What You Can Do to Help Receive More Favorable Renewals
Many medical practices are seeing sizeable increases in their insurance renewal premiums without explanation to why. This can be frustrating, especially when practices are now dealing with new financial burdens that were non-existent three years ago. There are ways to be proactive regarding your upcoming renewal that can yield favorable results for you and your practice.
Property Values
Insurance carriers are reacting to events occurring across the country, even though locally you may not feel affected. Therefore, carriers update your property values to properly reflect the increases in construction costs, such as building materials, labor, and the frequency and severity of natural disasters. Here are some questions to ask yourself regarding property values:
- Is your building is rated correctly? Masonry, wood frame, fire protection class, sprinklered, etc. These need to be reviewed regularly, as often they remain unchanged on your policy for years, when savings could result from updates.
- Do you have high value medical equipment (HVME) rated as contents or fixtures? It could make a difference.
- Have you adjusted your business income coverage to align with the extended construction delays and material & labor shortages?
Cyber Insurance and Exposures
The cyber market has been extremely volatile the last few years due to increased breach attempts, ransomware, and denial of use attacks. Because medical practices continue to be a favorite target of hackers, carriers are requiring enhanced protocols to even offer a cyber insurance quote. What can you do before your renewal to protect your practice from cyber breaches?
- Ask your carrier to do a cyber risk assessment before your renewal. This gives you a chance to put some protocols in place, like multi-factor authentication (MFA), endpoint detection & response (EDR), and others to meet these changing carrier requirements. These not only protect your practice but can result in potential savings.
- Look for cyber specific carriers that can offer broader coverage and potentially lower premiums.
Workers’ Comp and the Recent MOD Changes
Many practices saw a dramatic change in their Experience Modification Rating (MOD) this past year. This was done for all class codes and is a crucial component of your workers’ compensation cost. Here are some questions to ask yourself regarding workers’ compensation and Experience Modification Rating changes:
- Has the new MOD calculation been explained to you?
- Do you know the things you can do to reduce your MOD?
- Did you have additional COVID related payroll that resulted in additional premiums due after your audit?
Many feel they have no control over their workers’ compensation costs or MOD, but there are many opportunities that can result in savings, like:
- Aggressive claims management
- Return to work programs
- Timely claim reporting
Professional Liability and Medical Malpractice Coverage
Professional liability and medical malpractice coverage has been affected by many recent trends, such as increases in nuclear verdicts (high-value awards), increasing private equity involvement – including funding claimants’ lawsuits, the rise in frequency and severity of claims, and the increase of social inflation – the concept that jurors don’t appreciate the value of a dollar and are quick to render excessive jury awards. These trends have led carriers to impose premium increases. To help counter these increases, are you taking advantage of all the savings that are currently available to you?
- Have you looked at the format of your coverage? Individual vs. group rating?
- How have your annual claims reviews gone the last couple of years?
- Are there options out there that may be a better solution for you?
This is an expensive and high-profile coverage for any medical practice, and we recommend evaluating all your options, especially in today’s market.
Other important coverages to consider for your practice
- Employment Practices Liability – coverage for things like wrongful termination, harassment, hostile work environment, etc.
- Fiduciary/Crime Coverage – employee theft, mismanagement of the practice’s funds, etc.
- Employee Benefits Liability – errors or omissions related to the administration of an employee benefit program.
- Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability – claims of financial mismanagement by the Directors and Officers of the practice.
- Cyber Liability – this is a very important coverage for practices. If you do not have it, we recommend getting it as soon as you can.
If you haven’t recently reviewed all these essential coverages or evaluated your current exposures, you should reach out to your insurance professional for advice. If you would prefer to contact us directly, we also offer a free consultation and exposure analysis to determine the adequacy of your current program and to make recommendations to protect your practice. Medical practices are unique and continue to change and evolve, so it is important that you have a program that is tailored to your specific needs.
Brian Hurley
Senior Vice President Health Care & Business Specialist
P 315-413-4407 | C 315-708-3635 | F 315-457-7902
Lynn Trentini
Business Insurance Account Executive
P 518-952-7977 | C 518-698-9997
Nick Zingaro
Business Risk Specialist
P 315-413-4423
This content is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing professional, financial, medical or legal advice. You should contact your licensed professional to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Please refer to your policy contract for any specific information or questions on applicability of coverage.
Please note coverage can not be bound or a claim reported without written acknowledgment from a OneGroup Representative.