What You Need To Know About Buying Medical Malpractice Insurance In Florida.
- By The David Agency MedMal Insurance
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- 31 May, 2018
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A Quick Medical Malpractice Insurance Refresher For Florida Medical Providers
Typical Medical Malpractice Insurance Limits: $250,000 per claim / $750,000 aggregate
Most Expensive Counties To Practice In: Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe, Hillsborough
Least Expensive Counties To Practice In: Duval, Columbia, Hamilton
Specialties Most In Demand: Family Practice, Psychiatry, Orthopedic Surgery, Geriatrics
Florida is open for business and doctors and healthcare providers should seriously consider opening their practice in Florida if they can. The Florida legislature has been leading the charge of Tort Reform for over a decade and the fact that the state allows physicians and care-givers to maintain such low limits means that there are plenty of high-quality medical malpractice insurance carriers lined up to do business in the state. Florida's medical malpractice laws are so friendly to physicians that it is one of the only states in the nation where you are NOT required to carry medical malpractice insurance (obviously we do not recommend this based on the fact that we are licensed insurance agents and the fact that historically, medical malpractice insurance rates remain low) in order to get paid and be appointed with health insurance companies.
But what about the economy? If you open your practice in Florida, is the economy strong enough to support your new business? The answer is absolutely. Florida leads the nation in net gains of population growth. If population trends continue, Florida will see an increase in congressional seats for the 2020 election. Also, Florida does not require residents to pay state income tax so practicing medicine in the state means that you may have some money left at the end of the year to sink back into your company to help you grow your practice.
Even under the best circumstances such as high population growth and low medical malpractice insurance limits, practicing medicine in Florida still poses challenges. Providers still have to contend with the long-term trend of medical practice consolidation and the heavy competition for patients. Many small practices and medical start-ups ask themselves how they can compete against major corporate-owned medical practices and their infinite marketing budgets and programs?
The good news is that overall, the cost of medical malpractice insurance continues to trend lower. Physicians and practice owners in Florida continue to take advantage of the "soft" medical malpractice insurance market and with the help of a professional, are usually able to find cheaper coverage. Even though the severity of payouts for successful claims has increased over the years, the number of overall medical malpractice claims is way down in the state. Additionally insurance company investment portfolio's are doing very well as the stock-market continues its bull run.
Depending on the specialty, state and practice history, medical malpractice insurance may be a medical providers largest expense. In a “soft” market, insurance companies are challenged to provide the best pricing because they know that their clients are shopping. Find out how much your Florida practice can save this year and let the medical malpractice insurance experts at The David Agency help you take advantage of the current “soft” market by clicking here: Get a no-hassle, free quote now.
When it comes to choosing a pediatrician for your children, it’s not as simple as doing a quick Google search. After all, your child’s doctor will help you through everything, from those first worrisome newborn months through the uncertain teenage years, and everything in between.
As a doctor, you already know you’re living in a competitive space; with hundreds of local options for parents to choose from, how do stand out? And more importantly, are you overlooking the powerful and often untapped potential of growing and marketing your physician practice? How, you may ask?
Simple. Through moms.
That’s right, not only do moms hold power within their households and families, but they hold the ultimate answers you’re looking for. If you don’t know how moms are choosing their pediatricians, how can you market to them?
While everyone else is gearing up for fun, festivities, and the much-needed downtime the holidays bring, as a medical practice owner, the holidays often mean longer hours, from winter sickness to pampering yourself at a medspa. It’s time to bring in the holiday cheer to your practice, making it a warm, inviting environment for both staff and patients alike.
You can decorate your office seasonally around the holidays without excluding or offending those who don’t participate in certain holidays; all you have to do is check out these 7 tips to make your medical practice or medspa holiday-ready with affordable seasonal decorating.
1. Decorate with fruit: from fresh fruit to sparkling faux produce, decorating with bowls of fruit is a great way to bring in some color and texture in seasonal hues. Be sure to bring in some pumpkins, cabbages, gourds, or pinecones for the cooler seasons.
