to care but could ultimately cost jobs,” said Mark Parkinson, President & CEO of AHCA.

The 2013 Long Term Care General Liability and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis provides estimates of loss rates, or the cost of liability to the beds that care providers operate. The projected national 2014 loss rate, which is a combination of claim severity and frequency, is $1,940 per occupied bed. This means that an operator with 100 beds can expect $194,000 in liability expenses in 2014.  (source AHCA)

Many Americans use Nurse Practitioners (NPs) for much of their health care needs and NPs are now fully accepted by both health care consumers and most other care providers as an important and necessary part of our health care solution going forward.

If we are to hit the overarching goal of the Affordable Care Act, Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants are going to play a part in this.  The affordable  care act has, at its core, the three difficult goals of providing health care to more people at higher-quality for less money. The Doctors Insurance Agency provides affordable malpractice insurance plans for physicians,  facilities,  nurse practitioners, physicians assistants  and many allied  healthcare providers.

Business Consolidation with medical facilities and medical groups creates issues of ongoing coverage:

Just as with the medical groups, imaging centers are going through a similar business consolidation.  Consolidation in the healthcare industry calls into the spotlight the issue of future reporting of claims and the insurance coverage that needs to be in place to respond to those claims.

Telemedicine Professional Liability Insurance grows

With the increase of requests for Telemedicine Professional liability insurance, The Doctors Insurance Agency, a national healthcare liability insurance agency, is seeing firsthand the growth in the change that technology is bringing to the practice of medicine.  Every iteration of healthcare service and delivery are beginning to explore the convenience and affordable use of Tele-medical technology. From neurology, radiology, intensive care, pulmonology and primary care, real time  telemedicine is increasing access to patients.  Prior to these innovations patients could not afford the time and did not have financial resources to obtain this kind of specialty care.

The start of the year often sees the beginning of new business models. And since we have become a national healthcare organization liability insurance agency, we have seen a lot of innovation in healthcare. From Florida to Washington state we see an increasing independence and partnering with mid-level providers.   I wanted to take a moment to write about urgent care centers because this is the recent area of healthcare.  Urgent care centers — walk-in medical clinics that treat minor conditions such as sprains and colds, as well as conduct imaging and blood tests — have seen significant growth in recent years. According to online news published by Becker Hospital News: Approximately 20,000 physicians practice urgent care medicine, according to the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine -  — 94.1 percent — have at least one full-time employed physician on staff. The most common physician specialty is family medicine at 47.8 percent, followed by emergency medicine at 30 percent.

The Doctors’ Insurance Agency has worked closely with knowledgeable underwriters to promote and place affordable professional liability insurance for the medical directors who are working with (even taking an ownership interest in) these wellness centers.  Our policies cover the independent estheticians, the PA’s, NP’s and other paramedical providers.  The various segments of the wellness spa centers  making up this  industry are diverse and include, among others, healthy eating and weight loss, fitness, alternative medicine and the spa industry.

As the sponsored medical malpractice insurance provider of the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM), The Doctors’ Company can (working with The Doctors’ Insurance Agency) write affordable medical malpractice insurance providers for physicians who still may have a private practice and need coverage for part time ‘independent contractor’ work as a Hospitalist.