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RISK MANAGEMENT: A RETURN ON INVESTMENT
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As it’s often said, your healthcare liability policy is an expensive product you hope you will never use. In the fortunate times when a healthcare provider is not in the midst of managing a claim, there is still an essential part of their policy they can take advantage of every day—risk management.
The ProAssurance team works year-round to produce thought leadership and educational materials on issues affecting our insureds and their practice of medicine. Participating in these activities produces a wide variety of benefits—potential policy discounts, CME, and, most importantly, reducing their risk of experiencing a claim.
Each year we use the risk management issue of ProVisions to launch our Loss Prevention Seminar (LPS) program. This two-hour seminar focuses on the most essential risk management topics, and may earn participants premium credit for participating.
This year, insureds are eligible for premium credit from the LPS seminar regardless of whether their policy is on ProAssurance or NORCAL paper.
The seminar is fueled by our new baseline self-assessment, which premiered last year. The benchmarking data we gather from this program will be essential to customizing our risk management offerings to the needs of our insureds. More details are shared later on in this issue.
Our team provides fresh takes on the essentials of the industry as well as timely information for when major news strikes. There is always something new in production. Our Risk Management team is happy to recommend materials for your clients or meet with them directly if they have a specific question. They are also available to join you for your sales conversations when needed.
Reach out to your Risk Management Consultant or Business Development representative if you have any questions or specific needs.
HOW WE PROMOTE RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES
To make it easier for our insureds to keep track of the latest resources produced by our Risk Management department, we are condensing our promotion schedule. Going forward, your clients will receive a bi-monthly email with a list of new or topical risk management educational materials instead of individual emails for each new item.
We will also use this format in ProVisions, so you can remain on the newest items in the Risk Management library.
OPERATION NIGHTINGALE UNCOVERS ALLEGED FRAUD SCHEME
The operation uncovered the alleged scheme that sold fraudulent nursing diplomas and transcripts to aspiring nurses. Federal and state authorities found three formally accredited nursing schools in Florida were involved. These schools have since been closed. This widespread activity involved the distribution of more than 7,600 fake documents, and 25 individuals across five states have been charged. These documents were bought by aspiring nurses, and in many cases, used to qualify to take state board of nursing exams. About one-third of these aspiring nurses successfully passed board examination and ultimately received state licensure, which enabled them to seek employment in healthcare.
Authorities have provided state boards of nursing with names of individuals who purchased the documents. Boards of nursing are now reviewing licenses and conducting investigations, and some licenses have been revoked. If your client’s practice has hired a nurse with fraudulent credentials, what are your client’s risks, and could they be a target of a negligent hiring claim? The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) defines negligent hiring as “a claim that can be made against an employer when an employee causes harm to others and the employer should have known of the individual's potential to cause harm but did not take steps to mitigate the risk.” In this case, nurses were able to produce diplomas and transcripts. Even if an employer were to call the school for verification, they would have confirmed the potential employee as a student. Employers are expected to take reasonable steps upon hiring healthcare workers, and this includes license verification. Again, in this scenario, these potential employees had a state sanctioned nursing license. Negligent hiring could be difficult to prove when employers in this situation took reasonable steps to confirm education and licensure. It would not be reasonable to expect that an employee held a fake transcript and degree and illegitimately passed the licensing exam. There is more information on ProAssurance.com on the impacts this scheme could have on insureds and the issues their practices could face if they fell victim to the scheme.
Using data to support a sales argument in healthcare is often helpful as it appeals to the scientific nature of medicine. Still, healthcare personnel (HCPs) are sometimes influenced more by their own experiences and colleagues than by data.
A story, however, creates engagement that data alone cannot.
Risk is an emotional topic in healthcare, and stories relating to risk can be used as an icebreaker to gain access to physicians and start a conversation. Since risk relates directly to what you do, it's easy to transition to a discussion about managing liability risk from a related story.
How do you craft a compelling risk story?
The story should be about one of the never-events that HCPs strive to avoid. It can also be about an unexpected situation during a standard treatment or procedure.
Keep your stories as short as possible by skipping any unnecessary set-up. HCPs don't have time to spare. Get to the main scene quickly.
Anonymity is essential! Don't share the names of people, practices, or facilities. General references to time and geography add credibility, such as saying, "several months ago, a surgeon in the southeast…" is sufficient.
Describe how the incident occurred, how it was managed, how it could have been avoided, and the eventual outcome.
Here's a story I used to engage some difficult-to-see joint replacement surgeons.
I attended a surgery where my company's total shoulder system was used. The implant required bone cement for fixation, which typically takes 14-18 minutes to harden after mixing the liquid and powder components together. The surgeon (I'll call him Dr. C), who prided himself on speed in the O.R., decided to shorten the set time of the cement by heating the liquid part before mixing. This was not standard procedure.
