December 8, 2020 by matray

The Cooperative of American Physicians (CAP) announced that its Mutual Protection Trust (MPT), the organization's core product, earned its fourteenth-consecutive A+ (Superior) Rating with a Stable Outlook from AM Best Co.

“Given the turbulence that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, especially on the medical community in California, physicians are now more than ever reliant on the financial strength of MPT,” said Sarah E. Scher, JD, CAP CEO. “Our message to our member physicians is that we are here for you so that you can focus your efforts on what matters most, your patients.”

Best also affirmed the Cooperative of American Physicians Insurance Company (CAPIC) as A- (Excellent), also with a Stable Outlook. CAPIC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CAP and provides reinsurance and other benefits to CAP and its primary medical professional liability partner, MPT.

As part of its grading report, Best recognized MPT’s level of risk-adjusted capitalization, financial flexibility and favorable market position in California. The report also recognized the framework and capabilities of the enterprise risk management program that is “managed both holistically and individually, for MPT, CAP and CAPIC, with engagement from senior management and the board of trustees and directors.”

 

December 3, 2020 by matray

The Board of Directors of ProAssurance Corp. has declared a cash dividend of $0.05 per common share, payable on Jan. 7, 2021, to shareholders who own its stock as of Dec. 22, 2020.

For 2020, ProAssurance’s dividend policy anticipates a total annual dividend of $0.72 per share. On an annualized basis going forward, the policy anticipates annual dividends of $0.20 per share to be paid in equal quarterly installments. However, any decision to pay future cash dividends will be subject to the ProAssurance Board’s final determination after a review of the company’s financial performance, future expectations and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

The ProAssurance Board also set May 25, 2021 as the date of the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held at its headquarters in Birmingham, Ala. The record date for the meeting is March 29, 2021.å

November 17, 2020 by matray

Grace Vandecruze, MBA, CPA, has been named to The Doctors Company Board of Governors.

Vandecruze is founder and managing director at Grace Global Capital LLC, a consulting firm that has provided mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisory, restructuring, and valuation services to the insurance industry and financial regulators since 2006. She also has served as a managing director at Swiss Re, where she was responsible for the firm’s regulatory advisory practice in the insurance and financial services industries; as a vice president at a private equity firm specializing in the insurance industry; and as an associate in the Financial Institutions Group at Merrill Lynch.

“We are pleased to welcome Grace Vandecruze to our board,” said Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company. “Her expertise in M&A and capital markets will be of great value as we continue to expand our platform for service to healthcare. She joins a distinguished group of professionals who are dedicated to our TDC Group vision of protecting those who provide superior care, reducing operational and financial risk in the provision of healthcare services, and simplifying delivery of high-quality healthcare.”

“I am very excited to join this dynamic and innovative insurance company,” said Vandecruze. “As the company continues to diversify into new and growing markets, I look forward to contributing my expertise in M&A and finance to the board.”

Vandecruze earned an MBA in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in accounting from Pace University. Before attending the Wharton School, she was an auditor for six years in the financial services industry at Ernst & Young and Grant Thornton. She also is a board member of M Financial Group and was appointed to the Wharton Graduate Executive board. She recently authored the book Homeless to Millionaire: 6 Keys to UPLIFT Your Financial Abundance.    

October 15, 2020 by matray

Curi today announced that Jason Sandner will be its next chief executive officer. Sandner will officially take the helm on July 1, 2021, when current CEO Dale Jenkins steps down after more than 25 years of service to the company. Jenkins will continue to serve on Curi’s Board of Directors.

Currently Curi’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, Sandner was selected following a multi-month, nationwide search led by Curi’s Board of Directors with the assistance of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. A senior executive with two decades of financial, operational and managerial expertise, Sandner has managed the financial strategy of Curi and its affiliates for more than a decade.

“We believe Jason Sandner will help the company deliver ever-greater success to our member community,” said Dr. Robert Schaaf, Curi’s Board chairperson. “We looked for someone who has a passion for serving doctors and believes in the vision and strategy we’re aggressively pursuing. Jason is an extremely capable leader, and our search process proved to us that he is the very best person to lead Curi into the future.”

