Depending on your current professional liability coverage program, your options for reducing your 2015 premiums could be limited. If you are one of the thousands of physicians in this situation, you may be liable for next year’s entire annual assessment unless you take action now. In some cases, you must give notice by October 31st that you intend to opt out of the 2015 assessment even though your coverage does not renew until December 31st….
The majority of professional liability insurance policies today are written on a claims-made basis. That means you, the physician, are protected by the insurance company providing coverage at the time the claim is made against you. The other, less common form is an occurrence policy. This means you, the physician, are protected by the insurance company providing coverage at the time the incident occurs, regardless of when the claim is made. While these are the…
With the number of Physician Assistants projected to grow 39% by the 2018, the need for individual Physician Assistant malpractice insurance coverage is growing exponentially as well. While it is true that the supervising physician is responsible for the actions of their Physician Assistant, this does not absolve the Physician Assistant of individual liability should a malpractice claim arise. In fact, when there is a medical malpractice settlement or judgment, the average indemnity payment for…
Remaining independent and complying with the Affordable Care Act (signed into law in March of 2012), is difficult while possible for independent and small group practices. However, given the difficulties, a large percentage of currently practicing physicians and medical practices have moved to an employee arrangement. Further, approximately 75% of new graduates intend to be employees of a large system over the next five years. The current independent practices and small group practices have good…
The New Jersey Department of Insurance has recently approved a newly admitted medical malpractice insurance carrier to provide coverage to New Jersey physicians effective immediately. Coverage for this admitted carrier is now offered through Diederich Healthcare and is designed to provide quality affordable coverage to physicians practicing in New Jersey. Although having provided malpractice insurance coverage since 2005, this recent expansion into New Jersey is consistent with their commitment to provide stable, long-term protection for…
With the New Year quickly approaching, many patients will need to make resolutions to lose weight, be more health conscious, and even initiate a workout program based their physician’s recommendation. And recommendations of life style changes to patients more or less falls in line with death and taxes. It is a professional necessity. With that said, there is a new ally for healthcare professionals to embrace – health apps, the one two punch of Smartphone’s…
Will a Low Risk Medical Specialty career choice lower your chance of being involved in a malpractice claim? The obvious answer is yes. The question is by how much. A study by the New Journal of Medicine (August 2011) found there to be a great deviation. In the sample pool of over 40,000 physicians, the study found that high-risk specialties such as neurosurgery and OB/GYN had a 99% chance of being involved in a malpractice…
New York physicians, unless they have been on sabbatical, are aware of the rate increases from the admitted carriers writing malpractice insurance coverage in New York. With a few deviances for some specialties, the New York admitted carriers, such as Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers and Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company, increased their rates approximately 4% effective July 1, 2012. This does not come as a big surprise to most. Also, this increase most likely is not…
If you have ever had to purchase tail coverage for your medical malpractice insurance policy, you know how expensive and limited your options are. Tail can be very costly, usually double the expiring premium with your incumbent carrier. Now there are options for tail coverage outside of your incumbent carrier! In response to a growing need and interest in competitive tail coverage, Diederich Healthcare can provide stand-alone tail coverage that can save you significantly in…
Naturally, the practice of emergency medicine comes with higher risks than most specialties since most of the patients are being treated for emergency medical needs that can be serious or life-threatening. Due to the high-risk nature of emergency medicine, the cost of medical malpractice coverage for emergency medicine physicians can be high. In response to rising Emergency Medicine costs, many medical malpractice insurance carriers have introduced new programs developed for the unique needs of Emergency…
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