Medical Malpractice Insurance in New York has changed dramatically in the recent past, and the trend suggests that it is going to continue to change. Until recently physicians, hospitals, ACO’s, medical facilities, and medical societies have had limited options such as, PRI, MLMIC, and various small risk retention groups or RRG’s.
PRI and MLMIC are the standard market carriers in New York State. This means PRI and MLMIC are protected from financial insolvency by the New York State. This ensures stability for both PRI and MLMIC. Due to the fact that New York State is providing security to PRI and MLMIC, New York State has the authority to dictate premiums for all physicians of any specialty.
As you can see, there are clear advantages and disadvantages to being insured by the standard market carriers. In addition, PRI and MLMIC both offer occurrence and claims made policies.
There are clear differences between an occurrence policy and a claims made policy. The leading Risk Retention Groups for the most part offer both occurrence and claims made policy types. MedPro RRG, Coverys, and AMS (claims made policy only) are examples of the leading RRG’s. One of the fundamental differences of an occurrence policy versus a claims made policy is, an occurrence policy covers any claim that may arise at any time during or after the time you were covered by that particular policy. A claims made policy requires you to purchase and Extending Reporting Period endorsement, “tail coverage” at the time of retirement and/or at the time you change to another claims made policy with a different insurance carrier.
RRG’s differ from the standard market due to the fact that they are not protected by the NYS from insolvency. But this does give RRG’s a distinct advantage when determining premium. RRG’s can tailor a premium to specifically fit the particular physician, facility or organization. This is based on several factors such as claims history, patient volume, region, and specialty to name a few.
As you can see, Medical Malpractice Insurance can be both cumbersome and quite labor intensive. This is especially true in New York due to the amount of options that are now available along with what hospitals accept which carriers. This is just another stressful piece of the puzzle that physicians struggle with both financially and determining what is the best fit for them and their practice or organization.
This makes choosing a medical malpractice agent, broker or consultant more critical than ever. I know what you are thinking, “Great, another decision”. There are hundreds of medical malpractice insurance “experts”, but when making this decision, you need to ask yourself.
Is my broker/agent exclusive to medical malpractice or is he or she spread thin also as an agent in, health, life, homeowners, etc.?
Is my broker/agent experienced?
Does my broker/agent have access to several insurance carriers, or is their access limited?
These are just a few of the many questions every physician should be asking before choosing their broker. Well, I have the answer, PriMed Consulting. We at PriMed Consulting are specialists in all things medical malpractice insurance. We have 50 years combined experience. PriMed has access to multiple carriers, such as, MLMIC, PRI, MedPro RRG, Coverys, AMS, CARE, to name a few. We work closely with our clients to find the carrier that best suits them. In addition we negotiate the lowest premium possible without compromising coverage.
We at PriMed Consulting provide a great service for our clients. We are always available to answer any questions or concerns. We periodically review the policies of our clients to ensure that they are always in the right place regarding coverage and premium. We strive to adapt to the unique needs of every physician, hospital, and organization.
Let us handle your medical malpractice insurance so you can concentrate on providing quality medical care.
