Where We’ve Been and Where We Are Going in Risk
Historically policyholders came to Risk Management each year in search of educational opportunities that may provide them with a discount on their premium. For ProAssurance insureds, it often meant a two-hour loss prevention seminar, whether it was in-person in a hotel meeting room or via an online recording. This educational offering was a passive way of educating physicians in hopes of reducing the number of claims through preventive measures and improving defensibility when lawsuits became a reality. Other policyholders had the opportunity to take two hours of CME credits from a library of webinars and publications to qualify for their discount.
Currently there are still a number of educational resources for CME available online including seminars, live webinars and Claims Rx. A 2025 loss prevention seminar is in the works and anticipated to be released in March 2025. Risk Management's long-term goal is that the Annual Baseline Self-Assessment (ABSA) will become the main vehicle by which insureds receive any type of discount but, more importantly, that all insureds participate to help improve their practices.
Although education has a place in Risk Management and new offerings will continue to be available, we created the ABSA as another means to obtain a possible discount. The benefit of the tool is that all members of the practice are encouraged to participate, not just the physicians. The ABSA reaches all levels in a practice, and its educational benefits impact not just the physician or provider. This inclusive approach allows real-time data to be collected to show insights into the practice at all employee levels. Not only does the practice receive a comprehensive report, but they are paired with a Risk Management consultant who offers applicable risk reduction strategies and resources. These may include education to help mitigate pointed areas that have been identified as risks for future claims.
This improvement from (1) passive education to (2) only physicians and, finally, to (3) active participation of all team members was a vision of the Risk Management department many years ago. I am so proud to see that the first year of ABSA data has been completed. Risk Management is making strides to improve practices through our efforts to revolutionize the way insureds interact with our team.
From the agent’s perspective, the ABSA is a great tool to have a touch point with policyholders throughout their policy term. Agents can also partner with Risk Management to assist insureds in mitigating areas of risk that are identified in the report. Although the means of discount may have changed and expanded, the end result is improvement of risk management for our policyholders and a stronger relationship with agency partners. The ABSA is a tool that encourages more meaningful interactions with practices and really targets their individualized needs.
The success of the first year of the ABSA in 2024 illustrates insureds’ willingness to participate and choose this option as an interactive way to improve their practices. Future content updates will encompass more specialties and larger groups. Risk Management is committed to continued improvements each year to ensure applicability of the questions, contemplate emerging risks, and encompass the findings from prior data. Continuous improvement in the development of content ensures relevance and allows flexibility to evolve. Future automation will also improve the process, and data analytics will drive our educational resources and risk offerings.
The Risk Management department, in connection with the Data Analytics and Operations team, has been able to take a vision that began years ago and bring it into reality in 2024. I am committed to using Risk Management’s data to drive future educational offerings. I am excited to see continued improvements in interactions with policyholders and agents as we enter into the second year of the ABSA.
Connecting ABSA Results to Risk Management Content
The most obvious question about how the ABSA impacts Risk Management content is what triggers the team to review it based on the ABSA. For the answer, we spoke to Senior Risk Management Consultant Joanne Simmons, who leads the charge on this initiative.
The review process, according to Simmons, begins with an assessment of overall ABSA results. “If we see low scores in one of the ABSA categories, that triggers us to look at our existing content on the topic,” she said. “We first look at what we currently have in our Risk Management Guidelines to see if we need to beef them up and add more guidance to them.”
For those unfamiliar with them, the Guidelines are meant to provide an overview of many topics to drive visitors to other, more in-depth resources. “We really don’t want to go very deep in there,” said Simmons, “but we still want the content to be useful, so we may add a little more information there or maybe update guidance on what’s already there.”
The ABSA helps the Risk Management content team identify knowledge gaps in areas of risk where our insureds would benefit from new or updated content. It helps us offer targeted education based on individual practice results or, if we see trends, we can develop new content bundles. For example, in the past year Risk Management has added more risk reduction strategies on confidentiality to the Guidelines because, according to Simmons, “Technologies like AI have heightened the need for education on confidentiality. As technology and digital platforms become more integrated into healthcare, the risk of unintentional breaches also rises. Ongoing education on confidentiality helps ensure that healthcare professionals are aware of the evolving risks associated with digital platforms and technologies.”
