Op/Ed « My Medical Malpractice Insurance News

September 3, 2010

Verdicts could tap $90M from state medical malpractice insurance fund

Filed under: Indiana Medical Malpractice Insurance, Malpractice Insurance, Medical Malpractice Insurance, Op/Ed, Patients, Physicians, doctor malpractice insurance, med mal insurance, physician malpractice insurance — admin @ 8:35 am

side note: Even while in police custody, the infamous fugitive Dr. Mark Weinberger is managing to bring harm to the citizens of Indiana. Experts fear that the 357 medical malpractice lawsuits that face Weinberger could end up costing the Indian state medical malpractice fund over 90 million dollars. The depletion of the Indiana state fund would have repercussions felt through out the entire Indiana medical community. When I’ve had the opportunity to speak to doctors one on one at conferences, they have all told me that they wished doctors would be more willing to call out their own especially when the guy has 357 claims against him. For a free quote on medical malpractice insurance in the state of Indiana visit mymedicalmalpracticeinsurance.com.

BY MARK TAYLOR
POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT

Friday’s $300,000 jury verdict in the first medical malpractice lawsuit to go to trial against ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Mark Weinberger was not huge by Indiana standards.

The maximum allowable payout under Indiana’s malpractice statute is $1.25 million, so the award to plaintiff William Boyer was far below that limit.

However, Boyer, a 58-year-old Gary heavy equipment operator, had no permanent injuries from the unnecessary surgery Weinberger performed on him, so some attending the weeklong trial in Lake Superior Court in Hammond expected a smaller verdict.

What is consequential is that Weinberger faces another 357 medical malpractice lawsuits. Most of those cases involve allegations of unnecessary surgery, needed surgery that was not performed or surgery that was poorly performed. At least 20 of those cases have already received opinions of medical malpractice from three-doctor medical review panels, a key step in the state’s medical malpractice process.

That could mean that if all of the claims against Weinberger go to trial and result in similar verdicts — an unlikely scenario because most cases will either be settled or dismissed before going to trial — the fund could face liability of nearly $90 million.

In 2009, the fund paid a total of 150 malpractice claims for $108,438,141, down slightly from 2008, when it paid 154 claims for $109,809,087.

Read the Rest of the Article

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July 14, 2010

Senator Coburn and Barrasso release Obamacare report

Filed under: Congress, Defensive Medicine, Health Care, Insurance, Medical Liability Insurance, Op/Ed, Patients, Physician Liability Insurance, Physicians, Practice Tools, President Barack Obama, Tort Reform, doctor malpractice insurance, doctors, hospitals, med mal insurance, physician malpractice insurance — admin @ 8:35 am

This report, titled “Bad Medicine: A Check-Up On The New Federal Health Law” takes a look at the implementation of Obamacare after 100 days since it was passed. We here at MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com were not too pleased with the final version of this bill, mainly because it didn’t include decent Tort Reform legislation that would help lead to the lower cost of medical malpractice insurance for doctors. Malpractice insurance was one arena that both President Obama and Republicans found common ground and looked to make some advancements…..but they never materialized.

This report is interesting reading, but we can’t help but think that 100 days isn’t long enough to know if a major bill…..one that comes around once or twice per generation, will have a positive or negative effect on health care costs….especially as the Boomers continue to retire in droves.

MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com have long been advocates for doctors and have championed legislation that will enable the doctor/patient relationship to be the most important thing in healthcare. We have put together a Patient Satisfaction Survey System for doctors to help lower liability by learning what the patient thinks of the practice. This system is free of charge to all of our clients…..and it’s available in 9 languages. This is just one of the many free services we offer our clients because at the end of the day……the doctor is what matters the most. Some of the other services are:

Free Risk Manager on staff

Custom Office Policies and Procedures Manual for your practice,

Lower your med-mal insurance costs today……fill our our med-mal insurance quote form and we’ll save you money….it’s quick and easy.

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June 14, 2010

Medicare Rates for Doctors: Congress needs to act!

Filed under: Congress, History, Insurance, Medical Malpractice Insurance, Op/Ed, Physicians, President Barack Obama, doctors, med mal insurance, physician malpractice insurance — admin @ 8:50 am

Doctors have 4 more days to contact their Congressional representatives and urge them to hold off on the 21% Medicare cuts that could have dire consequences on Americans getting the care they need.