Sandner joined Curi in 2011 as its vice president of finance, was promoted to chief financial officer and recently took on the role of chief operating officer as well.

“Jason has had a strong positive impact on Curi and the broader physician community over the years, and I’m thrilled that the Board chose him to be my successor,” Jenkins said. “We’re a purpose-driven team here at Curi, passionately curious about new ways to improve our offerings for physicians and their practices, and Jason is a wonderful embodiment of that spirit. He believes deeply in what we do, and he sees opportunities for Curi to keep getting better in the future.”

“It has been incredibly rewarding to be part of Curi’s growth and evolution over the years, especially alongside leaders like Dale and our physician colleagues on the Board,” Sandner said. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to lead the company and our team into this next phase of growth in support of our mission to help physicians in medicine, business and life.”

September 24, 2020 by matray

The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) has granted the ASHRM Writing Excellence Award to the journal article, “Harnessing the Power of Medical Malpractice Data to Improve Patient Care,” by authors from CRICO Strategies and UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. The article was published in ASHRM’s Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, Volume 39, Number 3, which was released in Q1 2020.

The ASHRM Writing in Excellence Award was established in 1991 to recognize journal articles with exceptional technical merit and practical value. The 2020 review included 11 articles from Q4 2019, Q1 2020 and Q2 2020, and were scored by ASHRM’s Editorial Review Board.

Study authors include Dana Siegal, RN, CPHRM, CPPS, John Swift, MBA, of CRICO Strategies, Janell Forget, RN, BSN, JD, and Tim Slowick, MBA of UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc.

“UMass’ story offers a tangible, repeatable example of how health systems can use their medical malpractice data—and national comparative data—to improve patient care,” said Michael Paskavitz, vice president of CRICO Strategies. “UMass has invested in leveraging its medical malpractice data and, more importantly, sharing the learnings from the data across its institution. The return on this investment is borne out of its ability to reduce future medical malpractice claims, as described in the article.”

The article describes how, UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Mass., harnesses its deeply coded medical malpractice data and benchmarks its performance against national peers to catalyze clinical improvements. This strategy has proven successful in yielding positive change in such areas as ED ultrasound coverage, obstetrics communication and airway management training. UMass Memorial’s ability to embed claims data use into its culture and to share learning across clinical services offers lessons for healthcare organizations of any size.

The Writing Excellence Award winners will be recognized during the ASHRM 2020 40th Anniversary Conference, an online-only virtual event to be held October 12-14, 2020.

The article is available in the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management (open access until Oct. 31, 2020). A webinar is available that shares key takeaways from the article and is available to all.

September 3, 2020 by matray

The Board of Directors of ProAssurance Corp. has declared a cash dividend of $0.05 per common share, payable on Oct. 9, 2020, to shareholders who own our stock as of September 24, 2020.

For 2020, the ProAssurance dividend policy anticipates a total annual dividend of $0.72 per share. On an annualized basis going forward, the policy anticipates annual dividends of $0.20 per share to be paid in equal quarterly installments. However, any decision to pay future cash dividends will be subject to the Board’s final determination after a comprehensive review of the company’s financial performance, future expectations and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

August 21, 2020 by matray

Pinnacle Actuarial Resources announced that Erick Mortenson has joined the organization as a consulting actuary in the Denver area.

Mortenson previously worked at Willis Towers Watson, where he was a senior vice president focused on providing analytics solutions in areas including reinsurance and medical professional liability. Prior to that position, Mortenson worked in a similar role for Aon Benfield.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Erick to Pinnacle,” said Joe Herbers, Pinnacle managing principal. “His extensive data science and predictive analytics background enhances the strength of our predictive analytics team. He is an accomplished team leader and project manager and possesses the financial expertise that is a great additional value for our clients.”

August 20, 2020 by matray

Curi has been named as one of the top 50 performing insurers in the property-casualty industry by the Ward Group. The Ward Group, part of Aon, provides benchmarking and best practices for the insurance industry.

The Ward Group analyzes the financial performance of nearly 2,900 property-casualty companies in the United States every year to identify top performers. Each company on the list must pass primary safety and consistency tests and achieve superior performance over a five-year analysis period. The Ward Group examined company performance from 2015 to 2019 in order to compile the 2020 list.