If you have decided that a captive is the right answer for your medical practice, the first thing to do is seek out professionals and advisers that have the necessary legal, actuarial and accounting experience to guide you. The David Agency has been working with individuals and medical practice owners to set-up Captives for over 25 years. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to explore setting up your own captive insurance program. Here is a quick primer to help get you thinking about setting up a captive insurance company and what you should consider:
1. Where Will My Captive Be Domiciled?
You will need to select between an onshore (within 50 States) or offshore (outside the US) domicile. Consider the regulatory environment and quality of support services available. It is recommended that you visit the domicile before you commit to setting up your captive there.
2. How Do I Find The Right Partners?
Along with finding the right domicile, you must make sure that you partner with the right groups. Your David Agency Specialist can introduce you to actuaries, attorneys, tax-preparers and US-Based Insurance Agencies that have experience setting-up and running Captives.
3. Does My Company Have What It Takes To Start A Captive?
Captives are operating insurance companies so they must receive funds immediately and invest those funds in a prudent manner so they are available to pay claims. A Captive that is improperly run can cost the business substantially. Owners need to know the financial health of the Captive and audit regularly.
As you may have suspected, Xiaoyi is not your typical medical student. Instead, "she" is a robot designed to use artificial intelligence to learn the practice of medicine and deliver care in a clinical setting. Xiaoyi is programmed with the ability to learn, reason and make independent judgements. And, while she may not be ready to open her own practice, that day is on the horizon.
But before we panic and start calling for the destruction of Skynet (Sorry for the geeky SciFi reference) let's take a moment to think about how this new technology will be introduced to the medical community and what effects we'll see in the months and years ahead. At this point, Xiaoyi is just helping doctors by making suggestions and offering options for providing care.
Robots are probably NOT going to take over the role of the Primary Care Physician any time soon. Patients are not ready or eager to receive all their medical care from robots just as they are not ready to take their hands off the steering wheel and let their car take over driving duties. Baby steps. But what we are seeing is software that assists caregivers with their decision-making and provides a second set of "eyes" to back up the humans.
So if you are currently in medical school and worried that the robots are coming for your job, rest assured that you've got plenty of time to earn a great living practicing medicine and delivering care to patients, but you may want to take a few programming classes in the evening, just to be safe.
One thing that might stop a perspective job-hunter in their tracks is the Tail provision of their Employment Agreement regarding your Claims-Made Medical Malpractice Insurance policy. If your Employment Contract states that, if you leave, you are responsible for purchasing your own tail-policy then you just may be stuck in your current job until you save up enough money to make the big move.
Before we go into your options for purchasing a Tail-policy, let's define exactly what a tail is and how it relates to your Claims-Made policy coverage.
Simply put, a Tail - is an extended reporting period endorsement, offered by the current malpractice insurance carrier, which allows an insured medical provider the option to extend medical malpractice insurance coverage after the cancellation or termination of their claims-made policy. Tail's only come into the picture when we are discussing a Claims-Made-Type-Policy. Once you cancel a Claims-Made policy, it stops covering you if you have future claims and the Tail policy is what will cover you against future claims. Got it?
Tail's are very expensive. most insurance companies charge roughly two-times (2X) the expiring premium. So if your coverage cost $20K last year, your tail quote will probably be around $40K. Because Tail policies are so expensive, a secondary market (Stand-Alone-Tail) has popped-up to provide cheaper tail coverage, BUT BEWARE, some of the companies offering cheaper coverage may not be as financially secure as they appear to be. Never purchase a Stand-Alone-Tail from a company that does not have an A-rating or better from AM Best. Sure you may save a little money by buying a policy from an unrated company, but if they are not there a few years down the road to defend a claim, that money you saved is going to be coming out of your pocket.
If you would like to learn more about Stand-Alone-Tails or about your options please contact The David Agency today.
• The David Agency has been helping medical providers manage risks for over 43 years. We specialize in providing TAIL Insurance quotes for physicians, medical practice owners and medical personnel.
• Experience counts . If you received a TAIL quote and want to shop the market, please contact us. We have access to over 100 companies that offer STAND-ALONE-TAIL quotes.
• Team of Professionals. If you do have a claim made against you, your David Agency rep will help you navigate the claim process and act as your advocate to the insurance company.
