Kent County doctors start malpractice group

http://www.delawareonline.com

It’s been nearly two years since a panel of experts from the state’s business and medical community began exploring the idea of creating a self-insurance “risk retention group” that would allow Delaware doctors to own and operate their own insurance companies. Self-management and oversight by the physicians, of course, could drastically lower premiums charged by for-profit insurance firms.

Last week, Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn provided the Joint Finance Committee with an update on the Medical Malpractice Initiative Pilot Program, as it’s called, which sets aside $500,000 of Insurance Department money to help doctors start their own insurance groups.

A group of Kent County OB-GYN doctors have become the first group to take the initial steps towards creating their own malpractice company. It could be the beginning of a new and efficient way of controlling ever-increasing malpractice costs, costs so great they have forced many medical specialists to leave Delaware. The JFC should take note if the Kent County program is successful.
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