Medical Liability Monitor’s 2011 Rate Survey Indicates A Soft Market Twice as Long, Twice as Deep as Any Previous Soft Market

October 5, 2011

Contact: Michael Matray, editor

312-944-7900; editor@mlmonitor.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Medical Liability Monitor’s 2011 Rate Survey Indicates A Soft Market Twice as Long, Twice as Deep as Any Previous Soft Market

Since 1991, Medical Liability Monitor—an independent, industry newsletter—has been surveying the leading providers of medical professional liability insurance (MPLI) for its annual rate report. This year’s survey reports rates from more than 40 companies that represent as much as 75 percent of the physician’s malpractice insurance market. It is the most comprehensive report on MPLI premium rates available.

Chicago—According to data from the 2011 Medical Liability Monitor Annual Rate Survey, base-rate premiums for medical professional liability insurance (MPLI) continued their downward trend for a sixth consecutive year, while the MPLI industry had one of its best years in 2010 from a financial perspective, challenging the traditional definition of a soft market.

“The MPLI market has steadily continued to grow softer, despite its continued profitability,” said Michael Matray, editor of the Medical Liability Monitor. “It’s fairly clear that the effects of the industry’s soft market have been disguised by companies releasing past reserves, artificially inflating the industry’s profits. Truth be told, this soft market has lasted twice as long and been twice as deep as any previous soft market.”

This year’s Rate Survey depicts another year where the majority of rates remained flat (55 percent of all rates did not change). Where rates did move downward, a resounding majority (90 percent) decreased between 0.1 percent and 9.9 percent; 7 percent of downward rate changes fell in between 10 and 19.9 percent, and a small number of rates decreased by 20-or-more percent. So while overall rates did decrease, at face value, their fall was not as precipitous as in year’s past.

One trend apparent in responses to the Rate Survey questionnaire is that MPL insurers use of schedule credits may have masked the full decline in MPLI rates. Because credits work to lower the actual charged rates beyond the manual rates filed with the states, a reported 0.2-percent overall average reduction in manual rates could, in fact, be a 2- to 4-percent actual reduction when schedule credits are figured into the mix, closer to the overall average decline seen in 2008 and 2009 when credits were not being offered quite as freely.

In this year’s Survey, 11-percent of surveyed companies introduced new credits during the past year; this is in addition to the nearly 20 percent of companies that added new credits the previous year, suggesting that this particular strategy for attracting insureds may be coming to a natural end, as there are only so many classes of credits possible before you begin to run out of them.

Another trend found in the responses to this year’s Rate Survey questionnaire is a shared concern over the migration of independent physicians toward becoming employees of hospitals or large healthcare groups. More than half of all respondents said this consolidation trend, where formerly independent physicians join larger healthcare delivery systems and receive MPL insurance through their employer, is the most worrisome threat to their market share. This trend will likely exacerbate as the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act is implemented and the formation of accountable care organizations begins to flourish.

Looking ahead, MPLI profitability will likely come under some pressure as past reserves eventually run their course, but like the U.S. job market and economy in general, it will likely take a few years before the MPL market hardens. Fortunately, the industry is starting from a place of strength in terms of expertise and finances as it rouses itself to address these challenges.

Click here to order the 2011 Medical Liability Monitor Annual Rate Survey

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Medical Liability Monitor is the only independent publication reporting exclusively on medical professional liability insurance. The monthly newsletter, founded in 1975, has conducted the annual rate survey since 1991. To order the rate survey or to subscribe, go to www.mlmonitor.com or call 312-944-7900.