With the heated bone cement loaded into the cement delivery gun, Dr. C injected the viscous liquid into the patient's humerus. Next, he verified the anatomic rotation of the prosthesis and forcefully inserted it into the cement-filled bone. Suddenly, the doctor groaned and began shouting obscenities. The implant became stuck halfway and could not be advanced or extracted. This was due to the cement hardening prematurely.
The doctor's impatience turned a routine shoulder replacement into a complex revision surgery. Dr. C spent the next hour carefully chiseling the rock-solid cement out of the patient's thin bone so he could remove and re-cement the partially inserted prosthesis. Fortunately, the patient had an acceptable outcome, and I had a compelling story to share.
I prefaced the story by telling surgeons it was about how the impatience of one of their surgeon colleagues created a nightmare situation in the operating room. All were curious about the surgeon's actions and the outcome.
I would tell the story, then ask surgeons their thoughts about what they would do in a similar situation. Next, I would segue into a product discussion by saying, "Speaking of surgical risks associated with saving time, could I get your thoughts about managing the risk of X (where X is a risk my product could address)?"
When preparing for a meeting with a prospect or client, ask yourself if there is a story you can share to engage them emotionally. It's helpful if the story is related to your planned business discussion, but it doesn't need to be.
One of my favorite quotes for selling in healthcare is, "Logic (data) leads to conclusion, but emotion leads to action." This is a paraphrase*. Real-life stories can alert HCPs to risks that aren’t obvious with data alone.
*Calne, Donald B. (1999). Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior. New York, Pantheon Books.
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.
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"Rebuilding or strengthening a culture of safety may be even more of a challenge in 2023 and will require a deliberate and comprehensive approach. To move forward with lasting change, healthcare providers and those in leadership positions should acknowledge the impact that COVID-19 has had on healthcare workers and the healthcare system. Acknowledging the impact of COVID-19 is important because it recognizes the significant stress and trauma experienced by healthcare workers, the changes in patient care, and the challenges faced by the healthcare system. By acknowledging these impacts, healthcare organizations can begin to address the issues and develop strategies to rebuild a patient safety culture that prioritizes the well-being of patients and staff alike. It also validates the experiences of healthcare workers, which can contribute to better staff morale and retention."
"Nice to see safety culture continuing to receive emphasis. A robust patient safety culture is the foundation for effective risk management and liability prevention efforts. To support strong safety cultures in medical practices, ProAssurance's baseline self assessment tool includes items to measure and analyze culture and suggest areas for improvement."
We are committed to responsible pricing that reflects the current risk environment. In keeping with our commitment to apprise you of developments within your market, we would like to share with you our recently updated rate strategies for Mississippi and Oregon. Upon recent review of our rate plan and rating factors, it was determined that the following changes may impact NORCAL insureds:
MISSISSIPPI
- Base rate increase of 14%
- Elimination of the Group Size Discount
- Elimination of the Shared Corporation Limit Charge
- Elimination of separate limits for solo physician entity/organization coverage
- Increased premium charge for vicarious liability for each healthcare professional not individually insured on the policy
- Updates to who is eligible for the Part-Time Discount and the amount of discount available
- A reduction of the term and discount available for insureds who are new to practice
- Rule change for suspension of coverage
- Updates to medical specialties, class codes, and per exposure rating conversion factors
- Premium changes for the following medical specialties: Dermatology (minor surgery), Hospitalist (no surgery), Internal Medicine (no surgery), Neurology (no surgery), Ophthalmology (major surgery), Otolaryngology (major surgery), Radiology (diagnostic), Urgent Care
OREGON
- Base rate increase of 7%
- Elimination of the Group Size Discount
- Elimination of the Shared Corporation Limit Charge
- Elimination of separate limits for solo physician entity/organization coverage
- Increased premium charge for vicarious liability for each healthcare professional not individually insured on the policy
- Limits factor increases for limits of coverage >$1M/$5M
- Updates to who is eligible for the Part-Time Discount and the amount of discount available
- A reduction of the term and discount available for insureds who are new to practice
- Blended rating for providers on suspension of coverage
- Updates to medical specialties and classes
These changes, which have been filed and approved, go into effect April 1, 2023, and are applicable to new and renewal accounts. We have notified any affected policyholders of the changes.
From left to right: Tori Warsko, John DeWeese, LaTina Jensen, Miller DeWeese, Doug Darnell
ProAssurance’s Midwest Business Development team met with Professionals’ Insurance Agency to provide team instruction, ProAssurance 101, and process and product updates to Miller DeWeese, who recently joined the agency. Miller is the son of John DeWeese, PIA’s president.
ProAssurance’s team provided introductions to the Business Development team, Underwriting, Claims, and Risk Management so Miller would be familiar with the who, what, when, and why of the ProAssurance Way. Dinner and socializing followed.
