8 Files Physicians Should Never Throw Away

As a new physician getting ready to start your career, you may be wondering, “How do I deal with all of the details and paperwork related to my medical malpractice insurance?”

Yes, this important coverage can be confusing, but your qualified insurance specialist is always there to help.  Organization is the key – making sure all necessary documents are kept in one place for easy reference.
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Everything Physicians Should Know About Tail Coverage

Whether carrying medical malpractice insurance on your own as a private practice physician or as an employee of a group or hospital, tail coverage should be a top priority when considering any changes to your coverage.  The topic of tail coverage typically raises a few commonly asked questions from physicians:

• What is tail coverage?
• How many years can a tail policy cover?
• When is tail coverage necessary?
• How much does tail coverage cost?

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The Vicarious Liability of Physician Malpractice – Am I Responsible?

Could you or your business be held liable for someone else’s medical error or omission?  Short Answer: Yes.  This is called vicarious liability.

What follows is an explanation of how you could be found vicariously liable for someone elses’s wrongdoing whether or not you have knowledge of the act and how you can ensure your protection against these often overlooked situations.

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Considering the Opportunity of Employment?

As an independent broker and advocate for the interests of the physicians I serve, the growing trend of hospital and health system employment is concerning and sad.  With well over 20 years of being in the medical malpractice insurance business, I have witnessed this cycle repeat itself probably three times or more, usually with the same outcome.

After years of sacrifice, living hand to mouth and coming out of medical school with a lot of debt, the hope is that the autonomy and potential for a fair income and will be forthcoming.  Many toil in modest success towards the goals set forth, only to succumb to the promise of a panacea in employment.

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Filling a Gap in the Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Insurance Market

Don’t Get Stuck Between the Proverbial Rock & An Expensive Place

Legislation mandates that a doctor must have continuous Pennsylvania medical malpractice insurance coverage in order to maintain an active license in the state of Pennsylvania.  One of the main reasons for this is the state’s Mcare fund.  The Mcare fund provides a portion of a physician’s total medical practice insurance coverage.  In Pennsylvania, $500,000/$1,500,000 limits are obtained by a private insurance company and the additional $500,000/$1,500,000 are supplied by the state’s Mcare fund.

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Coexistence of Risk Retention Groups and Admitted Carriers in New York

Part 1: Thoughts on the Types of Med Mal Carriers for an Introspective Insured

If you have spent any time dealing with medical malpractice insurance in New York state, you know two things:

• First, New York is home to some of the most obscenely expensive medical professional liability insurance in the country.
• Second, there is a politically charged, financially driven battle waging for dominance over the medical malpractice insurance market in the state.

Doctors in New York have experienced some of the highest medical malpractice insurance premiums in the country for years, with some specialty classes paying upwards of a quarter million dollars for a solo doctor. Until several years ago, doctors had two main options; the admitted carriers MLMIC and PRI.

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Recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month

At a time when we are used to seeing red and yellow leaves falling and orange pumpkins sitting on front porches, it seems we are seeing more pink than any other Fall color this year.  That’s because October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S. and also internationally.  This is the time of year we see pink ribbons, pink T-shirts, pink buttons, and pink bumper stickers – even pink football uniforms – to help remind us of the on-going work to raise funds for the research and prevention of breast cancer.  We hope you will join us is supporting this significant cause.

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National Practitioner Data Bank Removed from Public View

Should information about a physician’s medical malpractice claims and disciplinary actions be made public?  You would think that the answer is a simple, yes, of course, but the question is being hotly debated right now in the news media.  The controversy began when the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) removed the National Practitioner Data Bank’s (NPDB) public use file from its website on September 1^st.  Now journalists are asking the director of HRSA and members of Congress to make the database public again

What’s the Big Deal?

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Don’t Sign That Contract

The number of physicians giving up their private practices and going to work for hospitals and healthcare systems is alarming.  The truth is that many of these physicians make the decision without consulting their medical malpractice insurance broker.  Before signing anything, a doctor should read all the fine print, speak to their broker, and get their attorney involved.  As the move toward employment continues to grow physicians need to be aware of a few important issues.

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How is the EMR Purchase Coming?

Over the years, I have seen significant decision in practice management come and go, some being made by exhaustive research and others through simply avoiding the decision hoping it would pass then make itself.  Remember Y2K, electronic billing, even your first purchase of practice management software?

I recently sat through a live risk management seminar put on by a medical professional liability insurance carrier that featured a very knowledgeable, experienced defense attorney.  The first middle and last point that the attorney had made was, document, document and then document.  The crux of his point was that it was near impossible to convince a jury that you, the physician, had in fact informed the patient of the potential side effects, that you had extensively reviewed lifestyle or family history predisposition, etc.  While this is a standard office visit or consult, and you have performed it thousands of times before, this moment in the courtroom demands proof, and it is coming down to your word against the patient.  One of the obvious benefits of an EMR system is the ability to document this visit and have that proof positive.

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