Revisiting Your Malpractice Insurance
Coverage
Increased stability in the malpractice insurance market has created
opportunities for controlling the costs of coverage.
Incentives and Discounts
Your current carrier may be offering attractive savings if you meet the
qualifying conditions. Here are some possibilities to explore.
Continuing Education. Complete carrier-approved courses in risk
management skills, such as learning to improve documentation and
communications with patients. Generally, these courses are free or offered
at a reduced cost, and they may also count toward board-recertification
credits.
Operational Changes. Make changes in your practice operations to
reduce risk. Some examples: Follow risk-management assessment and medical
record guidelines. Implement internal risk-assessment reviews and quality
assurance procedures. And improve practice operations based on knowledge
that you gain from taking a risk assessment course.
Practice Developments. Inform your carrier about developments in your
practice. For example, you might have obtained a specialty board
certification, become part of a managed care network or changed your
hospital staff privileges.
Premium Payments. A discount on your annual premium may be available
if you simply pay it in a lump sum instead of quarterly.
Deductible. Choosing a higher deductible on settlement payments could
be another option worth considering. As with any self-insurance decision,
you must answer this question: How much could you afford to pay out if you
were ultimately held liable?
Looking Around
Of course, you may also be able to obtain a lower premium by switching
carriers. This can be a bit inconvenient, but achieving solid premium
savings may make it worthwhile.
If you want to identify and examine other choices, including physician-owned
carriers, commercial carriers and risk retention groups, begin searching for
alternatives well before your next renewal date. You’ll need time to gather
enough information to make a well-founded decision.
Check any new carrier’s reputation, size, ownership, financial
rating/stability and risk management program. You’ll also want to carefully
explore the carrier’s commitment and willingness to defend against claims,
its success history and the coverage for pre-trial defense costs. Pay close
attention to the carrier’s settlement policy, including whether a
consent-to-settle clause guarantees that no settlements are made against
your wishes.
Consider the cost of obtaining tail coverage from your current carrier or
nose (prior acts) coverage from the new carrier to protect you if a claim
relating to actions during your present coverage period is not filed until
after it ends.
Please contact a member of our Health Care Team if you would like to discuss this topic further.
Health Care Commentaries is
provided by Somerset’s
Health Care Team
for our clients and other interested persons upon request. Since
technical information is presented in generalized fashion, no final
conclusion on these topics should be made without further review. For
additional information on the issues discussed, please contact a member
of our Health Care Team. This
document is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for
the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the
taxpayer.
Somerset CPAs,
P.C.
3925 River Crossing Parkway, Third Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
317.472.2200 • 800.469.7206 • FAX 317.208.1200
http://healthcare.somersetcpas.com
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