Among the many key safety and consistency metrics assessed by Ward, candidates must maintain minimum surplus and premiums over each of the five years analyzed, as well as demonstrate the potential to grow while maintaining strong financial results. Growth performance and stability metrics include growth in revenue, surplus, and average combined ratio during the period 2015 to 2019.

“We are proud to be recognized as a top-50 property-casualty insurer by the Ward Group—especially as the only MPL-specialized carrier during such a challenging time for our industry,” said Dale Jenkins, Curi CEO. “Curi’s strong financial foundation is more important than ever as we continue to help our physician members and their practices not only survive, but thrive in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.”

August 19, 2020 by matray

Conventus Inter-Insurance Exchange announced the launch of its modern and easy-to-navigate website, www.conventusnj.com, providing physicians, practice administrators and brokers with valuable resources for their clinical and business operations.

Conventus focuses the new website on providing easy access to information and tools that help physicians and their teams with the daily challenges of managing a practice. Many resources are made available exclusively to Conventus insured members, but there is publicly available knowledge for physicians, practice administrators and brokers.

“Considering the medical professional liability insurance space is crowded in New Jersey, it is crucial for successful brokers to stand out by demonstrating value beyond just standard insurance offerings,” said Amy Berezein, Conventus president. “Brokers must leverage comprehensive solutions and industry resources that provide them with a competitive advantage in today’s competitive medical professional liability insurance space.”

The website features educational solutions to help physicians, practice administrators and brokers navigate today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment. The site’s Knowledge Center is organized into logical components to enable users to acquire the information that they need as quickly and effectively as possible.

• Clinical Resources provide valuable information and tools designed to help practices address clinical issues, enhance patient safety, maximize office workflow, and find solutions for measuring and realizing efficiencies in the office.

• Operational Resources help busy medical professionals keep their practices current on the latest regulations impacting operations.

• Compliance Resources provide comprehensive service support, training, and policies/procedures focused on the development of corporate compliance programs, such as OSHA, HIPAA, and Fraud and Integrity.

• Value-Based Care and Quality Payment Program resources support practices implementing processes to succeed in their transformation to value-based care.

• Webinar Resources are online educational programs to help practice teams understand emerging risks and learn practical mitigation strategies.

• The Conventus 24/7 Practice Advice Hotline is an exclusive, confidential, and free hotline for insured members and their staff to receive real-time advice and consultation.

• Educational Briefs include risk alerts and e-newsletters focused on providing up-to-date information on current healthcare trends and key issues that impact physician practices.

• eLearning allows for online Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) approved courses for more than 25 specialties.

August 19, 2020 by matray

Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis. According to a 2018 report by the medical professional liability insurance company Coverys, Diagnostic Accuracy: Room for Improvement, diagnosis-related failures are the single largest root cause of medical malpractice claims and result in indemnity payments higher than the next five highest categories combined. More than half (54%) of diagnosis-related claims are considered high-severity cases — with 36% of those cases resulting in death.

Medication Errors. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration estimates that as many as 1.3 million patients are harmed annually as a result of preventable medication errors. According to a 2016 benchmark study of medication errors conducted by CRICO Strategies, one-in-nine medical malpractice claims involve a medication error.

Surgical errors.  According to a 2020 white paper by Coverys, Surgery Risks: Through the Lens of Liability Claims, 25% of the more than 10,000 closed medical malpractice claims analyzed by the medical professional liability insurer cited a surgical allegation. Of those, 78% of surgical allegations were related to practitioner performance during the surgery itself; 47% of those claims from more than 50 surgical specialties involve just three specialties: General Surgery (22%), Orthopedic Surgery (17%), and Neurosurgery (8%).

Childbirth injuries. Medical injuries during child birth are among the most expensive to indemnify. According to the Birth Injury Justice Center, approximately 7 out of every 1,000 children born in the United States will suffer a birth injury. A significant percentage of birth injuries are avoidable and occur because of medical negligence or physical trauma.

Anesthesia injury. According to a 2020 anesthesia closed-claim study by The Doctors Company, the mean indemnity for anesthesia injuries increased by 12.5% since 2013 — from $373,593 between 2007-2012 to $420,250 between 2013-2018.