President Obama is trying to persuade Congress to kill the 21% cut required by a 1990s deficit reduction law that Congress usually waives. What we here at MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com don’t understand is why they will do it for most anyone else, but doctors seem to get the raw end of this deal! Maybe this has to do with the fact that doctors, physicians and other healthcare professionals do not have proper representation in Washington DC. This is why we consistently urge all MD’s and DO’s to join lobbying efforts b/c real change doesn’t happen unless money is being funneled into politician’s pockets. There are organizations that medical professional can join for free, such as SERMO, this is a closed social network where over 112,000 physicians come together and discuss….well, I think they discuss everything from Obamacare to anything medical related. I am not a doctor, so I don’t have access and thus don’t know for sure what it on the site. We have numerous clients who are members, and they speak very highly of SERMO. Another organization that is trying to make a positive impact for doctors is Docs4patientcare.org. They are actively lobbying in DC, but I’m unsure of their numbers…they are still a very young organization.

It’s important to get involved in this historic fight. We must keep one of the countries most important professions profitable and with less government oversight.

We do think that if these Medicare cuts do go through, then all doctors should have their medical malpractice insurance costs re-evaluated. If not by us, then by another reputable company. Make sure you are not paying too much…..granted, it’s hard to tell if you are, but that’s another reason we’re the most trusted site on the Internet for doctors and other health care professionals. Lower your med mal costs today.

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June 3, 2010

Bing Health Maps Focuses on Healthiest (or Unhealthiest) Places in the Country

Filed under: Entertainment, Health Education, Medical Liability Insurance Rates by State, Medical Malpractice Insurance, Medical Technology, Op/Ed, Physicians, Tort Reform, doctors, medical malpractice insurance quote — admin @ 10:09 am

When Microsoft announced in 2009 at a conference I was attending that they were serious about having Bing become a real competitor of Google…..I didn’t think they were serious. There have been way too many times in the past when the giant Microsoft said they were going to go all-out…and then it never materialized. Bing however, cannot be thrown into that category.

I’ve recently become impressed with many of Bing’s features. One that caught my eye today was the Health Information part of their website. What Bing has done is they took their map service and allowed their users to select certain health indicators…..and you can view these by state. The health indicators include:

BIRTH MEASURES

DEATH MEASURES

HEALTH RISK FACTORS

We mention this part of Bing for doctors because we know that some of you are contemplating moving to different states because of the high cost of medical malpractice insurance. Or….you may just like looking at the data like I do!

In any event, we know that the more information you have, the more likely you will make a better decision. This is why we have posted historic medical malpractice insurance data for doctors, for all states, dating back to the year 2000. Just another, of many, reason MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com stands above the rest.

Want to save money on your medical malpractice insurance? Fill out our quick and easy quote form. We recently saved a Emergency Medicine Doctor in Chicago 30% off of her previous policy. Let us do the same for you.

Staff
MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com

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Med Mal Insurance Rates by State

Filed under: Op/Ed, Physicians, doctors, med mal, med mal insurance — admin @ 9:13 am

When we released the historic med mal insurance rate data for doctors a few months back, we knew we’d get some traction by offering this at no charge to our visitors, and hopefully future clients. We were shocked to find out how many people were interested in this type of med mal insurance data.

We thought doctors would want to know how much their colleagues in other parts of their state, or in other parts of the country were paying for their med mal insurance, but soon we were getting calls from journalists, professors, students, political parties….and so on.

We have been helping doctors since 1947 find the best med mal insurance rates all over the country………we know from our vast experience that doctors are sometimes kept in the dark when it comes to receiving competitive quotes through their insurance agent or broker, because, even though it is unethical, some agents will steer the doctor towards the insurance carrier that best suits the agent….not the doctor. This usually happens because the insurance agent needs to meet a quota from an insurance company……or the insurance agent’s company has stockholders that they must keep happy………the one that usually gets the short end of the stick is the doctor when either of these situations take place.

Another common scenario is when the doctor’s med mal insurance renewal date is near. Does your agent offer you competitive quotes from other companies? Or do they give you one or 2 numbers and say: “we think you should stay with company A.”

We are always asked by doctors and other health care professionals why they should purchase their med mal insurance through MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com. We not only tell them the above…..we also let them know that they need to be careful when dealing with other doctor med mal insurance sites out on the Internet.

In the age of privacy concerns on the Internet, Facebook being the latest……we encourage all doctors and physicians to review all of the other med mal insurance websites’ privacy policies and well as the language on their site. Some of these are pure lead generation sites, specializing in med mal insurance……they essentially take your information and sell it to the highest bidder. You need to be careful because, for marketing professionals, your personal information is valuable and could be sold to other sites that offer medical services, such as disability insurance, medical supplies…etc. Again, this is why Facebook is dealing with blow back of a similar model.

