Medical Back Office Errors – Did You Know?
An average 33% of all malpractice insurance claims result from office errors caused by the ancillary staff. Common errors will include loss of communication, documentation, filing errors, not following-up, breach of privacy, etc. Physicians are exposed to back-office claims simply because they are the “captain of their ship.” Claims that are not the result of direct patient care are considered back-office claims. Physicians can be protected from claims that are caused by their medical staff.
Separate entity coverage may be purchased for the organization (Org) to protect physicians from staff errors. Without this separate coverage, then the physicians are exposed to any liability claims against the practice. This can result in the physician losing valuable claim-free premium discounts. Claims must also be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) and can impact the physician’s premium cost over many years.
Premium cost to add separate Org coverage is about 20% of each individual physicians malpractice premium cost. Premium will “step-rate” similar to a new physician’s step-rate until the premium amount matures after the 5th year. Org premium charges will typically mature after 3 years.
Separate Org limits typically stack onto the physician’s limits of coverage and provide greater coverage limits to protect against a worse case claim scenario. Adding separate Org limits may be less premium than increasing the physician’s individual limit of coverage. If a physician’s coverage limit is $250,000 and the Org coverage limit is $250,000, then they will combine to make $500,000 coverage limits available. Separate Org limits of coverage will be your best protection for a relatively low premium cost. Contact your independent agent to compare the premium cost to protect the Org under separate limits of coverage.
Aviso Insurance is an independent agency that supports healthcare professionals and their medical organizations. We have access to nearly all insurance markets to better serve you.
“We are proud to serve the many heroic professionals in our healthcare community.”
Dan Reale, Independent Agent/Owner – Office: (407) 808-6149 – E-Mail: [email protected]