How I Helped a Client in a Time Crunch Get Medical Malpractice Insurance in New Jersey
As someone who specializes in medical malpractice insurance, every day can be an exciting day as the worlds of medicine, insurance and the law all smash together — not to mention egos and hurt feelings. A great example is when I helped a company get its medical malpractice insurance in New Jersey.
I had a very interesting interaction the Spring of 2019. The CEO of a medium-sized locums company that specializes in radiology, general medicine and cardiology in Newark, N.J., contacted us in a panic. His current insurance company had elected to exit the medical malpractice insurance business and was notifying all of its insureds that they were going to be non-renewed.
What made this interesting is that the CEO represented an atypical practice. The locums company contracted with hospitals and universities to provide physicians on an as-needed basis. This also included a telemedicine component.
The CEO went on to tell me that his current agent had not provided an alternative option even though he had contacted them two months ago. The locums company was running out of time as their insurance policy’s expiration was fast approaching. He continued to tell me that he had reached out to another agent for help about a week ago. This caused another ripple as the new agent had the CEO sign an appointment letter, or BOR (broker of record). This removed his current agent as the agent on file with the insurance companies the original agent was working with.
The CEO then received an angry call from his original agent. The CEO tried to explain to the original agent that he was nervous since they were running out of time to find coverage and wanted to see if anyone else could help. He didn’t know the BOR would remove the original agent.
The original agent explained that he no longer wanted to do business with this CEO. The agent went even further by sending a letter to the CEO asking him to find a new agent for their other lines of insurance, which was their workers comp and business office package. Since this policy didn’t renew until the summer, I explained that we will handle the professional liability first and then deal with the general, property and workers comp afterwards.
Medical malpractice insurance is handled at the state level and New Jersey’s medical malpractice insurance climate can be unpredictable. I calmly explained to the CEO why they were running into so much trouble. A lot of the problem had to do with the fact that the original agent didn’t have access to many other insurance companies and didn’t inform the CEO of this. The agent he recently signed the appointment letter with also didn’t have access to many different companies, so their options were limited as well.
I explained to him that I wouldn’t have them sign a BOR for the companies they are waiting to hear back from. I shared with them the step-by-step process we were going to take in order to accomplish the task before the expiration date. After explaining that I would exhaust the marketplace and find an option, he quickly started to gather all of the documents to send to me.
After only 20 minutes, I could hear a sense of relief from the CEO as they finally felt they were on the right path. They also started to ask more important questions, such as how do they know they are going with the right insurance company? How much medical malpractice insurance do they need? How much will the malpractice tail be?
About four days after submitting their documentation to all insurance companies who specialize in medical malpractice insurance, we received a competitive offer from an A rated company.
The CEO was ecstatic. He couldn’t believe they were looking at a medical malpractice quote for his doctors so quickly after speaking with me. There were only two days left to secure the new policy at this point.
What helped turn this problem around so quickly is that I collected a lot of details about who they were, what they were doing and the situation they were in. Having all of the details really helps the underwriters at the insurance companies.
We try and follow the same path with everyone, which is to listen to their situation and concerns, and provide a clear path forward — explaining each step along the way. In addition, it’s vital to provide context so they understand the back and forth of underwriting a medical malpractice insurance policy.
Are you looking for medical malpractice insurance in New Jersey? Or any other state? Call 708-848-2300 and ask for David Leander and we’ll discuss all your options.