Are all med mal insurance sites doing this? The simple answer is no. Unfortunately for busy medical professionals…..it’s tough to tell. MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com makes a pledge to every visitor that your information will never be sold to an outside entity. We have advanced security measures in place to ensure your data will never be tampered with or get into the wrong hands.

We have been specializing in med mal insurance for doctors for over 60 years and don’t plan on doing anything else. We know in today’s world, doctors pay extremely high med mal insurance rates all over the country. This is why we offer not only the historic med mal insurance rates, but other free practice tools to help you succeed.

Take a moment and fill out our easy med mal insurance quote form, your information is safe, the quote is free, and it could save you thousands of dollars.

Staff
MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com

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May 31, 2010

Happy Memorial Day!

Filed under: Op/Ed — admin @ 11:05 am

Each year, we spend a day remembering the good men and woman throughout our history who have given the ultimate sacrifice to make our lives that much better.

Many of the good folks who work at MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com have a long line of military tradition in their families. We are proud of this because we know these family members joined something that was greater then they were, and some of them, unfortunately never returned home.

We thank all of our Veterans that has/are serving this great nation of ours! On this day, please take a moment to reflect on those men and women who protected and continue to protect our great country.

Staff
MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com

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May 18, 2010

Medical Liability Insurance: Tip #2 on how to lower your costs

Filed under: History, Illinois, Illinois Medical Malpractice Insurance, Insurance, Medical Malpractice Insurance, Op/Ed, Physicians, doctor malpractice insurance, doctors, liability insurance, medical malpractice insurance companies, medical malpractice insurance quote, physician malpractice insurance, professional medical liability insurance — admin @ 11:33 am

We received a lot of great feedback on our first tip for the best ways to lower your medical liability insurance costs. We had so many emails asking me questions, so instead of answering them all one by one, I thought I’d build out my first tip for doctors on how they can lower their medical liability insurance costs.

As I mentioned in that first tip, you need to know if your broker or agent has access to multiple insurance carriers. For example, the medical liability insurance brokers at MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com, in the state of Illinois, has access to 7+ insurance carriers. Now, I give Illinois as an example because Cook County (Chicago), is always listed as one of the worst places for a doctor to set up their practice because the cost of medical liability insurance is off the charts! Check out our unique, historic medical liability insurance rates in Illinois, by specialty and year. If you live in another state, you can click and check out the liability insurance rates for all 50 states.

Doctor liability insurance costs in Illinois do not have to be as high as most pay. Now, are we going to lower your costs in Illinois as if you were practicing in Texas? Simple answer is no. Can we place you with an insurance carrier in IL that has lower rates then others based on your claim’s history, specialty and county in Illinois? Simple answer….yes.

Medical Liability Insurance for doctors is one of the costliest parts of running and maintaining a health practice. We urge all doctors to make sure you’re paying the lowest cost for your liability insurance. We have been helping physicians lower their costs for decades, even if you’re not looking to change, let us show you what you should be paying. Click and request a free medical liablity insurance quote.

To summarize, there’s really no way to know for you to be certain if your local liability insurance broker has access to multiple insurance carriers. This is why we think that looking at an established broker, who has worked with 1000’s of physicians in all 50 states, and who is independent from making sure stock holders are happy, is the way for all doctors to get their medical liability insurance. If you want to know a little more about us, you can check out our About Us section, or, fill out the medical liability insurance quote form for doctors and you will get the service you deserve, and most importantly, you will get the price you expect.

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May 14, 2010

Tip #1 on how to lower your medical malpractice insurance costs

As we slowly wind down the week, I thought I’d spend a few minutes going over a tip that doctors and other health care professionals can use to help lower their medical liability insurance rates. This will be the first in our series of how to make sure you pay the absolute lowest price for your medical malpractice insurance. Doesn’t matter what specialty you are in……these will work across the board.

TIP #1 on how to save and cut down the cost of you med-mal insurance:

MAKE SURE YOU WORK WITH A BROKER WHO HAS ACCESS TO MULTIPLE INSURANCE CARRIERS

One of the secrets in the medical malpractice insurance business is making sure your agent has access to has many insurance carriers as possible. Before I go on, it’s important to note that you will not pay extra money if you go with an insurance agent versus going directly to the insurance carrier. The commission for the broker comes from the insurance carrier. So you’ll pay the same price either way….as we like to say: the premium is the premium.

