5 New Trends in Medical Malpractice Risk Management

It seems like just about every aspect of medicine and health care in America is in a state of transition today. Keeping track of these trends can be a full-time job, and is often akin to trying to pin down a moving target. Here, on this blog, we monitor real-life trends that are occurring in the medical malpractice insurance industry so that we can help our clients better navigate the issues they are facing.

Below are 5 trends that the national agents at MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com are seeing:

1. Data Breach Coverage:
As more and more information goes online, managing and controlling access to that data and information becomes imperative. Almost daily, we see reports of data breaches in the corporate health care arena and/or private practices. Many smaller practices are finding that they are having to become experts in IT-related issues to protect their patient records and billing information and many of our clients are feeling overwhelmed and scared at the prospect of not being adequately prepared. Thus, as a safeguard, many of our clients are choosing to get data breach coverage. For a relatively small amount of money, you can secure a $1 million dollar comprehensive data breach policy that not only covers you against any data breach claims, but it also assists you with ongoing follow-up, including tracking your patients’ credit, etc.

2. RAC Audit Insurance:
If you are considering data breach coverage, you may want to also consider RAC audit coverage. Many times, you can get this additional coverage added to your data breach policy for a small additional charge. This coverage protects you against Medicare, Medicaid and private/public insurance company audits.

3. Medical Director Insurance:
As more and more NPs, PAs and non-physicians open their own practices, they are hiring physicians (MDs & DOs) to serve as Medical Directors. In many instances, these roles are totally administrative: the physicians have no direct patient care, and they are responsible for making sure that the practice is compliant. Most policies offer $1 million in coverage per claim and some policies offer a small amount of direct patient contact (less than 25% of direct patient contact).

4. Patient Satisfaction Tools:
It’s no secret that more and more insurance companies, including Medicare and Medicaid, are relying on patient satisfaction tools to help prevent claims. Study after study proves that patients that are satisfied with the care that they receive and/or who have the opportunity to provide feedback to a practice if they are not satisfied (and, as a result, have their situation remedied before it escalates), are significantly less likely to sue. As a result, we here at MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com have created a Patient Satisfaction Survey System for Medical Practices. This extensively researched and tested tool is a must-use for every practice and is customizable.

5. The Affordable Care Act:
Obviously, it’s too soon to tell what effect the Affordable Care Act will have on the cost of medical malpractice insurance and risk management, but there are several items within the package that are intended to help lower medical malpractice insurance costs over time. We will continue to review the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act and will keep you posted.

Should you have any questions about any of these items, feel free to give our agents a call at: (866) 824-0137 or contact us online.