In December 2008, Allied World Assurance Company Holdings Ltd. announced that its member Darwin National Assurance Co. had significantly enhanced its miscellaneous medical facility professional liability coverage. Providing a limit of up to $10 million, the revised, incident-sensitive form offers numerous features, including defense expenses outside the limits for many coverages, affirmative coverage for sexual misconduct and for punitive damages (if permitted by the most favorable venue), and employment practices liability insurance (defense inside the limits).
“Our underwriters have spent years working with the miscellaneous medical facilities market. They understand that ambulatory surgery centers represent a specific business class with unique exposures and coverage needs,” says Sue Chmieleski, senior vice president of healthcare products and risk management at Allied World.
The complexity of each healthcare facility’s medical malpractice liability risk requires that an insurer develop a full and intimate understanding of the organization’s operations and areas of exposure. Approaching medical professional liability accounts as simply an underwriting exercise to provide an insurance policy cannot begin to fully address these complex risks, nor to mitigate the likelihood of future claims.
Smaller ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) do not typically receive risk management services from their carrier, and they may not always be aware of the wide range of alternatives to manage and help mitigate risk. Specific areas that a smaller facility may seek assistance with include medical record documentation, incident reporting procedures, obtaining and documenting informed consent, peer review and responding to adverse events. “We believe that every medical organization, regardless of size, should have access to our complimentary risk management services,” says Chmieleski.
“Risk management is a core element of our approach to insurance, and we believe it should be a core element of any ASC’s business plan. A robust risk management program begins with the identification of potential exposures and risks, determining the best approach to mitigating the risks, implementing a plan to address those risks, and following up to determine its effectiveness.”
Another key to a superior risk management program is building awareness of the issues that affect an ASC’s business and impact its level of loss exposure. This is a multi-pronged effort that includes providing the company’s leadership with timely information about evolving legal exposures; establishing risk identification and awareness programs; and establishing risk-oriented communications.
Allied World provides the following tailored services to its policyholders:
- Clinical Risk Assessments to assist healthcare clients in identifying areas of potential liability and provide risk reduction strategies. Allied's risk management expertise allows us to closely examine an organization’s existing risk management program and clinical practices — identifying potential gaps and areas needing improvement.
- Education Programs are a fundamental component of any risk management program and Allied World provides a broad range of educational options to support and augment each client’s existing risk management initiatives. Issues that the client identifies as important to the continuing education of its staff are the key determinant of program content and areas of focus.
- Policy and Procedural Development through assistance with new policies and procedures, as well as updating existing policies and procedures. Access to an extensive library of resources and samples is available.
- Risk Management Research on risk management issues and standards of care.
- Experienced and focused Claims Handling Support. At Allied World, gathering input on claims strategy goes beyond simply the economic value of the case. We believe the best defense is often a good offense, which means an early and vigorous review of the facts of each claim to identify those that require a staunch defense, and those that are best settled early. We strive for full communication with each policyholder during key steps in the resolution process.
For more information on Allied World’s miscellaneous medical products, please contact Fred Bautista, vice president of business development healthcare practice, or Becky Cox, vice president of business development healthcare practice by clicking HERE.