Medical Malpractice Insurance Brokers Find You the Right Coverage
Physicians and others in the medical field, take note: Medscape has published a Malpractice Report with some very helpful information to keep in mind when thinking about liability and risk management practices.
The July 2013 report surveyed 3,480 physicians across 25 specialties, nearly 1,400 of who have been through the experience of being sued for medical malpractice; results of those surveys are presented in a series of slides with charts, polls and helpful commentary.
One theme that really stands out in this report is the degree to which a doctor’s insurer is key to his or her experience of being sued. An insurer is far more than just a means of covering a payout should a malpractice suit go against you; an insurer is your ally in the entire process, from beginning to end. Your medical malpractice insurer provides your defense team, key to both defending you against monetary settlement as well as vindicating your good name and reputation.
While the report shows that nearly 40% of respondents had been named either individually or among others in a malpractice suit, it also found that defense attorneys—almost always provided by insurers—were able to get approximately 37% of cases dismissed without ever going to trial. Nearly 65% of cases were either dismissed or settled prior to making it to trial. Furthermore, of those that went to trial, far more verdicts were rendered in the favor of the doctor than in the favor of the plaintiff.
This, combined with the fact that 62% of respondents who had been sued felt that the outcome was fair (and an astonishing 93% were satisfied with their defense attorneys), are a testament to the value of services that are provided with medical malpractice insurance. What could otherwise be a career ending event and a financial catastrophe can be rendered little more than a nuisance by a good legal defense team provided by a competent and trusted insurer.
What the report doesn’t mention, but is nevertheless the reality, is that these statistics, anecdotes, and analyses all point to the importance of choosing the right insurer and the right policy for you. Yet, the world of malpractice insurance can be complicated and difficult to navigate for the uninitiated, and for the doctor whose attention is focused on his work and his patients. A trusted broker can be the key that allows you to balance putting the time and expertise into finding the right insurance policy without having to put your job and your life on hold in order to become an expert personally. A good broker understands your needs, and works closely with insurers to tailor a policy with those needs in mind. Furthermore, they do this with years’ of experience, cultivated expertise, and close-working relationships with many insurers across the field as the tools of their trade.
In other words, brokers are experts so you don’t have to be. They allow you to take seriously the choice of an insurer. Better yet, brokers are free to physicians (paid by the insurance companies because of their role in helping the insurers find clients). For more information on getting paired with the right medical malpractice insurance, you can let eQuoteMD connect you with our network of leading insurers in your area.