In addition to the examples mentioned above, the ABSA is specifically impacting the Risk Management Guidelines with additions and updates to the following topics:
- Patient Requests to Amend the Medical Record
- Negative Reviews and Online Comments (Responding to Patient Complaints)
- Tracking and Follow-up
- Medical Assistants
- Managing Disruptive Patient Behavior
A big focus for Risk Management in 2025 is building on the successes of the ABSA’s impact on content development. As Simmons puts it, “We’re trying to do more this year to connect the topics we address in the ABSA with our content development to identify topics that may need some more development and then adding additional details on the topic at different levels.”
While plans can change as situations change, here are some initial plans Risk Management intends to pursue toward that goal:
- New educational opportunities for physicians, staff, and practice managers
- Coordinating content for Rapid Risk Reviews
- Office staff education
- "2 Minutes: What's the Risk?" videos
- Risk Management Guidelines updates
- A Hospital landing page
- Malpractice Case Studies issues with common themes
If 2024 is any indication of how successful Simmons and the team will be in 2025, they are in for a busy and fruitful year of content development.
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Assessing Your Risk Exposure: Service vs. Sales Strategy
As an MPL agent, you provide clients and prospects with risk assessments to manage their healthcare liability. But how often do you assess your agent activities to avoid lost opportunities?
A few years into my medical sales career, things seemed to be going great—I was constantly busy. Yet my sales numbers were flatlining. It didn't make sense. I worked sunrise to sunset most days. I did generate sales. However, while making modest gains in some accounts, I was simultaneously losing business to competitors and others hadn’t seen me in months.
My wake-up call came during a territory review. Despite solid sales volume, my leadership team was clear: my job wasn’t just to maintain the business—they expected growth. The threatening tone in my manager's words, “Maybe your territory is too big,” forced me to evaluate how and where I spent my time each day.
The Barriers to Sales Growth
Since sales activities lead to sales (shocker, I know!), I assessed my sales vs. service time. It confirmed what I’d suspected—I’d fallen into the service trap. I was so focused on being everyone’s go-to sales rep that I handled everything—from setting up surgeries to delivering products—tasks that couriers or support staff could handle. Service activities kept me busy with everything but actual selling. I only delivered a sales presentation when I was lucky enough to cross paths with a surgeon in an account, but it was usually impromptu, rushed, and ineffective.
Keeping a log of all my activities and noting where I spent my time was very telling. It showed that sales calls were relatively infrequent on the list, and there were parts of my territory I rarely visited.
The KPIs to Assess
I focused on the following to shift to more of a sales focus:
Territory Coverage:
- Made sure no account went more than 4-6 weeks without seeing me.
- Implemented concrete follow-up plans for sales in progress.
- Tracked conversion percentages by account each quarter.
Sales Activities:
- Set minimum daily and weekly goals for sales calls.
- Tracked the number of product presentations delivered.
- Identified and had sales conversations with the people who could say “yes.”
Time Management:
- Carved out time for at least one sales call each day.
- Started clustering my sales calls around my service stops. Whenever I was already in an area for a customer visit, I’d reach out to as many prospects as possible nearby.
- Monitored the number of tasks I delegated versus handled myself.
Sales started mounting thanks to two fundamental shifts: methodically tracking my activities and making sales a priority. By assessing how I spent each day and noting the time dedicated to actual selling, I could spot where service tasks were hijacking my sales time. Also, segmenting accounts by growth potential and soonest to buy helped me allocate my time strategically and catch opportunities I’d previously missed.
What began as a threatening performance review became a valuable lesson—you can’t improve what you don’t measure. With concrete data about my daily activities, I made targeted adjustments that produced dramatic results.
As you guide clients through risk assessments to protect their healthcare operations, consider evaluating your agent practices to safeguard against missed opportunities. While exceptional service remains crucial, remember that every hour spent on tasks others could handle represents potential growth walking out your door. While it’s true you can’t sustain what you don’t maintain, you can’t grow what you don’t pursue.
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Written by Mace Horoff of Medical Sales Performance. Mace Horoff is a representative of Sales Pilot. He helps sales teams and individual representatives who sell medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, healthcare services, and other healthcare-related products to sell more and earn more by employing a specialized healthcare system. Have a topic you’d like to see covered? Email your suggestions to AskMarketing@ProAssurance.com. |
