side note: Consolidation continues. As per the press release below, NORCAL Mutual Insurance Co. has announced its acquisition of Medicus Insurance Co., a regional insurer of medical liability headquartered in Austin, Texas. This continues the consolidation trend that has already seen The Doctors Company purchase APCapital. Oftentimes, when consolidation occurs, medical malpractice insurance premiums will […]

Side Note: Even if you guessed that you’d be more likely to die in a hospital from med mal, you might be surprised just how much more likely you’d be to die. According to WHO statistics, the chance of an error happening during a patient’s care is 1 in 10. The chance of a patient […]

Side Note: Electronic prescribing is nothing new, yet it continues to grow by leaps and bounds. From 2009 to 2010, electronic prescriptions went up by 72%. So, you would think that transitioning from one electronic prescribing system to another wouldn’t be that hard for seasoned, experienced e-prescribing physicians. But, a recent study conducted by physicians […]

side note: This is big news for Pennsylvania. Long a hostile medical liability climate, the state’s new governor made good on his promise to address Pennsylvania’s tort laws. What effect will the “Fair Share Act” have on medical malpractice insurance costs? It will likely be several years before the new legislation has an impact on […]

Side Note: Let’s say you’re a physician being sued for medical malpractice, and your case was dropped. That’s great, isn’t it?! While that is absolutely fantastic news for you, it doesn’t mean that it is not without some negatives, too. The article below discusses a recent study published in Health Affairs magazine that looked at […]

side note: This is an interesting article that illuminates a new trend relatively few in the healthcare community are familiar with. There’s a trend in some states where hedge funds will finance medical malpractice lawsuits in exchange for a percentage of any judgment. The fund will review a case, and if it believes the lawsuit […]

Side Note: As we all know, Obstetricians face some of the highest medical malpractice insurance rates in the country. This is, in part, because the average payout in an OB physician liability case is more than two times that of other medical specialties, at about $947,000. A recent study sheds light on the kinds of […]

Side Note: Wouldn’t you think that a physician who practices in a hospital would be more likely to a face medical liability that leads to a medical malpractice lawsuit than a physician who practices in an outpatient setting? Doesn’t it seem “safer” for a physician to practice in an office setting? Strangely enough, it’s not. […]

Side Note: Wrong-site, wrong-person surgeries are totally preventable –in theory. What we are finding is that despite “universal protocols,” and massive education efforts, major, even deadly, surgical errors are still occurring in alarming numbers. What are we learning about this physician liability? In 2006, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality requested that a study […]