Over the past three weeks we’ve discussed ways for your organization to manage risk.  The first week we discussed prevention strategies, then mitigation or minimizing risks, followed by transferring risk away from your organization.  This week, we will focus on the assumption of risk or choosing to assume risk within your insurance portfolio or outside of your insurance portfolio. What we have found through our analysis of many businesses is that most businesses will take on a significant amount of risk in one area, yet they take on very little risk in other areas of their business.  What we help … Continue reading

Over the past few weeks I’ve posted about different ways of managing risk within an organization.  The first week was about concepts and strategies around prevention.  Last week the topic was about how to mitigate or minimize a loss after an adverse situation occurs.  This week, I will discuss ways of transferring risk away from your organization.  What do I mean by transferring risk?  How do we take a risk that poses a threat to your company and transfer it to another company, vehicle or entity? EXAMPLE #1 – A strong certificate management plan.  Insuring that each subcontractor or independent … Continue reading

Last week I spoke about Prevention of Risk, this week I will discuss how to mitigate or minimize the impact of an adverse event if and when it occurs.  An example of how we might help you with that at VAST would be in a work comp situation.  When an employee is injured our goal is to get them back to work as soon as they are medically able to do so.  This helps the organization in several ways: It assists the employee in their recovery and helps them earn their full wage. It lifts the morale of the rest … Continue reading

In this week’s blog Kelly Reed begins a five part series on how to proactively manage risk.  The first is through the prevention of risk.  This can be accomplished in three ways: education, communication and by having a great culture within your organization. Education – Education can come in many different forms including: webinars, live seminars, podcasts and email blasts to name a few.  What we recommend is a personal development plan for key people within your organization.  This plan should be tailored to each individual and provide the education that they need to help your organization and to grow … Continue reading

What will tomorrow bring?  The ability to predict the future would be quite special, but how about an educated prediction based on data from other industries, the pace of change, and emerging trends in healthcare.  My prediction is “all patients will be able to obtain information (past disciplinary actions, medical malpractice history, personal information, etc…) in one fashion or another about their healthcare providers.” I say this for three main reasons: Transparency – in virtually every industry and all spaces of our lives we are becoming more transparent.   For example – Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, MySpace, LinkedIn, … Continue reading

When considering a potential change in Medical Professional Liability carrier, there are many things to think about.  A traditional approach is to build a RFP and identify what items are needed|required from your future carrier and what information you would like to know about the carrier: A.M. Best rating Price of the product Limits of liability Percentage of claims settled vs. cases tried Historical experience in my state, region, and county With a Supreme Court decision pending, I believe it is safe to say that healthcare is in a state of uncertainty and is constantly changing.  Uncertainty and change yield the creation of … Continue reading

Recent years have brought about an interesting shift in Medical Professional Liability programs for health systems.  Now more than ever, health systems are employing physicians.   Whether it is to improve the coordination of care or private practices aligning closer with a system due to the threat of decreasing reimbursements, it appears the future will yield more employed physicians than ever before.   What does this mean for risk?  The following thoughts are meant to challenge your thinking to see how the risks of the past differ from those of the future There are two primary areas of risk a health system … Continue reading

I want to start my own practice, what do I need to know about insurance?   Whether you are directly out your residency or breaking off from a hospital|private practice; the following will outline the insurance needs of a private practice into three simple categories [Personal Insurance, Business Insurance and Employee Benefits]. Personal Insurance: In college, I had a finance professor teach the concept of “pay yourself first.”  In order to run an effective practice, first make sure your personal house is in order. Life Insurance Disability Insurance Property + Liability Homeowners Policy Personal Auto Policy Umbrella Policy Business Insurance: Properly … Continue reading

Is my company taking on too much, too little or just the right amount of risk in my insurance program? Investigating a Captive is on my 2012 strategic initiative list? Is my company large enough to start or join a captive? What are the benefits of doing so? Ultimately what all of these questions come down to is “How do I take on more risk?”  Before we discuss how you take on more risk, we need to understand where you are currently at today.  Picture a straight line with multiple points on it.  The far left side of the line … Continue reading

How does a physician know if they are getting a good quote on their Medical Professional Liability (medical malpractice insurance)?  In a prior blog, I indicated a cheap price may lead to a below average policy the time of a claim.   This blog is not meant to get you the cheapest price for a medical malpractice policy in Michigan, but is designed to educate you on what questions to ask and how to better understand the pricing model. Not asking for all available credits – I once heard from an underwriter that most agents and policy holders do not ask … Continue reading