New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month announced a proposal for strengthening the oversight of physicians and other medical professionals to better protect patients as part of his State of the State agenda. Cuomo proposed a comprehensive set of reforms to ensure that the Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct has adequate and […]

I recently had a lengthy discussion with a general surgeon from New Jersey, who was offered a medical directorship at a surgical center in Manhattan, N.Y. He explained that the surgical center would not provide his medical malpractice insurance and, therefore, would need to secure his own coverage. When he called his current insurer, they […]

Arguments in favor of and against New Mexico’s medical malpractice compensatory damage cap were made last month, and now the question as to whether it is constitutional rests in the hands of five justices on the state’s Supreme Court. The compensatory cap limits economic and noneconomic damages, but not medical costs or punitive damages, to […]

Dr. Samuel Smith, a psychiatrist in California, contacted me on a recent Monday in a bit of a rush. He was joining a new medical group the following week and they were trying to add him to their group’s medical malpractice insurance policy with their standard carrier. However, the medical malpractice carrier denied him coverage […]

Healthcare professional liability loss costs continue to rise, fueled by increasing claims severity, while claims frequency remains fairly stable, according to a just-released, 14th-annual study by Zurich North America. In the 2019 Benchmark Study of Healthcare Professional Liability Claims, Zurich draws data from the more than $16 billion in losses contained in its claims database […]

There are many reasons you want to work with an agent when seeking malpractice insurance, and some are certainly more important than others. I just worked with a hand surgeon in Miami, Fla., who recently went through a personal trauma. Mired in the trauma’s distraction, he didn’t pay attention to a “missed payment” correspondence from […]

Dr. Randall Floyd called me in a bit of a panic. An addiction medicine specialist in Anchorage, Alaska, he had put off securing a replacement medical malpractice insurance policy for almost a month past the expiration of his previous policy. The medical group he was employed with had changed their corporate structure where they were […]

I just got off the telephone with an Obstetrician/Gynecologist who practices in Philadelphia. I’m helping her shop her malpractice coverage and she — somewhat sheepishly — asked, “What exactly is the difference between claims-made and occurrence coverage, and which is best for me?” On the surface, this sounds like a simple question to answer, but […]

It’s six a.m., and the phone is already ringing. As I put down my coffee and pick-up the telephone, I hear a frantic voice on the other end that is too fast to understand. “Sir, sir,” I interjected, “please slow down as I can’t understand you.” The gentleman took a deep breath before saying, “Sorry, […]