Access to multiple insurance carriers is important because every carrier is different. Some carriers like dealing with OB/GYN’s….others like dealing with Internal Medicine doctors. Granted, for the most part, they will usually insure you whichever specialty you practice, but some offer better rates to certain specialties. This is where a broker can come in and help you figure out which company to place you with.

If you go directly to an insurance company, you can bet that they won’t be shopping your insurance coverage with their competitors!

This is one of the reasons we started MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com. We noticed that other insurance brokers were saying they had all this access and then when push comes to shove….they really only have access to one or 2 companies. We have been doing Medical Malpractice insurance for doctors since 1947 and have never placed a doctor with an insurance company that wasn’t a perfect fit.

We pride ourselves on being the best medical malpractice insurance company in the nation. We have a dedicated med-mal team that is one the phone nearly 10 hours a day helping physicians all over the country lower their med-mal costs. We are true physician advocates who believe that adding a few bucks to our commission checks isn’t worth it like other brokers tend to do by placing their clients with the more expensive insurance company. We have a 97% client retention rate for a reason. We know that if a doctor is happy with their coverage, if there is someone here to answer their questions when they need them answered, and they feel like they are being treated fairly, then they will be our customers for life. We have a long term outlook which separates us from the other medical liability insurance companies out there.

If you think you’re paying too much? If you think your broker hasn’t been straight with you, or maybe you just want to make sure. Fill out our quick and easy med-mal insurance form and one of our medical liability insurance specialists will get right back to you and answer any questions you have, and we’ll provide you with a free quote…..from every insurance carrier in your state. A few of the states where we see a trend of the above happening are:
Illinois
Florida
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Arizona
Texas
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Maryland
New Jersey

Have a good weekend and remember when that quarterly statement comes around, you should think to yourself:
My Practice
My Money
My Paycheck
MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com

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May 7, 2010

Digitize medical records; waiting puts lives at risk

Filed under: Congress, Electronic Medical Records, Insurance, Nurses, Op/Ed, Patients, Physicians, President Barack Obama, doctor malpractice insurance, doctors, hospitals, liability insurance, medical malpractice insurance companies, physician malpractice insurance — admin @ 8:48 am

side note: Another article on the importance of Electronic Health Records (EHR). Though the initial cost may be a burden for doctors, hospitals and practices, the rewards of an electronic system will begin paying immediate dividends. Studies show that error rates (and therefore, medical malpractice lawsuits) are lower for those physicians and hospitals that use EHR. With full access to a patient’s medical history, it will also be easier for doctors to avoid misdiagnosing patients, another leading cause of medical liability claims. Additionally, overall health costs will go down, as physicians won’t be re-ordering expensive tests and procedures that other doctors have already done.

With all these benefits – error reduction, access to complete medical history, cost reduction, and reduction in potential medical malpractice claims – plus the federal funding available through last year’s stimulus package – there is no better time for physicians, practices and hospitals to embrace EHR. As physician advocates, we hope this leads to lower medical malpractice insurance rates.

Editorial
The Boston Globe

WHEN IT COMES to switching from paper to electronic records, medicine trails many other professions — even though study after study has shown that computerization will save not just money but lives. Even with the incentive of billions of federal dollars to cover much of the cost of the transition, doctors and hospitals have been slow to take even the first steps toward conversion. Apparently, they feel little or no responsibility for symptoms that get misdiagnosed because of inadequate information about a patient’s past medical care, let alone the tests that get repeated because no one has a record of the previous results.

The full Boston Globe Editorial is available here

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May 5, 2010

Defensive medicine: An unhealthy cost

Filed under: Defensive Medicine, Medical Malpractice Insurance, Op/Ed, Patients, Physicians, doctors — admin @ 2:24 pm

Jacksonville.com
Editorial

Side note: Interesting editorial about the cost of defensive medicine and how medical malpractice insurance reform could help lower these costs. Florida, in particular, is losing physicians to Texas, in part because of high med mal insurance rates. The editorial also addresses the issue of formalizing procedures, so that doctors have a ready defense against medical malpractice claims.

Reform of the medical malpractice liability system could greatly lower costs, both for physicians and for the government. Over the next 10 years, the American Medical Association (AMA) estimates that reform could save $54 billion in government costs. On an individual level, the average medical malpractice lawsuit costs $22,000 to defend against, even though 90% of doctors win the lawsuit in the end. With such heavy prices, it is important to treat reform of the medical liability system seriously.

Read the whole editorial here:

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